Last week we hosted two events in our Auckland office for the tech community. Lee Bagshaw, who recently joined our team from Singapore, shared his experiences on doing tech deals in Asia and the opportunities there are for New Zealand tech companies. It was great to see so many people interested and asking questions.

The key take aways were:

• the market opportunity in Southeast Asia is enormous and growing, in part due to increasing income levels and access to the Internet. As mobile penetration rates continue to climb, the appetite for tech products also rise – evident in the number of successful tech companies being built to serve those markets. Take a look at the e27 headlines to get a feel for the region’s tech and startup activity
• at the same time, the region is still young in its technology uptake, and there are many areas left for disruption using technology. This startup opportunity map shows what industries are in their infancy, and the opportunities for new entrants
• there is a significant amount of capital flowing through Singapore, and investors from all over the world have set up large funds to invest into early stage and growth tech companies. It is a good place to raise capital. Unlike the New Zealand investment scene, investors in Singapore compete for good startups to invest in. There is also a lot of government support in funding, and favourable schemes to attract entrepreneurs
• entrepreneurs from all over the world come to set-up in Singapore – it’s very easy to do business, and Singapore models itself on practices used in Silicon Valley. Southeast Asia does not necessarily have to be the final destination – it could be a great place to establish yourself first, and act as a stepping stone onto other markets. However in order to raise capital there, companies will need to have a business plan that is focused on scaling across the Asia region (at least initially).

If you think that capital raising in Singapore may be an option for your company, talk to us about joining Lee in Singapore at Echelon (23 and 24 June 2015), the leading tech conference in the region for investors and growth companies.

We will also be repeating this seminar in Wellington and Christchurch during May – to keep updated with our firm’s activities, sign up to our newsletter.