Icehouse Ventures funds that are Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa approved fit into the Growth category, as defined by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE). Read about the category definitions.

All Icehouse Ventures funds are currently only available to wholesale investors as defined by the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

While we recommend reading the act for a more in depth explanation, a wholesale investor is a term used to describe a person (or company, trust or partnership) that is legally allowed to invest in opportunities otherwise not available to the public or "retail" investors, such as startups or venture capital funds. This restriction is designed for investors' protection.

Wholesale investors typically qualify under one (or more) of four different options, which can be broadly described in two categories:

(1) Investors have appropriate experience to understand and accept the risks involved in the investment they are making, or;
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(2) Investors have sufficient wealth to either afford appropriate professional advice or to withstand the losses they could incur.

The four qualifications our investors typically rely on are:
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a) Being a "Large Investor", where that investor (and the entities they control) owns net assets or has consolidated turnover of $5m or more in each of the last two financial years.

b) Being an "Investment Business", where that investor's principal business (especially where the investor is a company) is one or more of a few categories including investing in financial products (i.e. fund managers), providing financial advice, or trading in financial products on behalf of others (i.e. brokers or wealth managers).

c) Meeting "Investment Activity" criteria, where an individual is either;(1) An investor that owns or has owned in the last 2n years a portfolio of specified financial products (i.e. shares, bonds, derivatives etc) in excess of $1m in value, or(2) An individual that works in an investment business and materially participates in that business' investment decisions and has done so for at least 2 years within the last 10 years.

d) Being an "Eligible Investor" where an investor has previous experience investing in financial products that is relevant to the investment they are making such that they can assess the merits and the information they need to make decisions, provide a declaration that they understand the consequences of being an eligible investor, and have that declaration confirmed by either a lawyer, accountant or financial advisor.

These descriptions are intentionally in layman's terms and should not be interpreted as advice regarding whether or not you are a wholesale investor or not. If you are unsure whether you may qualify, we recommend discussing this with your accountant, lawyer, or financial adviser.

We currently have four AIP approved funds – Seed Fund 4, Sustainable Tech Fund, Fintech Fund, and Brand Fund.