By DANIEL RIORDAN
In the audience next week in Singapore: representatives of more than 50 venture capital firms from Asia and North America, looking for hot deals.
In the spotlight: six New Zealand high-tech companies pitching for capital, alliances and distribution deals.
Organised by Australian company Corporation Builders, with involvement from the Singapore Government, the South East Asian Investment Series (SEAIS 2000) provides a platform for each company to formally pitch to prospective investors for half an hour, alongside 18 Australian and a couple of German companies.
The event lasts for two days, and meetings have been arranged for three days around the core event.
Off with hopes high are QPod Systems, developer of a revolutionary refrigerated freight container, financial portal E-LoanNZ, software developer Time Disciple, wireless technology software developer Global Enterprise Solutions (GES), electronic wood trading marketplace Lignus and one other high-tech company that prefers to stay anonymous at this stage.
Trade NZ, whose investment arm has spent about $15,000 partly subsidising the trip, has already put the participants through the hoops, choosing the final six from 20 which applied to go.
PricewaterhouseCoopers provided crash due diligence to lick the six into shape for the grilling ahead, although these days there is as much competition among Asian venture capitalists to snare good deals as there is among the capital-hungry firms on the other side of the negotiating table.
GES managing director Manju Fernando says Singapore is awash with capital right now, and investors there are hungry to evaluate opportunities offered from New Zealand.
TimeDisciple managing director Grant Hughson sees Singapore as a portal into other Asian territories.
The event's guest list will include investors from Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and North America.
Most of the six "investment ready" companies have done the rounds of Kiwi funders, but even those among them who have been successful locally say it's time to dip into bigger and more mature Asian capital pools.
Asian investors are most interested in companies with capital needs of at least $3 million, branded products and services, international market potential, listing potential and strong management teams.
The last factor - the quality of the people who run the companies - is the most crucial, notes PricewaterhouseCoopers principal consultant Joanne Douglas.
Last year, two of the four New Zealanders who went struck pay dirt.
Exo-net secured $5 million in direct investment and a Southeast Asian distribution deal, and Selector Group, now listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange, credits much of its success to contacts made from the trip.
Trade NZ hopes to organise a similar trip to North America in the first three months of next year.
High-tech six seeking Asian allies and cash
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