Booster forms new partnership with venture capital fund, Matū

Booster and Matū have formed a new partnership that will benefit New Zealand start-ups in the science and innovation sector.

New Zealand is a small market with limited investment capital. It can be difficult for early-stage technologies to attract funding here in New Zealand.

Generally, that means going overseas for investment to help commercialise their technology. Often, that can mean the innovation and intellectual property (IP) doesn’t stay here in NZ.

It was one of the reasons why Booster established the NZ Innovation Booster Fund (NZIB) in 2018, which invests in early-stage technologies coming out of New Zealand universities.

Venture capital fund Matū, invests in scientific and technological ideas at the early stages of commercialisation, enabling them to reach their full potential. Matū has a track record of successfully investing, and growing, science and technology companies in complex local and international markets.

Both Matū and Booster share the goal of building diverse portfolios of businesses founded on IP-rich assets.

The partnership is an example of the type of cooperation that will create a strong innovation ecosystem in New Zealand - further advancing the pipeline of New Zealand investment opportunities and increasing the ability of investors to take part.

NZ Innovation Booster currently invests in a portfolio of 14 science and deep tech companies. This gives Booster’s investment team the ability to add a small amount of exposure to NZIB in some of Booster’s KiwiSaver funds and other investment funds – when it makes sense to include these kinds of high risk/return assets.

The partnership with Matū will allow Booster to grow the number of investments in the fund, giving Booster members more diversification and access to even more opportunities.

“The exposure for the average Booster KiwiSaver Scheme member is very small, about $20. But to be part of the story and to make such a difference for these companies is something pretty unique,” says Allan Yeo, Managing Director, Booster.

Currently, the investment in NZIB gives investors exposure to innovative tech start-ups including:

1. Amaroq Therapeutics, a new bio-tech start-up developing next-generation RNA therapy to target cancer.
2. Chitogel, a medical device company based in Lower Hutt, developing and producing medical kits that help improve patient outcomes following sinus surgery.
3. InsituGen, a Dunedin-based tech company, developing a testing platform for the detection of anabolic drugs in racehorses, athletes and supplements.
4. XFrame, a recoverable and reusable framing system for the next generation of sustainable building construction.

Booster and Matū will soon be announcing their first co-investment which will give investors a taste of something completely different.

It’s a win-win for Kiwis – both the investors and the scientists and technologists who are bringing big ideas to life.