Wellington, June 5 NZPA - Up to $12 million will be available for investing in biotechnology under a new investment partnership.

The partnership involves Crown-owned company New Zealand Venture Investment Fund (NZVIF) and private investment company Pacific Channel, the New Zealand affiliate of United States life sciences venture firm The Channel Group.

Together they would invest around $8m to $12m in new biotech ventures, NZVIF said today.

NZVIF chief executive Franceska Banga said the partnership would deepen the capital available for new biotechnology ventures in this country and would provide access to North American expertise and capital.

"We see significant investment opportunities in the life science industries in New Zealand. With this partnership, we hope to see greater investment in biotechnology innovations which have the potential to advance to the commercial stage in global markets."

Pacific Channel director Brent Ogilvie, a former New Zealand trade commissioner to New York, said there was a lack of seed funding for life science start-ups and early-stage companies, particularly in the bio-medical field.

Pacific Channel's partnership with NZVIF is through NZVIF's Seed Co- Investment Fund which is providing $40m of matched seed funding to support the development of early-stage investment markets alongside selected partners.

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