KEY POINTS:
A flurry of capital raisings by tech companies over the past two months could signal renewed investor interest in the sector, industry executives say.
Rod Drury, who listed the software company Xero Live on the NZX in June, said technology had become mainstream and the sector's stocks were
becoming "just business".
"Technology was always going to be big ... It touches all industries and every part of the economy. It's just a part of people's lives now - people are booking airline tickets on line, using Wi-Fi in cafes, and watching MySky at home - it's permeating general business."
Drury's comment came after two other technology companies called for capital to fund further expansion.
Christchurch's Syft Technologies said this week that it was raising $10 million for R&D and overseas marketing for its chemical detection technology.
And Software company Datasquirt announced it would float on the ASX, and wanted to raise $13 million for international expansion.
Drury said the technology industry had started to mature, and more information and opinions about it were available through online blogs, websites and RSS feeds. Also, investors were more cautious about hype than during the tech bubble seven years ago.
Xero Live, a web-based accounting software service, raised $15 million for its float and was the first of "a number of technology companies" to have signalled interest in listing, according to NZX head of market products Geoff Brown.
Syft Technologies chief executive Geoff Peck said his company's decision to raise capital was simply about timing.
"The current cycle for technology companies is innovative new concepts, not so much web-based products. If you've got an exciting story based on a new concept, you get more attention because you're a new paradigm."
He questioned whether Xero would have listed easily without Drury's name.
A 20-year IT industry veteran, Drury last year sold his email management software company Aftermail to US buyer Quest for US$65 million ($89 million).
"Mind you, listing [a company] and succeeding with it are two different things," Peck said.
He said investors were more clued up about how tech companies ought to work and about key potential success markers such as a company's potential in overseas markets, whether bigger global players could be involved and what exit strategies existed.
Tech listings were thin on the ground in New Zealand because the market was small, Peck said, and there was not yet a big enough core of specialist investors, although some institutional investors were increasingly becoming that way.
Syft, which is quoted on the Unlisted market, creates technology that can detect volatile organic compounds down to parts per billion and has potential applications across a range of fields including healthcare, food science, environmental monitoring and biosecurity.
Datasquirt founder Mark Lovey said he felt the Australian market had more enthusiasm than New Zealand's, and offered access to larger amounts of money through larger institutions.
Datasquirt's float there values the company at A$28 million ($31.3 million).
Syft Tech
* Chemical 'sniffer' technology.
* Raising $10 million.
Datasquirt
* Contact centre software.
* Plans to raise $12 million for international expansion, and is listing on the ASX XERO.
* Online accounting software.
* Raised $15 million to list on the NZX.
