Vocado managing director Colin Elder said the move gave the company the capacity to expand, and allowed easy access to new investors and advisers.
"We needed some depth of experience and we've got that now so I'm absolutely delighted with the people we've picked up and who have supported us in this investment."
Vocado uses a production process which aims to get the avocado pulp into an oxygen-free environment as soon as possible so that the fruit doesn't brown. The pulp is then packaged in resealable, plastic pouches to keep it fresh and sold to commercial users such as Hell Pizza and Pita Pit.
"We purposely targeted franchises that were already using avocado and we're taking over from imported products, we're not competing directly with any New Zealand supplied products and that's intentional on our part because it's a small market and we want to be export driven."
Vocado is working on setting up a second production line in its Koromiko St factory. There was room in the factory for a third production line if needed, Mr Elder said.
The company's production manager will be moving to Tauranga in January and local people will be employed in the future. "We see about five people employed, with another couple of people per production line that we manage to put in."
Enterprise Angels chief executive Bill Murphy said the large investment and quality of the investors/advisers had drawn the company to Tauranga.
"It was important to us to have Colin close by the expertise we have here, it makes it easier for us to really engage and help the company."
The Vocado deal represented a positive trend towards local investing, Mr Murphy said.
"Including the Vocado deal, we've invested in eight companies this year and, of those eight companies, three are Bay of Plenty companies."
