Are you an angel in disguise?

Mainland Angel Investors is holdings its final investment evening for the year on October 25, across its four areas - Dunedin, Invercargill, Queenstown and Wanaka.

The organisation was launched in the South in 2020 to make it easier for founders of new companies to get investment. It was now at the stage it wanted to ramp up activity, attract more members and really create a presence in the lower South Island, network manager Peter Ramsay said.

It was also trying to get across what an angel investor looked like; there was a misconception often that people had to have a "gazillion" dollars to be an angel investor. Most of the active members in MAI were in their early 40s and keen to diversify their investment portfolios.

The minimum investment accepted was $5000 which was "really not a massive chunk of change" to get involved. If 20 members all invested $5000, then it quickly started to add up. It was collective investing and that was a powerful selling point MAI was trying to push.

Anyone could be an angel investor as long as they were interested in investing in start-up businesses and potentially supporting them. While it was high risk, it was also high reward , Mr Ramsay said.

An angel investor will need to qualify as an eligible or wholesale investor, and MAI can assist with this process.

MAI’s goal was to keep those businesses in the lower South Island. Until MAI existed, often companies would go to Auckland, Wellington or even offshore to raise capital.

There was a "powerhouse" team involved with MAI and it was at a really interesting time. The model was there now and it was time to "turn the corner" and make it more serious, he said.

Pitch evenings were held six times a year and there were usually three to five local or national start-up opportunities to invest in. Pre-screening was done before the opportunities were pitched to members, so what they saw were all viable investment options.

It was also a great way to network, every two months, with like minded people and to have the opportunity to invest in companies "that could really do some amazing things", he said.

This month’s events would be consecutively held at McCulloch & Partners (Invercargill), Gallaway Cook Allan (Dunedin), Mountain House (Queenstown) and b.social (Wanaka).