The strength of the Enterprise Angels brand is dependent on the commitment of our members volunteering time to support the early-stage ecosystem. This month we acknowledged those members who have made a real commitment to supporting the startup ecosystem with our Annual Angel awards.
We are grateful to our Strategic Partners, Priority One, Cooney Lees Morgan and Craigs Investment Partners for sponsoring this year’s awards. Each winner received a trophy and a Chuffed experience voucher. Chuffed is a local Tauranga company who is on a mission to change gift giving in New Zealand by connecting people with amazing experiences and supporting New Zealand’s tourism industry.
Priority One – New Member of the Year
This award recognises one of our newest members who has joined in the last 12 months and has jumped straight in and been fully engaged. The criteria for the award is based on a combination of startup support (investment $ as well as mentoring and other support), event attendance, and active engagement.
The finalists in this category were two members – Bryan MacLeod (Coromandel) and Robert Morgan (Wellington) who represent the growing number of ‘remote’ active members we have throughout New Zealand and also internationally.
The winner of the new member award was Nicola O’Rourke. Nicola joined Enterprise Angels in December 2022 and dived straight in taking on the role as Investor Director for Heilala Vanilla. She has immense experience in FMCG/CPG and has offered to support businesses in this space. Nicola has also been an advocate of helping us build greater diversity in our membership by involving Enterprise Angels in the Butterfly Effect Project in the Bay of Plenty.
In accepting the award Nicola mentioned how she has thoroughly enjoyed getting involved in early-stage businesses and offering what she can to the local organisations and Angel groups. She is excited by the flourishing opportunities going on in the food and beverage sector, not only in the Bay, but throughout New Zealand.
Cooney Lees Morgan – Investor Rep of the Year
With a growing portfolio of 76 active companies and a team of six, we leverage our members to ensure a close connection with our companies. The investor rep role aims to maximise value for both the assigned company and its investors by being the key point of contact. It gives Angel members the opportunity to put their experience, skills and connections to work with the companies they invest in.
The runner up in this category was Steve Howse. Steve is a long-standing member who is actively engaged all round and took out the Beca Angel of the Year award in 2021. Steve continues to be one of our most engaged Investor Reps, covering all three WNT funds and Upstream Medical Technologies.
The winner was Graeme Thomson who is based in Palmerston North and has been a member since 2019. In the middle of last year, he volunteered to be an investor rep for not just one company but three companies: Vidapp, Biolumic and Vortex. Since taking on the role he has been actively engaged in supporting the companies and helping them focus on improving the quality of their shareholder reporting. Subscribing to the belief that quality reports are more likely to result in favourable shareholder funding in follow on rounds. We could not agree more!
Dave Hancock, Founder of Vidapp commented “Graeme has been amazing at patiently guiding us towards best practice for reporting our SAAS metrics. He’s shared which metrics angel investors find most useful and why it’s important to share them. He’s also been very understanding that this takes time and effort, which we’ve really appreciated. Thanks Graeme for your support and we look forward to continuing to work with you!”
