Leading angel set to impart wisdom

Veteran US venture capitalist John May to share experience with Tauranga investors.

Tauranga investors interested in learning more about the angel investment space will get an opportunity later this month when American chair-emeritus of the Angel Capital Association John May visits the region.

"There are two ways of learning about angel investing " by doing it and by hearing from people who have done it a lot," said Bill Murphy, executive director of Enterprise Angels, the Bay of Plenty-based group which has become one of the largest and most active angel groups in New Zealand.

"Any of us who have been involved in EA for a while will tell you that the visits of people like Bill Payne and John Huston to EA have been critical in deepening our knowledge and making us better investors."

The Angel Association of New Zealand is bringing Mr May out from the US.

Mr May has been at the forefront of the angel investor movement and is managing partner of the New Vantage Group, which has organised five angel investing organisations in Washington, D.C. placing funds into more than 50 companies. In addition to having chaired the national US angel association, he is a lead instructor for the "Power of Angel Investing" seminars, a programme of the Angel Resource Institute.

He is also the co-author of two books, Every Business Needs an Angel and State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing. Washingtonian Magazine named Mr May one of its 100 Tech Titans of DC, and he was awarded the Hans Severiens Award for the contributions to the angel investing industry at the Angel Capital Association Summit in San Francisco in 2010.

Currently, Mr May is active in cross-border angel investing and developing angel investment ecosystems in emerging markets.

He will speak at three events in Tauranga:

-A networking event from 5pm to 7pm on Thursday, 19 February, hosted by Enterprise Angels and Priority One, at the Ignition co-working space, Ground Floor, Rydal House, Grey Street.

-A half day workshop from 9am to 12pm on Monday, 23 February, at the BaseStation, Durham Street, hosted by Enterprise Angels

-An "angel at my table" event at Tauranga Art Gallery at 5pm on the Monday.