Mike Caird named New Zealand’s 2025 Arch Angel

Mike Caird has been awarded Angel Association New Zealand’s 2025 Arch Angel Award at the 17th Annual Summit.

The Arch Angel Award is the highest honour in New Zealand’s angel investment community, given to those who exemplify the quintessential angel and who advocate for the endeavour and make a significant difference to New Zealand’s start-up ecosystem. As well as their personal capital, Arch Angel recipients share their time, insights, deeply relevant skills, and their networks with high growth startup companies.

With a successful career as an investment banker and several private businesses, Mike brings a professional rigour and detailed mindset to the analysis of opportunities and support of our founders. But, the first thing most of his colleagues and founders reflect on is his calm, patient and generous approach to relationships and challenges that makes finding the path forward together possible.

More than an active investor with an extensive portfolio through Angel HQ, Mike has been giving of his time and experience to founders (whether he himself is invested financially or not), fellow Angels and our ecosystem more broadly.

He has contributed extensively to dealflow and due diligence processes in Angel HQ as well as education sessions for the club and for AANZ.

He is described as “Patient, reliable, pragmatic, active, responsive, highly engaged, willing to experiment and to take tough calls”. His peers reflect on his willingness to put his money where his mouth is and that all of these great characteristics are demonstrated reliably, time and again.

Mike is an active board member. He also chairs multiple startups, including Seen Safety, Times-7, and Signal Corporation, alongside several other private companies. He has been a director, advisor and lifeline to many angel backed companies. He has dipped into his own pocket to cover payroll and helped steer companies through tough patches.

From a community perspective, Mike has championed trips for members of Angel HQ to other clubs to build connections and understanding across NZ and enhance our coinvestment.

Each year, the Arch Angel award recipient is chosen by the previous years’ winners.

David Allison, Manager of AngelHQ, says “Mike exemplifies so many aspects of angel investing. His level of personal knowledge and experience could easily be a barrier to connecting with other angels but he understands that this is a game best played with friends – his willingness to connect with other clubs and new members enhances Angel HQ and our club simply wouldn’t be what it is today without his contribution”.

Mike was awarded the Arch Angel award today at the annual summit being held at Bangor Farm just outside Christchurch.

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For more information, please contact Bridget Unsworth, CEO Angel Association

mob: 021 555 563 or email: [email protected]

Former Arch Angel winners include The Warehouse founder and K1W1 founder Stephen Tindall; Andy Hamilton, former chief executive of The Icehouse and IceAngels founder; the late US super angel Bill Payne; Movac Ventures founder Phil McCaw; veteran angel investor the late Dr Ray Thomson; prolific AngelHQ member Trevor Dickinson, former AANZ Chair Marcel van den Assum; ardent angel investor Debra Hall, champion for kiwi start-ups Dave Moskovitz and long-time Ice Angels member Scott Gilmour, SaaS champion, Serge van Dam, a member of AngelHQ, Rudi Bublitz, founder and CEO of Flying Kiwi Angels, Dana McKenzie active investor and most recently Susan Iorns.