Seven Ventures

Small business equity partners

The Foote Family holding company

Our family started from humble beginnings in New Zealand small business, and we're committed to paving the way for the coming generations.Over the last 25 years, we've built experience in small business and grown a portfolio of minority and majority stakes in more than a dozen high-quality small businesses in New Zealand and the United States.

We partner with proven operators to buy established New Zealand businesses. They lead the business, and we contribute capital, experience and long-term support. It’s a model that’s worked well for more than twenty years.

Get in touch - we'd love to talk.

Seven Ventures

Investments

Some of the industries in which we have investments:

  • electrical and HVAC

  • landscaping and swimming pool construction

  • medical billing software and services

  • playground sales and installation

  • heavy equipment rental

  • manufacturing

  • staffing

  • mental health

  • franchising

  • accounting

  • commercial cleaning

  • food processing

Our ideal model for investment is a partnership in which we contribute equity, experience, and relationships to help our businesses thrive.

Seven Ventures

For operators

We believe that small business ownership is the most powerful way to achieve financial independence. We'd love to help you take advantage of the opportunity.

  • You may already be running someone else’s business - you have built teams, managed customers, solved difficult operational problems and carried responsibility for profit — without having the capital to acquire a company yourself. Seven Ventures can contribute capital alongside yours and provide practical support, while you bring leadership, industry understanding and the willingness to take responsibility.

  • You may know an owner planning retirement, work in a business that could be acquired, or have identified a business for sale. We can consider providing equity and acquisition support.

  • You may want to become an owner, but do not yet have a business identified - we maintain relationships with brokers, advisers and business owners. Where your experience aligns with a suitable opportunity, we may explore an acquisition together.

  • You may be an existing business owner who wants to see a trusted employee or manager to continue the business but funding is a barrier. We can help structure a transition.

Relevant backgrounds may include:

  • general managers or branch managers

  • experienced tradespeople who have managed staff and customers

  • operations managers in service businesses

  • clinic, healthcare or professional-services managers

  • manufacturing supervisors or production managers

  • former business owners seeking a larger opportunity

  • commercial leaders with genuine profit-and-loss responsibility

We value integrity, sound judgement, resilience, financial discipline, care for staff and customers, and the ambition to build something enduring.We are not looking to buy businesses and install layers of reporting or interfere in daily decisions. The operator is expected to lead the business, and our role is to provide capital, relationships and support through difficult decisions. We have spent more than twenty years investing in and working alongside small businesses, and we understand that good operators need autonomy and support.

Get in touch to start a conversation.

Seven Ventures

For brokers

Know someone capable of owning a good business?We are always keen to meet capable operators who could acquire and lead an established small business with the support of patient equity capital.As a broker, you know the pain of finding the ideal operator for a business, but who does not possess the capital necessary to move forward. We may be able to help you get a deal done. We would be glad to have a conversation at any point in the process.Suitable introductions may include:

  • a manager who could buy the company they currently help run

  • an experienced operator seeking to acquire a business

  • a retiring owner without an obvious family successor

  • a brokered business where a strong operator would improve the transaction

  • an accountant or adviser helping a client plan succession

Our 'sweet spot' (though we will consider other opportunities):

  • Location: New Zealand, Australia, or the United States

  • Business type: Established, profitable small businesses

  • Sectors of interest: Trades, healthcare services, B2B services, manufacturing, equipment rental and related fields (we are unlikely to invest in hospitality or retail operations)

  • Equity contribution: Up to NZ$1 million per transaction

  • Role: Long-term equity partner supporting an operating owner or successor

Our highest priority is to ensure the integrity, capability, and 'fit' of the operator - and to help them into a business that can thrive under their leadership.

Please get in touch to introduce an operator or opportunity

Seven Ventures

Contact Us

If you have energy and/or experience and you're looking for honest, easygoing, experienced equity partners, we’d love to talk more. To explore the possibility of working with us, please introduce yourself and let us know about your background, goals, and target business (if applicable - we would be glad to help you search for the perfect opportunity).Business brokers, please feel free to make contact any time about a business or an operator you think may be suitable. We'd love to help.If you’ve built a great small business and want to ‘take chips off the table’ or fully retire, we would love to make that happen for you - whether or not you have already identified a suitable buyer.Use this form to send us a message in complete confidence:

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