Marcel van den Assum named as New Zealand Arch Angel 2015

16th October, 2015

Marcel van den Assum named as New Zealand Arch Angel 2015

Marcel van den Assum, the current chair of the Angel Association of New Zealand (AANZ) has been awarded the prestigious Arch Angel Award at the 2015 combined Angel Summit and Asian Business Angels Forum (ABAF) in Queenstown.

The Arch Angel Award is the highest honour New Zealand’s angel investment community can bestow. It recognises someone who has steadfastly championed the cause of angel investment and the investors who are willing to give a significant amount of time and money to help those start-ups and early stage companies, and particularly the entrepreneurs who risk all to establish those companies, to reach their potential.

The Committee deciding the award (comprised of past Arch Angel awardees) noted Marcel has not only been a particularly active angel investor but has taken a leading role in the governance of a number of angel investee companies, distinguishing himself with his widely acknowledged assistance in the Green Button exit last year.

“However, it is his contribution to the administration and promotion of New Zealand’s angel investment world that was key to Marcel becoming this year’s Arch Angel,” says 2014 New Zealand Arch Angel and former AANZ chair Ray Thomson. “Not only has he been heavily involved in the development of the Wellington-based Angel HQ group, which was instrumental in founding New Zealand’s first startup accelerator Lightning Lab, but he has generously given his time to the development of New Zealand’s angel community, serving two years as deputy chair and then, for the last two years, chair of the AANZ.”

Marcel was presented with this year’s award in front of more than 170 angels, including 50 representatives from overseas, in the first event of its kind in New Zealand combining the eighth annual Angel Summit with ABAF.

Andy Hamilton, chief executive of Auckland’s angel, startup and business education hub, the Icehouse, and another former Arch Angel, says giving this year’s award to Marcel in front of so many national and international angels was fitting as Marcel has always strived to help build overseas connections to help our startups succeed. “Like all business angels, Marcel is completely dedicated to helping entrepreneurs achieve their potential and to do that we need to build international connections to provide the capital and connections our young businesses need to compete in a global marketplace.”

Marcel is AANZ chair, a professional director and an angel investor. He serves on the boards of Flick, Voco, Simplhealth, Yonix, CropX and the Wellington-based angel group AngelHQ. He was an investor in and chair of GreenButton, a successful angel-backed company that was acquired by Microsoft in 2014. He is a founding investor in Lightning Lab, a member of the GD1 (Global from Day one) investment committee, and he holds a number of advisory board positions with private and public sector entities. Prior to donning his wings, Marcel was CIO of Fonterra and managing principal of Unisys New Zealand.

Former Arch Angel winners include Phil McCaw, managing partner of investment firm Movac; The Warehouse founder and long-time angel investor Stephen Tindall; Andy Hamilton, chief executive of Auckland-based incubator and business educator The Icehouse; US super angel Bill Payne, and last year’s awardee veteran angel investor Dr Ray Thomson.

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