Icehouse Ventures Partners With Hawke’s Bay Angels

The local start-up investment scene has reached a major milestone this month with the announcement this week – TechWeek – that Icehouse Ventures will partner with HB (Hawke’s Bay) Angels, a local group of active early stage investors. Icehouse Ventures is the investment arm of The Icehouse, which established itself in this region six years ago. The Icehouse was established in 2001 to help New Zealand’s entrepreneurs and business owners’ growth, offering a range of programmes to help small and medium enterprises realise their potential. Icehouse Ventures collectively manages $50 million in funds and has invested over $106 million in 165 start-ups since establishing Ice Angels, one of NZ’s first early stage investment groups, in 2003. In 2018, the Icehouse community invested $22 million into 56 start-ups. New Zealand shareholders in Icehouse Ventures include KiwiSaver funds manager Simplicity, Sir Stephen Tindall’s investment company K1W1 and investment banking firm FNZC. HB Angels was established in October 2017 with the help of Napier City Council, local law firm Sainsbury, Logan & Williams and a group of Hawke’s Bay business people, to identify and grow early stage Hawke’s Bay businesses. Since inception, members have volunteered their time to look at more than 10 Hawke’s Bay deals, undertake investment-readiness services and due diligence processes. HB Angels have found that finding and grooming high growth deals for professional investors is a time consuming task, and finding and upskilling investors is also a constant challenge. This is why the partnership with Icehouse Ventures is so important, says Dean Prebble, Economic Development Manager, Napier City Council and Chairman of HB Angels Inc. “In the past, local companies like Rockit Apple had nowhere local to go and ended up heading to Enterprise Angels in Tauranga for their capital. “We have plenty of founders living in Hawke’s Bay who have either recently exited their ventures or soon will be. They provide the basis of a rich investor community that can add significant skills and expertise to support the next phase of Hawke’s Bay start-ups.” Hawke’s Bay investors now have access to some of New Zealand’s boldest start-ups through Icehouse Ventures, and can learn from the best in the business when it comes to early stage investment. Robbie Paul, CEO of Icehouse Ventures, says the company is well positioned to meet the demand of top caliber founders who have raised the bar in NZ. ““The founders and leaders of our fast-growing young companies are understated heroes of this country, the backbone of the economy and the creative fibre of our future, solving real problems for a better future and better lives. “We are seeing more second and third-time founders starting new companies. With our new partners we have this fantastic opportunity to step up and be a catalyst by proving greater amounts of capital over the next 5 to 10 years to fuel their global ambitions.” HB Angels and Icehouse Ventures will hold investment pitch evenings four times a year in Hawke’s Bay, and hold regular investor education events for aspiring investors. Anyone involved with a local start-up wanting to raise capital, or interested in become a start-up investor should contact Dean Prebble at [email protected] Posted: 24 May 2019