NZGCP launches new database with Dealroom to better measure startup ecosystem

New Zealand Growth Capital Partners has launched a startup database with global data and intelligence provider Dealroom to provide a more cohesive and comprehensive list of what’s happening in the country’s startup ecosystem.

“We wanted something that everyone could use and didn’t have to pay for, so Dealroom was the solution we found that is used across the rest of the world – from Victoria to Sweden,” says NZGCP chief investment officer James Pinner.

NZGCP pays a licence fee for the platform and everyone else can use it for free.

The startup database has been pre-loaded with information on Kiwi startups and investors mainly through web scraping (using bots to extract content and data) of public information and searching key words and websites. People can then log on 'claim' their own data and keep it up to date in future.

It makes it easy to search and find startups and investors according to a variety of criteria, including by stage or sector, and includes information on capital raises and exits. The database also provides job listings for startups seeking staff (more than 2,400 jobs are already listed). 

Pinner says NZGCP had been concerned about privacy issues.

“The only information that will go on there will be what companies are putting out publicly or want to share, but it is relying on them actually updating their profiles and the more information they put on, the more useful it is for them and for investors.”

NZGCP CEO Rob Everett says there had been some degree of checking the “worst glitches” in the information; even when their own information first arrived on the platform it was three years out of date.

“It will only work if the ecosystem decides it’s worth the time and effort to update, effectively, everyone’s own information.”

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The impetus

The government set up NZGCP in 2002 to stimulate investment into early-stage Kiwi companies with high growth potential. It runs the Aspire fund, which co-invests into seed-stage companies, and the Elevate fund of funds, which provides capital to other venture capital funds.  

Last year the government also tasked it with collecting key demographic details, such as the gender and ethnicity of the startup investors and founders with which it was involved.

NZGCP went searching for a global provider and opted for Dealroom, which was founded in the Netherlands in 2013 and is now a globally recognised platform that offers transparency and insights into venture capital activity in a number of countries. 

Dealroom’s first foray into the Southern Hemisphere and only its second outside of Europe was in 2020 when it launched a startup database for the state of Victoria in partnership with LaunchVic, the state government’s startup agency. It has now done the same in New South Wales, with other Australian states said to be pending. 

LaunchVic CEO Dr Kate Cornick says Dealroom’s database has enabled the state to have a much clearer and real-time snapshot of the high-growth tech startups in its region. That was difficult to do from just looking at business registers, which include everything from the local fish and chip shop to inactive holding companies.

“We know there are companies that will not feature on our database because they haven’t made a press release, they haven’t featured anywhere so they haven’t been found as a startup but, nevertheless, Dealroom has helped us uncover many more startups than we were aware of.”

Victoria has now identified 3,500 tech startups with global ambition, and Cornick says it is not a “set and forget” database, but one both LaunchVic and Dealroom are constantly updating. 

Victoria’s database has been heavily used and the state agency is able to see by whom. There has been high usage from government, including at federal level, and also from international investors keen to identify potential startups to back, says Cornick.

The biggest pitfall is not being able to guarantee the 100 percent accuracy of the database – but none are, she says. 

“You go to our database today and there will always be a company in there that we would say was not a startup, it’s a small business. Equally, there will be businesses in there that were once alive and are now dead but there’s been no signal as to why that happened. You can’t expect the platform to pick that up but it also goes to why ongoing curation is really important.”

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The feedback

Pinner says NZGCP spoke with members of other ecosystems about how engaged people had been with their databases and they said there had been good uptake.

“We’re hopeful it’s going to be positively embraced.”

One problem it should fix is a lack of data on large parts of the New Zealand ecosystem – whether that’s demographic or regional data, or the size of funding rounds in particular sectors, says Everett.

“If it’s used the way it has been used in some other countries some of those gaps will get filled and we’ll have much better information. Whether you’re a founder or an investor or a government agency, that helps you target your efforts much more effectively,” he says.

“That’s the end goal: an ecosystem that knows a bit more about itself and, depending on what angle you’re coming from, helps you get the information you need a lot quicker.”

Alongside data gaps, a recent Startup Genome report identified founders often didn’t know where to go to seek capital.

“By having quite an exhaustive list of investors and government grants and other government initiatives to help startups, hopefully it’s easier [to know] where to go and vice versa – for investors to find a startup that is not really on their radar,” says Pinner.

Another benefit for startup founders will be a matching tool that allows them to find relevant investors.

“Hopefully, it shortcuts your ability to see the universe you might want to be talking to and there will be companies coming into those sectors that the investors who specialise, for instance, just won’t have seen yet. We are hoping that it will provide some real connectivity,” says Everett.

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The filters

From the outset, the New Zealand dashboard shows more than 1,300 high-growth startups, although the latest Startup Genome report identified New Zealand has around 2,500.

Pinner says there are definitely gaps in the database that it wants people to come forward and claim, and he’s hopeful larger VC investors with big portfolios will input and update information relating to their invested companies. 

Also missing are really early-stage companies that haven’t yet set up a website – such as those about to be spun out of universities and CRIs, or those operating in stealth mode. 

The deal with Dealroom includes producing a detailed annual report on what is happening in the New Zealand startup ecosystem – something it does in other regions. 

LaunchVic's latest report shows its ecosystem value has jumped from A$91 billion to A$103 billion in the past year despite a downturn in global investment. VC However, investment had fallen to 2018 levels, with A$668 million invested between January and November 2023.  

The New Zealand report will include comparisons to other ecosystems globally that operate Dealroom databases. Cornick says it’s important that startups and government don’t just think of the report from a local perspective of comparing where they were last year.

“It’s actually 'how do we compare globally?' because we are part of a global trade and investment community. If you genuinely want global businesses, you have to look at a global lens.”

Pinner says the New Zealand report will also provide insights on what is working here and what isn’t, and where our strengths lie. 

“Obviously, the better the base data, the more these reports will be worthwhile.”

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NZGCP is a foundation partner of Caffeine

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