Former long-time Sunrise co-host David ‘Kochie’ Koch has taken his career in a very different direction following his 21 years in breakfast television.
Kochie departed the Seven Network program last month, announcing he would be moving on from the show to spend more time with his family and focus on his work in finance.
The 67-year-old founder of Pinstripe Media, a business, finance and tech content marketing and publishing company, has invested in Australian beverage company Goodness Group Global’s Nexba drink.
In his first significant investment since leaving Sunrise, he contributed to the $7.75 million fundraising effort of Nexba, which specialises in “naturally sugar free” soft drinks.
The brand, available across Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, UK and Europe, sells crafted soda, kombucha, nootropics, iced tea and mixers.
The move didn’t come completely out of the blue for Kochie, who said he met the brand’s founders coincidentally a decade ago.
“I met the Nexba founders on a plane 10 years ago and have followed and admired their journey ever since. When the opportunity came to become a shareholder, I jumped at the chance,” he said.
“I love supporting young Aussie entrepreneurs and Nexba joins a group of six other start-ups and scaleups I’ve invested in over recent years. Whenever I assess the suitability of a company for potential investment, there are a few key principles that guide me.
“One is the quality and integrity of the founders of the business and the other is having a strong purpose to deliver value and impact long term. In the case of Nexba and Goodness Group Global – I overwhelmingly support both.
“We know that Nexba is on a mission to create a lasting impact of better health and wellness and that’s not only a worthy journey to join, but is hopefully a good investment decision as well.”
Kochie’s move followed Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins being named the company’s global brand ambassador. He is also a shareholder of Goodness Group Global.
The parent company has a health conscious approach to its beverages and aims to have a host of “better for you” brands under its Goodness Group Global umbrella.
Its $7.75M Series B Capital Raise, in partnership with VentureCrowd, is open, which to date has raised $3.5 million at $1.28 per share.