Latest / Best of Business / Bridget Unsworth: Angel Association CEO on investment in the start-up scene surging by 14% in 2025

Transcript

Bridget Unsworth: Angel Association CEO on investment in the start-up scene surging by 14% in 2025 · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk ZEDB. Follow
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Startup scene looks healthy. Last year, what they call deal
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: volume was up fourteen percent. Total investment was up sixty
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: one percent, So you're talking about seven hundred and fifty
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: four million dollars. We had one hundred and sixty six
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: deals done. Bridget Unsworth is Angel Association Chief executive is
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: with us. Bridget morning to you, Good morning mate. More
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: deals and bigger deals, a mix of both. What's going on?
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, what it means is that we have had
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: some companies that have proved really successful global expansion. So
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: we've got more money going into less deals, which is
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: super exciting. It means that our ecosystem is maturing. You know,
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: the example of Holt, which was announced last month, three
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: hundred and seventy seven million New Zealand dollars going in,
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: you know, led by a US investment firm, founder's fund,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: backed by DCVC, Bessemer, et cetera. But the more important
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: story with that is that was backed early stages with
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Ice South Centures in their LPs who continue to invest
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: in that company. So really it's showing a strong economic
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: growth after what was you know, heady days of twenty
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: twenty one where we had incredible investment dollars invested. Twenty
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: twenty two to twenty twenty four, we took stock dollars,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: retracted new deals weren't getting funded as easily. So this
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: is really really positive overall.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: Two part question, do you cite Halter because Halter are
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: at and they're they're the rock star? And two is
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: it all tech? And AI?
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I cite Halter because it's an example that's publicly available
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: that kind of backs up the data from what we
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: saw in twenty twenty five, So there are Holter like
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: deals in that investment data from twenty twenty five where
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: you've got some significant realms done by a few companies. No,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: it's not all tech and AI. I think New Zealand
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: is really well known globally on an egg tech stage.
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: That is probably why Holter has got that really strong,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: you know, traction with offshore investors. But I think also
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: we are really doubling down in the areas that we
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: have made a name for ourselves. You know, who would
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: have thought we had a space sector a few years ago.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: Now everybody overseas is all talking about Rocket Labs, talking
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: about Zeros, talking about the Holter. So I think we're
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: well known for really executing phenomenal companies.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: What's the risk profile. Am I in because I vibe
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: it and I'm patriotic and I've got a few dollars?
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Or Am I in it because I need a return
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: and I expect one.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: I hope it's not the letter because even though we're
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: obviously not philanthropic investors, and so we hope for a return.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: You know, it is a really risky stage. And so
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: you know the nineteen percent of deals that went into
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: proof of concept, you know a significant number of those
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: are going to fail. That is part of the ecosystem
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: that startups involve, you know, are evolved in. So it
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: is part investing to support the great companies at the
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: time based on the information that you know at the
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: time you're making that investment, and you hope that those
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: companies grow, pivot, evolve to the market forces and the
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: way the market is changing. But not everybody will survive.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: And so it's about being rational with your capital and
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: the hope that at some point down the track, you know,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: it's a long game, it's ten, twelve, fifteen years that
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: you will have a halter or a rocket lab in
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: your portfolio and that will return all your investment dollars.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Numbers don't like great insight, Well, Bridgie Dudsworth, who is
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: the Angel Association Boss sixty one percent, seven hundred and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: fifty four million.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talk SEDB. Listen live on air
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: or online, and keep our shows with you wherever you
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: go with our podcasts on Irradio