New Zealand's Venture Capital Market

New Zealand's venture capital market is evolving rapidly as capital markets and associated professional service firms respond to the demand for private equity from businesses looking for capital and expertise to expand. The focus of this paper is on how the venture capital market in New Zealand is developing - the size, number and type of participants, the process of attracting and then selecting investments, expected returns, exit strategies possible gaps, and potential policy changes to assist the development of market. The paper is based on interviews with twenty market participants ranging from conventional venture capital firms to corporates with internal venture operations and professional service firms involved in the grooming of potential business opportunities. The market is still relatively immature and although there are currently gaps in the market they are by no means overwhelming. Furthermore, there is evidence that the market is segmenting and expanding to fill most of the obvious gaps, which tend to centre around information asymmetries.