Smaller New Zealand companies, but with high-growth potential, can face considerable difficulties and costs in listing on the main local stock exchange, the NZX. To ease their burden, policymakers initiated a new stock market, the NXT, to better address the equity-financing needs of SMEs by providing a structured, cost-effective, and fast initial public offering mechanism.1 In addition, the Seed Co-Investment Fund (NZ Growth Capital Partners (formerly NZVIF) was also established to support SMEs with strong potential for high growth. Overseen by the New Zealand Venture Investment, the Seed Co-Investment Fund aims to accelerate the seed capital market for start-up companies to the point of self-sustainability, and to foster investment inflows into innovative start-up firms. Some of the key provisions include:
(a) Co-investment with accredited investment partners, in a 50:50 matching scheme;
(b) Investment into the seed- and start-up stages of businesses; (c) Investments must be made into New Zealand businesses.
