Charles Hudson

 

Venture Partner
SoftTech VC

An active seed stage investor focusing on Web 2.0 startups, Charles Hudson has focused his recent attention on mobile and gaming investments in addition to his work as Venture Partner at SoftTech VC. Prior to joining SoftTech, Hudson was vice-President at Business Development for Serious Business, a company acquired by major internet players Zynga in 2010.

Hudson was one of the few visiting investors with previous experience in dealing with New Zealand businesses. “I’ve met a bunch of New Zealand startups before,” said Hudson. “But we typically look to invest in areas where there is a healthy ecosystem in place: where there’s other investors, advisors and start ups around to give them advice. And when I met those companies I didn’t have any sense for what that was like in New Zealand. So, I’ve prinicipally come to see how it all works here. What infrastructure is in place, what are the support networks and how does this all work?”

As was the case with some of the other visiting investors, the agriculture sector was top of the agenda. Hudson remarked “I’ve heard a lot of people here talking about ag-tech, we have an ag-tech firm in our portfolio so I’m very curious to hear about that.”

Even though it appeared a scouting mission for Hudson this time around, he added that there was the possibility for business to stand out for him in New Zealand, specifying ,“I like to see companies working where there’s the potential for big scale.”

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