New Zealand Investment Appetite Rises, But Deals Still Fall Short

By Grace Kim

Some 32.5% of executives surveyed in this year's Mood of the Boardroom say their company's appetite for investment in New Zealand is greater than 12 months ago, with 5.5% calling it much greater. Just 12% report a lower appetite, and 55.5% say it's unchanged. Willingness, though, isn't the same as deployed capital. The NZ Herald asked five people at the center of New Zealand's investment system where the bottlenecks sit — and where the returns are hiding.

What's actually attracting offshore money?

Robert Wall, chief executive of Invest New Zealand, a Crown entity barely a year old, says genuine offshore interest is coming through in renewable energy, digital infrastructure and technology-led opportunities. He points to hard numbers on the Active Investor Plus programme: "Invest New Zealand assesses applications for managed funds and direct investments under the growth category of the programme, with over $2 billion of capital committed since April 2025."

Wall frames the country's biggest play as convergence. "The opportunity for New Zealand lies in connecting these sectors — for example, companies with access to reliable, renewable power will link New Zealand to global markets, and the right commercial partners can help new technologies move from development to deployment." He says recent reforms to overseas investment screening have made the regime faster and more proportionate for lower-risk transactions.

Success in five years, in his view, means a deeper pipeline of projects at the scale international investors require, more international companies expanding locally, and stronger ties between New Zealand businesses and global capital.

Is there really a capital shortage?

Will Goodwin, co-chief investment officer of the NZ Super Fund, doesn't think so. "Our view is that the issue is often not a shortage of capital, but a shortage of well-prepared, appropriately scaled propositions with robust economics, clear risk allocation and a willingness to include international delivery capability," he says. International peers, he says, would call New Zealand "a credible but developing institutional investment market."

Goodwin cites the fund's investment in Kaingaroa Tipu — forestry, held with aligned long-term partners including mana whenua — as proof that scale and structure beat geography. "Investments like this did not work simply because they were in New Zealand," he says. His prescription: "New Zealand needs to shift from presenting investors with isolated projects to creating credible, multi-year investment pipelines."

How deep is the venture market?

James Pinner, chief executive of NZ Growth Capital Partners, says over $1 billion has flowed into private VC firms in the first five years of the Elevate NZ Venture Fund — more than in the prior 15 years. For every dollar NZGCP invests, $2.64 of private capital follows, and 20% of that comes from offshore. "Even 1% of KiwiSaver balances going into the most promising managers and start-ups would transform the market," he says.

Still, NZGCP's benchmarking suggests New Zealand should have around 5000 start-ups; it estimates there are about 1500. The gap is sharpest at the earliest stages — hence the Scout pre-seed programme and Launch, an emerging-manager fund of funds announced in Budget 2026. Pinner thinks institutional backing will take at least another decade, and notes the global AI surge has raised the bar for medtech and climate tech companies raising internationally.

Can science become business?

Maria Jose Alvarez, managing partner of WNT Ventures, says New Zealand's research system is "set up to produce papers and patents, not founders." Deep tech needs 10-to-15-year horizons, investors who can judge technical risk, and reserves for follow-on rounds. "Our capital base is thin on all three," she says. Her test for government money: it should back companies and fund managers "that would not otherwise exist."

Who keeps the value?

Bowen Pan, co-founder of Growth NZ, points to Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Xero, Partly and Gallagher as proof the country can produce global winners — "but too often they succeed despite our settings rather than because of them." Technology is already New Zealand's third-largest export earner. Growth NZ has proposed a Catalyst visa allowing up to 300 exceptional international specialists in per year, without a job offer, with 12 months to begin qualifying work.

"We're still in the early innings," Pan says of growth capital. His definition of winning: keep enough of each company anchored here — ownership, IP, R&D, leadership and high-value jobs — as it scales globally.