Tech firms meet US heavy hitters

By ADAM GIFFORD

With venture capital proving elusive or illusory, three New Zealand technology companies are getting a chance to go straight for the wallet of corporate America.

Argent Networks, Deep Video Imaging and Intrahealth are attending the Corporate Investment and Strategic Alliances (Cisa) conference in Dallas this week, where companies like Alcatel, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett-Packard, IBM Intel, Motorola, Nortel, and SAP will pitch to them.

Instead of the investee companies getting a few minutes to pitch to potential investors, the investors will tell them what they have to offer.

Paul Gestro, information and communications technology investment manager for Investment New Zealand, co-sponsors of the event, said Cisa was a place where investee companies could identify distribution channels, market partners and sources of capital.

"This event is particularly well run in that it attracts people who hold the chequebooks for the major corporates," Gestro said. He said corporate investors were looking for technology to complement their business rather than just make a quick profit.

Ten companies applied to take part once they heard who would be involved. Gestro said many missed out on the trip because they were smaller operations needing angel funding.

"Corporate investors only invest in companies which have had one or two rounds of funding. They are usually not looking to take a large equity stake but to align themselves," he said.

Investment New Zealand is sharing sponsorship of the conference with a similar Canadian body, and only New Zealand and Canadian companies will be pitched to.

Deep Video Imaging executive vice- president Gabriel Engel said DVI was sending its Houston-based business development manager and a Chicago-based staffer to Dallas, and would also have its monitors on display.

"Most of those presenting are companies DVI would like to partner with and some are already customers," Engel said.

Argent Networks chief executive Chris Jones said some second-tier US telephone companies were already using Argent billing systems and switches, but the company wanted to break into the top tier.

"What we are looking at is strategic relationships. In a tight market the bigger players, even if they don't have the technology, will partner with smaller companies like us to provide customers with a solution," Jones said.

Argent does packet-based billing, which can measure the amount of traffic going over a data or VOIP (voice over internet protocol) network.

Intrahealth Systems business development vice-president Kannan Subramaniam said his firm was looking for strategic alliances or investors to help it take its primary and community health software to the world.

"In New Zealand, over half of all primary physicians use electronic records and prescribing. In the US the figure is under 15 per cent," Subramaniam said.

"The emphasis there is on billing rather than clinical software, but the Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act has fostered the use of electronic records."