By Crowd88

Technology is the hot topic at present in New Zealand. Whether it is the Institute of Directors leadership Conference, “Shaping the Future”, or Tech Week 17 it is virtually impossible not to be immersed in the potentially life changing possibilities facing mankind.  Some technologies will be truly disruptive and some will just lead to efficiencies but whatever its impact the business possibilities are boundless.  A major showcase for Tech Week 17 is the hosting of the international blockchain conference in Auckland on 8^th to 10^th May.  Blockchain will affect nearly every business sector, not least the fintech sector and some New Zealand companies are deeply engaged in the technology and its application.

But this begs the question; where do ordinary New Zealand investors best obtain their exposure to new technologies?  Quality exposure to new technologies, especially the disruptive and truly innovative kind, won’t come through the listed markets.  Most tech ventures are just not big enough to warrant a public listing and listed companies that investing in technology themselves are swamping the returns  from tech opportunities with their large ‘business as usual’ assets and income streams.  Alternatively they are in fact kidding themselves into thinking they will drive innovation and tech opportunities homogenously when most commentators believe big companies can’t create environments conducive to real innovation and development of disruptive technologies.

The Angel investment community is seeing some great opportunities in the tech space. But you need time to hunt these opportunities out, undertake your own due diligence and have the ability to fully engage so as to manage your investment.

The real opportunity therefore arises via the equity crowd funding platforms.  There have been some exciting tech opportunities presented to investors since the first licences were issued.  As entrepreneurs, tech engineers, software developers and all those others involved in tech development become more and more aware of the funding opportunities presented by equity crowd funding the more New Zealand’s smaller investors will be offered tech investment positions.

Tech developers need to put equity crowd funding on their radars and their advisers need to upskill themselves about the possibilities presented by equity crowd funding.  And the great thing about equity crowd funding is that entrepreneurs and inventors don’t need to cede control to their investors as non-voting shares are still the norm.  Indeed, offering non-voting shares shields the offering company from not only unwanted intrusions but also from Takeovers Code matters and from Financial Reporting Act impositions.

Of course equity crowd funding is not just about tech investing.  It is however about small growth companies with a good investment story to tell.  Those offers that meet and exceed their minimum targets will invariably be offering a journey that has the potential to be rewarding to these early stage investors who want to provide capital to fund the next stage in the company’s growth.  So business advisers should be alerting companies to the potential of equity crowd funding and financial advisers should be alerting their clients to the potential equity crowd funding brings to investment portfolios that previously were not available to the average investor.