Venture Capital Fund Matū Iramoe Rings The Bell As IPO Opens Today

Matū Iramoe’s initial public offering, which went live today on Catalist, offers retail investors a unique opportunity to buy into the rapidly growing deep tech sector.

With deep tech accounting for 25% of start-up investments last year according to a PWC report, Matū Group is helping Aotearoa New Zealand's deep tech sector realise its potential with world-leading research and innovation.

Ken Erskine, a Matū Iramoe Director, says shares in Matū Iramoe not only provide a diversified investment opportunity in its 12 underlying portfolio companies, but they also enable Kiwi research and innovation to create significant opportunities and impact around the world.

"Within three years, Matū has grown a strong investment portfolio of 12 companies, reflecting the diversity of the science and deep tech innovation within Aotearoa New Zealand," Erskine says.

The companies are addressing some of society's biggest issues, from the detection and treatment of chronic diseases and improving surgical outcomes, to testing for pathogens attacking Aotearoa New Zealand's ecosystem.

"When Matū was founded we set a goal to see Kiwi science and technology be acknowledged at home and overseas as a leading investment class in its own right. We’re proud of the phenomenal progress made to date,” Erskine says.

“Our portfolio has delivered an unrealised return on deployed capital of over 60% and prospects for further appreciation in existing and new investments remains strong.”

In a short timeframe Matū’s portfolio companies have already filed 44 patents, created over 110 new jobs, secured over NZD$12 million in non-dilutive grants, and raised NZD$82 million in new investment capital.

Some recent portfolio company performances and investment highlights include:

· Mekonos, a company revolutionising cell therapy, recently completed an oversubscribed USD$25 million raise round. The new capital will accelerate the development of Mekonos’ “system on a chip”, expand commercial partnerships and support talent acquisition.

· Alimetry left stealth mode earlier this year to announce they had achieved CE Mark on their wearable diagnostic product, called Gastric Alimetry, which is positioned to transform the diagnostic pathway for millions of patients worldwide suffering from gastric diseases and symptoms. Alimetry was also named a finalist in three categories of the NZ Hi-Tech Awards this year.

· Ligar, commercialising high-selectivity extraction and filtering technology, announced a cannabis purification partnership with Maratek in November 2021, working together to use Ligar’s technology to produce a high-quality extract, more efficiently, and more safely than existing methods.

· PowerON successfully closed a $3.1 million oversubscribed capital raise to further their mission of bringing soft robotics to the world. This funding will enable them to complete multi-functional prototypes for lead customers and build the global market for their novel sensing, actuation, and computation systems.

Matū Iramoe’s IPO is now live on Catalist at https://www.catalist.co.nz/businesses/landing/Matu, and is available to retail investors and wholesale investors. Investors are invited to attend an investment Facebook Live webinar with the Matū team on Thursday 18 November at 12:30pm on Catalist’s Facebook page.

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