It has been 7 months now since we launched the Queenstown Innovation Centre and I feel we finally have got onto our feet. In the last three months we have had a number of applications for businesses to come into the Innovation Centre and are working presently on a couple which are really exciting projects. We are being selective simply because time and money is not abundant.

The Innovation Centre now has 6 businesses setup accessing office space, meeting areas, network and Internet infrastructure, mentoring and a supportive environment as well as at cost software and web development via Xebidy.

NZbyBike and Travel Generation are the two businesses that I am involved with that are being treated completely as incubator businesses and it is really paying dividends. NZbyBike is just going through a funding round now with an investment group for a post investment valuation of $1 million – and this is after only 5 month of being live.

From my point of view it is really enjoyable working on different projects and with motivated individuals. It is great for the Xebidy boys to not only doing the normal web work but also work for what feels like a greater good on these projects.

We are currently looking at taking more space within our current building – so if you are looking at starting a venture or taking your business to the next step talk to me.

Last year I also setup South Inc. Southern Lakes Business Incubator. This is the business part of the Innovation Centre process which works on creating a valuable proposition with the entrepreneur – be that market and product validation, identifying a sales strategy, and creating an investment ready business plan – plus going that next step and actually working with investors around the region to get the entrepreneur physical funding. NZbyBike is the first business to go the full route.

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