Will Kiwis invade the Aussie Nasdaq?

The Sydney-based Asia Pacific Technology Exchange was set up this week and plans to be operating in the second half of the year as a technology-focused listed market along the lines of the US Nasdaq.
Backing Aptex as it will be known, are the national Stock Exchange of Australia, a small Newcastle-based alternative exchange to the much larger ASX and Enterprise Pacific a non-profit company.
The plan for Aptex is to list 20 tech companies this year with a combined market capitalisation of between A$320 million and A$590 million. The founders want to have 200 - 300 companies listed in the next two to three years and claim that a quarter of those first listings could be companies from Asia.
That means Aptex is looking beyond Australia's tech sector and could be an attractive option for fledgling New Zealand technology start-ups seeking an injection of capital and the profile a listing in Australia would bring.
While our exchange, the NXZ has an alternative board aimed at smaller companies, the NZAX, it hasn't been the bustling hub for tech companies many hoped it would be. Listed stocks range from wine companies to retailers and there are just a few companies - Connexionz and Zintel among them that could be classed as export-orientated technology companies.
It's probably not the ideal time to be launching a new exchange considering the state of the global markets, but the reality for small tech companies remains the same - they need capital to grow and it's often advantageous to raise that money publicly.
Last year, local contact centre software developer Datasquirt listed on the ASX with an IPO valued at A$7.2 million, short of the A$10 million it was looking for.
It's a daunting task for a New Zealand company to go through the ASX listing process, but Aptex may emerge as a less risky and expensive option to access a larger capital market. It seems to have strong political backing and is positioned in the Pacific Technology Corridor in Sydney, which is a hub for innovative companies.
Local tech entrepreneurs have suggested to me that it is very difficult to do tech listings on the ANZX because there is virtually no analyst coverage of the tech sector here and little enthusiasm from brokers.
Australia at least has more scale in these areas and if it is as focused on Asia as its founding goals suggest, it could be a good way for New Zealand tech companies to seek the type of strategic investments that are going to open up access to booming markets like China.