Callaghan Innovation has just released a report titled “Growing the Pie: How entrepreneurs are creating a better NZ”, which focuses on two main discussions:

1. Even though many successful NZ start-ups get acquired by overseas companies or have to shift their headquarters to other countries in order to access markets, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This is because the people involved in these companies take their success, and re-invest it into the next generation of New Zealand start-ups. The report interviews several successful entrepreneurs and investors, and focuses on the case study of Sir Peter Maire and Navman, showing the ecosystem around Navman and the following generation of companies that were supported by Maire.
2. The last fifteen years have seen enormous growth in terms of success in the NZ start-up industry. Once upon a time, a company being sold for $100 million was a very big deal, but now there are nine Kiwi business with a valuation of over $1 billion, and the report estimates that Kiwi unicorns have over $34 billion in value between them. This is only really possible because companies have started to embrace overseas investment, and understand that it’s simply a necessity in order to keep growing. Funds like Matū have to keep developing and nuturing our international connections so that we can help our investee companies find the right capital when they need it.

A press release about the report, and the report itself, are available here: https://www.callaghaninnovation.govt.nz/news-and-events/nz-%E2%80%98unicorns%E2%80%99-create-more-34-billion-value