Early-stage investing funds the first three stages of a company’s development. It is divided into three distinct funding types:
Seed funding (seed capital)
- Money provided to help an entrepreneur start a business
Start-up funding
- money used to help a company develop products and start marketing those products
Early-growth funding
- money to help establish and boost manufacturing and sales
Early-stage investors understand that building a new business takes time and ongoing support, so they typically expect to make multiple investments in a single company as it develops.
Angel investors, networks and funds invested a record $61.2 million into 94 early stage New Zealand companies in 2015 taking the total invested since 2006 to $414.7 million.