Cannabis company wins big backer
A Kiwi richlister is backing a start-up company with big plans to grow cannabis and turn it into medicinal products.
Entrepreneur Guy Haddleton has a long history of investing in new ventures. He previously founded business planning software company Adaytum and sold it to IBM Cognos in 2003 for US$160 million, then went on to become one of the early investors in Xero. He also started what is now the billion-dollar software business Anaplan.
Now he is backing Helius Therapeutics’ plan for large-scale cannabis cultivation and processing.
“Helius Therapeutics has all the features we seek in a highpotential investment,” Haddleton told the via email from a winter break in the south of France.
“The company has a clear and large vision, extraordinary talent and deep go-to-market experience.”
His interest in the little-known start-up came after he read about the ambitious plans of entrepreneurs Gavin Pook, JP Schmidt and Paul Manning to tap into a market that doesn’t yet exist in New Zealand. Manning said the initial news coverage in the sparked enormous interest and led to him receiving 400 to 500 inquiries from investors interested in backing the idea.
“A lot of those investors were smaller investors who would’ve been more suited to a retail or an IPO scenario, but a number were also serious, institutional investors and one of those was Guy,” Manning said.
Manning and his partners went to meet Haddleton and his wife Sue at their home in Takapuna to discuss the opportunity. “As we met them we knew they were the investors for us,” said Manning.
“For starters, you’re talking about a guy who has played a part in building not one but several billion-dollar businesses. He’s an incredibly astute entrepreneur, so you can imagine the experience and the wealth of knowledge someone like that would bring to our business.” Manning said that beyond the money, they were also looking “for the right fit”, someone who could lend experience and advice to the process of building “a start-up business in what is essentially a start-up industry”.
Haddleton now joins as the inaugural chairman, leading a group of other wealthy investors and taking a 40 per cent stake in the business.
The three co-founding partners will each retain a 20 per cent share.
Some of the early investment in the business has gone into the development of a sprawling industrial facility and office building, located in East Tamaki.