This series started with The history of Gilligan Sheppard Capital Raising. GS has been active in the property syndication and start-up capital raising space for quite some time. There are many that know us well. However, there are also many more that do not realise that GS ‘do’ this. The reason many may be unaware […]

Other than going to the bank or approaching family members – how can you raise money for a business? Raising capital refers to an investor who gives funds to assist with starting, growing or managing day-to-day operations. Sometimes you will have a great idea for a business, but not enough money in the bank to […]

Welcome to 2021. Normally I would write something in December, a reflection on 2020 and what I think 2021 has in store for us. Instead, I wrote an irrelevant piece on losing cell phones. Hope it was amusing. Why did I do this? Because frankly I was at a loss as to what to make […]

Over our 30-something years, we’ve dabbled in helping small companies raise capital. Sometimes they turned into big companies, but sometimes they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Here is an extremely abridged history of where we’ve been… The early years 1989-1995 Not long after GS was formed, we started doing a lot […]

When people think about cryptocurrency, we mostly think about Bitcoin but what exactly is cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is a type of digital currency which is recorded on a blockchain that can be used in exchange for goods or services.  A blockchain is a specific type of database that stores information in blocks that are chained to […]

The initial lockdown forced business to adapt, Gilligan Sheppard were not exempt. Capital raising for early stage / start-ups is always challenging at the best of times. During lockdown Gilligan Sheppard was engaged to raise capital for a start-up, Ora Pharm, a new business in the recently legal and regulated medicinal cannabis industry. Michael, a […]

Elon Musk was quoted as saying, “If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough.”, which is easy to say when you are a billionaire, but does strike at the difference between attitudes to innovation in New Zealand and most other OECD countries. As a firm, Gilligan Sheppard have been supporters of innovative companies […]

Presently, if you own a residential investment property, and it costs you more to operate for a particular income year, than the rental income you receive from your tenants, you make a rental loss which can then be offset against any other income you earn, thereby reducing the overall amount of tax you need to […]

Thanks for all the great feedback and conversations following last month’s article. In that article I promised to cover recent developments in the innovation funding landscape. If we assume three things: The New Zealand early stage company/start-up environment has not delivered enough sustainable companies that are growing and have global commercial potential, The upcoming change […]

Eduardo Porter wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Loss of Dynamism is impeding Growth”. The premise of the article was that New Zealand, like others in the OECD, have not generated enough early stage companies and have not done enough to ensure they become mature or revenue generating companies. The article quotes […]