FKA 😇 Advice, Connections and Funding for NZ Startups

Another FKA Friday ● 31 March 2023#08

31/3/2023


	31 March 2023 #08		822

Debbie from Vince came, pitched and won! Won stage 1 and goes through to DD. Phil is FKA's champing for Vince and is chomping to bits. He will assemble a DD Team and we hope for help from any angels with a love for food and an appetite for FMCG deals, FMCG experience would be very helpful.

Watch the pitch and email Phil.Southward@fka.nz if you're interested!

More about food! Katheren our Chief Event Organiser aka CEO is holding 18 seats at Ada Restaurant for an FKA Angel Dinner on a mystery date. Mind you, not quite like The Menu but it will be heaps of fun!

Now, see if you can uncover the date. Pick your path below!

Terry is the founder of Eight360 which has been in the FKA stable since 2020. He is no high roller, more a big roller. Here comes his pitch video and why he needs more money.

Do you remember Moxion, our December 2021 EXIT? They are hiring and doing well under Autodesk. That bodes well for our escrow release, half in June and half in December.

So much talk about ChatGPT.

OpenAI: the Next Tech Giant? It’s pretty rare for a company to transition from a research lab to a developer infrastructure provider to a behemoth consumer app in just a few years.

A Short History of Artificial Intelligence. With recent advances in machine learning, we could be entering a period of technological progression more impactful than the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution combined.

Think twice before using ChatGPT for help with homework. The good, the bad and the weird...

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 24 March 2023#24

24/3/2023


	24 March 2023 #07		823

Thank you, KPMG for hosting our March pitch night. We had more Germans in the room than usual, and also more women than usual. Thank you to the presenters: Terry from Eight360, Debbie from Vince, and Mario from Organic Bioactives.

More on the follow-up over the next weeks.

The video tells you what Narrative Muse sets out to achieve—a worthy ambition that you can support via this PledgeMe campaign.

Yesterday several Flying Kiwis received a suspicious email purporting to come from Andy. He did not send these emails. Incidentally, he was undergoing eye surgery to restore his 20/20 vision. He is looking after our deal flow and needs a sharp eye for startups!

The range of founder ownership at exit/IPO can be quite wide and is dependent on a number of factors, the primary of which are the ability to command high valuations during fundraising and capital efficiency. Read on...

From the NBR. "Phase One’s ambitious goal was to produce 10 Kiwi tech unicorns by 2026, something Muralidhar now admits is unlikely to be achieved in that timeframe. But, in a PR spin worthy of a politician, he says the value of setting an ambitious goal has been fulfilled."

See this update from EasyRent—one of the P1 cohorts!
Proved AKL, then Sydney, now NY

The Auckland mayor is slashing budgets and GridAKL is likely to face the death that comes with the axe. GridAKL is FKA's HQ and we run our weekly ADI.Clinic there.

Spare a moment to tell the Mayor how important GridAKL and the John Lysaght Coworking Startup space are for the startup ecosystem.

Tell him HERE

From the FT . MindGeek was acquired by Ethical Capital Partners. The company was brought to the brink of collapse in late 2020 after its flagship site Pornhub was cut off by the payments networks following investigations that identified unlawful content on the platform.

How "ethical "is ECP?

Funds tend to select staff and investments that remind them of themselves. And it leads to suboptimal outcomes…the more affinity there is between two VCs who co-invest in a new company, the lower the likelihood of the company succeeding.

Groupthink is bad for returns! See a lively discussion seeded by Michael Jackson.

From TechCrunch. Vinod Khosla’s advice for top VCs? Don’t sit on your founders’ boards. We say, beware of angels who have more money than experience and behave like backseat drivers.

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 17 March 2023#06

17/3/2023


	17 March 2023 #06		\|LIST:SUBSCRIBERS\|

We were on holiday in January and had no pitches in February. But all that will be different in March. We have lined up three sterling pitches for next Tuesday.

Be there! David and Jonty from KPMG will open the doors next Tuesday 21, March from 18:30 at 18 Viaduct Harbour Ave, AKL.

The folks at KPMG have hosted our pitch nights since forever

Turbulent Terry from Eigh360 will give an update and he comes with a good reason to raise more funding. □

But will he bring his balls this time? Sam from Syos did bring his helicopter!

Debbie and Nigel from Vince will give a meaty pitch and provide tasty titbits on Tuesday night. Not SaaSy but more tangible and tasty salivates Phil the champion.

Who would have thought that Jeff and John are into cosmetics?

The Organic Bioactives lead team is in Europe drumming up business and will give their pitch via video.

The Auckland mayor is slashing budgets and GridAKL is likely to face the death that comes with the axe. GridAKL is FKA's HQ and we run our weekly ADI.Clinic there. More than 200 founders come to us every year for advice, and many of them go on to build businesses that make for a vibrant local economy, some are made of what angels are looking for and take on the world.

Spare a moment to tell the Mayor how important GridAKL and the John Lysaght Coworking Startup space are for Auckland.

Apologies for the council form but do it HERE!

From the NBR. Kami is a lot more than FKA's #2 portfolio company.

One VC is not afraid of getting out the branding iron. "We wanted to create a living, breathing brand that brought together the Hillfarrance veritable Imaginarium of creativity and entrepreneurship with our relentless focus as a fund." More...

Imaginarium: A place devoted to stimulating and cultivating the imagination. Most often used in the names of museums and science centres.

Brand or brag? AIM has great numbers to talk about in the autumn newsletter. Also, Richard Coon explains how AIM began. Read on!

There’s an old saying that if you see a queue forming outside a bank you should join it. The reason for this is that it is probably a queue of people waiting to take their money out and you should get yours out too before there is none left.

1) The Incredible Tantrum Venture Capitalists Threw Over Silicon Valley Bank

2) SVB – Silicon Valley Bust

Suse from AANZ has $1,000 to help angels who want to fly to the US Summit, in Vegas this May. Myriad casinos next to the regular startup casino!

If you're keen flick her an email, tone casual and chummy.

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 10 March 2023#05

10/3/2023


	10 March 2023 #05		\|LIST:SUBSCRIBERS\|

The length of today's newsletter is diametrically opposed to the length of the dinner and drinks that followed yesterday's meeting of the Arch Angels of NZ. Naturally, angels do best sky-high and Suse and Bridget picked the perfect venue with The Sugar Club at the top of Auckland's Sky Tower.

Narrative Muse is our #18 portfolio company. A crowd pleaser and so it is only right that they are crowdfunding! Find out more HERE.

PowerON at a tradeshow in Germany. Bringing purrfectly smart elastics to advance soft robotics. FKA commitments stand at $250k and we will now close this round on Monday.

Woolchemy has raised its $1.5m seed round. We talked to them in September. A strong and capable team! But didn't find a champion. The four angels who talked to them were sheepishly overcome by angst about all the risks they could see.

Great to see the team got support and is away with $1.5m.

A rare glimpse of the inner workings of Kayasand. Technology that can recycle concrete that others send to waste! $4.5m of the $5.0m round committed. So far, we have 12 FKA investors. Bram, the CEO, is happy to answer any questions or organise another visit to the quarry.

From the Economist. Publishers long accused tech firms of profiting from their content. Now they have a point. AI is reaching behind newspaper paywalls.

NZTE's InvestHER is back in May 2023. This week with the working link HERE where founders can express interest to participate.

There has been talk and consultation which has resulted in reaffirming the old.

Quotes from 2x 100 'Hustonisms'. □ Get a sense of the man

Never throw good money
after money you cannot admit
you've already lost.

Angels lured by cheap valuations
should buy tattoos when they're on sale.

If you like life distilled down and sped up,
you'll love angel investing.

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 3 March 2023#04

3/3/2023


	3 March 2023 #04		\|LIST:SUBSCRIBERS\|

This Thursday we talked again with six founders at ADI.Clinic.

Most memorable comment from one founder: “I don't understand why this company I worked for raised US$1m from Y Combinator when I can build the app for NZ$5k and have 30x the social media followers.” Smiles all around! □

We're adding another language to our team, Swedish, Shark Tank Swedish. So reckon Andy, Glen and Rudi after talking with John who has been a regular at ADI.

Jag har misslyckats om och om igen i livet och det är därför jag lyckas. • “I’ve failed over and over and over again in life and that is why I have succeeded.”

As always though, if any Flying Kiwi Angels know of any reason why this one should not join our group now is the time to speak up! Email the Board in confidence

For the record, Swedish cars may be safe but German cars are better!

From the New York Times. About mousetraps and the ethics of killing rats.

Flying Kiwi Angels? Team Players! None like any other, unless badly photoshopped! The photo was taken recently during MIEA's Auckland session.

Catch MIEA's 1st Wellington event on 16 March. Register!

What's an investor? What type of investor are you? What type of investor are you looking for? Some answers HERE!

Pixie Curtis is 11 and has created a multimillion-dollar business with a little help from her mum. Read more! Looks like one we missed. But trust Andy to know what to do! He will forthwith also be scouting for founder talent in kindergartens.

Markus the CEO of PowerON demonstrated his soft touch on Valentine's Day! Only our timing is off! But still time for investors!

Also with Kitea, we have the soft touch, the soft touch needed to implant a pressure sensor into an infant's brain. Time for investors on this one is running out after this weekend.

Kayasand, however, is rock hard, all about crushing rocks and is rock solidly better for the environment.

NZTE's InvestHER is back in May 2023. Founders can now apply HERE.

ChatGPT—the new best thing in the VC world? There is an interesting perspective in the Economist. Also, what AI chatbots mean for the war in Ukraine. More here.

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

Another FKA Friday ● 17 February 2023#03

24/2/2023


	24 February 2023 #03		\|LIST:SUBSCRIBERS\|

Kayasand—has to be our biggest investment. A great site visit on Monday saw 10 angels getting closer to heaven as they climbed the structure.

Also, angels should be careful when talking to founders. Experience from 10 years ago needs to be translated carefully before applying it to here and now. READ!

Glen is passionate about health tech and the champion for Kitea. Their smart pressure sensors can detect health issues before the onset of symptoms. See today's Herald article "Kitea Health raises $6 million..."

We had a mammoth day at ADI.Clinic yesterday. 7 founder conversations.

Thankfully, Alistair from Beach Booch brought some refreshments along for his chat. There was a clear divide between mentors in the room and those joined by video call. The former loved the different flavours, the latter had no opinion.□

PowerON—Smart Elastic. Katie is passionate about soft robotics. Some investors see a unicorn on the head of the demo horse. □

Our #2 portfolio company Kami has turned 10. We first invested in 2015, now $50m+ ARR, 100+ staff, and customers on every continent.

Awesome Hengji, Alliv, Jordan & Bob!

From the picture wall at Wednesday's party. □

Also, on LinkedIn and over 2,000 FKA GIFs on GIPHY.

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Another FKA Friday ● 31 March 2023#08

Watch the pitch and email Phil.Southward@fka.nz if you're interested!