The latest Young Company Finance, the half-yearly publication describing the details of which deals have been done in the <$5m space, has just been released.

It has been an excellent start to the year for seed, startup and early expansion investment, with both numbers of investments (33) and amount invested ($30M) for the first six months of 2009 higher than for all of 2008.

Most of the activity was in Q2; in other words, we’re on a steep upwards trend:

NZTE Escalator were particularly active with seven investments, along with ICE Angels (5), Cure Kids Ventures (3), MOVAC (2), Pacific Channel (2), Powerhouse Ventures (2) and others taking lead roles.  It was especially interesting that 85% of the deals involved syndication partners, significantly higher than previous reporting periods.

Even more telling is that the number of deals where SCIF was the only co-investor has dropped from 12 in 2007 to 8 in 2008 to only 2 in the first half of 2009.

That’s excellent news for the industry.  Investment groups are taking risks together, and not relying on gummint.  NZTE Escalator is taking tiny bets on embryonic plays where even angels fear to tread.

We’re coming of age.

Download the report.

The Angel Association (in conjunction with NZTE Escalator) is a running a basic training course called “The Power of Angel Investing” in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin in February and March (see the course schedule for details). Based on the Angel Capital Education Foundation’s course of the same name, it promises to provide an overview of the angel investment process. The course is aimed at:

• Successful entrepreneurs who have exited from their businesses and have an interest in staying involved in early stage companies.
• High net-worth individuals with senior business experience who now have the time and interest in investing in early stage companies.
• Angel investors who have done from one to three deals.
• Community leaders and entrepreneurial support professionals who are interested in promoting angel investing in their communities.

It’s an all day course, and the cost is between $300-$400 depending on whether or not you’re a member of an associated angel club.  It will be interesting to see whether the penny gap or time elasticity of demand (a whole day is a lot of time to be sitting in front of an instructor) effect attendance.

They’re also running free courses for entrepreneurs on Power Pitching and An Essential Guide to Capital Raising.