A company’s name is often created from various inspirations and can, in most cases, provide insight into the company’s backstory and values.
The day we first established the deep-tech venture capital company, the name Pacific Channel worked. And it still fits today. It’s a true representation of what our team continues to offer researchers, innovators, and investors.
Think for a moment about the journey many early-stage New Zealand companies take to grow and scale. This journey typically involves accessing markets [and further venture capital investment] in much larger countries, e.g., the US, Europe, and China; so figuratively speaking – these companies are crossing the Pacific.
The first part of the name explains ‘where we go’ - the second part, the word ‘Channel’, is derived from 'what we actually do', which is to use our expertise, experience, networks and capability to create channels so NZ-founded companies can successfully access these much larger, fast-growing markets.
New Zealand is a great place to build a company. It’s highly efficient from an R&D perspective, and according to the World Bank [which said that simplifying business regulation is the key to economic success], is one of the easiest places in the world to do business.
In our view, New Zealand’s R&D capability is phenomenal and comparatively, we continue to have a significant impact on the world. We have some amazing people using ground-breaking science and research to solve hard problems to make a better world, which, if solved and commercialised, will have a positive impact on the lives and well-being of citizens, society, and the environment.
Although New Zealand is great, the reality is that we’re a country of approximately 5 million people, which means our market size is limited. If you are like us and believe that a business’ ultimate size is largely a function of how big the target market is, then if we want to take these amazing deep-tech innovations and build multi-million or billion-dollar companies capable of having a real impact on the future of our world, it is essential that we tap into much bigger markets than our own.
This raises an important question. How can an early-stage company built on deep-tech innovation successfully and sustainably access international markets?
The ability to commercialise deep-tech, by firstly building a company in New Zealand and then channelling it across the pacific to facilitate access to some of the world’s largest markets while keeping its base here is at the core of Pacific Channel’s DNA.
Commercialising deep tech requires time, talent, knowledge, collaboration, effort, and, most importantly, an understanding of what it takes to be successful in specific markets.
Perhaps this can be best explained by a recent example.
Pacific Channel invested in a company that has developed technology which allows for continuous monitoring of manufacturing processes, pinpointing inefficiencies to mitigate losses and potential pollution through wastewater.
The NZ-based company still has strong roots in NZ, but the initially identified market opportunities were in the US. So, cutting a long story short, after a lot of hard work at this end, getting the company to the point it was ready, our team took their team and channelled them across the Pacific to America to introduce them to potential customers.
We have some amazing people using ground-breaking science and research to solve hard problems to make a better world, which, if solved and commercialised, will have a positive impact on the lives and well-being of citizens, society, and the environment.
In some ways, Pacific Channel is considered a foundational layer of the deep-tech sector. We do what the name says - we help channel deep-tech companies across the Pacific to access much larger American, Asian and European markets. But importantly, the roots of the company stay in New Zealand.
Aside from coming up with a solution to the tough challenges facing the future of our world, the key part to making a real impact is the successful commercialisation of the technology.
To find out more about us click here: ABOUT US
