While advisory services and moving the needle positively for clients was great, Nick was sure there was more to life than clipping the ticket. Through personal experience and observation of negative environmental outcomes and impacts on well being, he began questioning the mantra that “growth is good” and became convinced that there was a better path to navigate both personally and professionally.

Nick had an opportunity to act on that conviction, joining Derek at the Aera Foundation in 2014 where he immersed himself into the world where purpose and profit combine while testing new models, opportunities and ideas. This period ultimately led to the incubation of Aera VC.

While at Aera, Nick was also an instrumental partner at the pre-IPO focused Iliad Fund, he served on the board of the Sustainable Business Network and was a director at Amplify Capital which undertook general M&A and corporate advisory engagements primarily for established New Zealand businesses on his own account and on behalf of other investors.

Nick established Aera VC’s operations and the sourcing network bringing 850+ deals in 2019 while building and developing key partnerships in the venture ecosystem.

In recent years, Nick developed sourcing and due diligence processes for a major US family office, ‘NineNinety’ across property and food and beverage sectors. Nick holds a B.Com in Accounting and Marketing and a Bachelor of Law with First Class honours from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.