Wellington Successes
Wellington has a long & proud history of successful innovation and start-ups going on to global success.
What is success? For our purpose here, we’re talking about sustained public listing, acquisition, or long profitable private company.
Want to add your company? Email [email protected]
Also check out:
- Wellington Gold Awards Hall of Fame for annual winners since 1999
For ff
Trade Me
Established 1999 by Sam Morgan
NZ’s largest online auction & classifieds web-site
Acquired by Fairfax for $700m (now owned by Apax Partners)
HQ in Wellington
Silverstripe
Established 2000 by Sam Minnee, Tim Copeland, Sigurd Magnusson
Open-source content management system
?PRIVATE
HQ in Wellington
Parts Trader
Established 2004 by Rob Cooper, Colin Bevan, Chris Smith and others
Supports 15,000 repairers and suppliers globally find the right parts
Agreed to be acquired by Enlyte in 2026
HQ in Wellington
Magritek
Established 2004 by Dr Robin Dykstra, Prof Sir Paul Callaghan and others
Massey & Victoria & RWTH Germany spin-out
Compact, portable nuclear magnetic resonance
Acquired by XYZ in XYZ
? in Wellington today
Xero
Established 2006 by Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards
Cloud-based accounting with over 4.2m global users
Listed on the NZX in 2007, then ASX in 2012, raising serious $
HQ in Wellington
Volpara Health
Established 2009 by Dr Ralph Highnam
40% of US women have breast cancer screening using Volpara’s AI
Listed on the ASX 2016-2024, raised over $100m
Acquired by Lunit for $300m
Active office in Wellington