Hey everybody,
Thank you for jumping on the WellyForge #9 event page. It sold out in minutes so we are all so happy you find big value in our shows! There is a long waitlist, so if you cannot make it, please release that ticket!
There are literally millions lots of links to share this week so I’ll skip the editorial inasmuch as I can resist 🤪 and instead summarise the articles. Is commentary something you’d like to see less or more of? Let me know if you feel strongly about it.
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Taiawa Tech Hub delivers $14.4 million economic boost to Wellington: A new Infometrics analysis reveals the hub now contributes $14.4M to GDP and supports 148 jobs, representing a massive 21% year-on-year increase. Link
BioOra raises $45 million in a massive win for cancer therapy: This rockets the valuation up 150% in less than a year for our homegrown biotech. Link
OpenStar Technologies joins DIII-D National Fusion Facility: Integrating with the US facility will accelerate plasma and materials science research, way to show up! Link
Angel HQ hosts an all-female-founder showcase: The Wellington angel network welcomed six top-tier startups from clean-tech, deep-tech, and AI for its latest investment evening. It wasn’t planned as an event specifically for women founders, amazing to see! Link
Innovation gets top billing among WCC business advisory groups: There are nine members in the Tech, Science, Education and Innovation group, including our very own Kevin Sheehy 🥳 Link
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
The AI & commercialisation shift
PM desires “brutal commercialisation”, experts concede the need for AI literacy: As PM Luxon pushes for rapid commercialisation in the science sector, Autohive's John-Daniel Trask challenges Kiwi businesses to move past basic chatbot queries and go deep on organisational workflows. Two very different takes on the same story. Link 1 (Commercialisation) | Link 2 (AI Literacy)
CFO survey warns AI uptake could hollow finance talent pipeline: While revenue targets are being hit, 60% of New Zealand CFOs fear that automating junior accounting roles with AI will restrict essential skill development for future financial leaders. I don’t buy that myself and refer back to Lora Vardarova’s Tech Rally talk about AI as an enabler for grads. Link 1 (bad news) | Link 2 (good news)
AI Forum looks at Trans-Tasman frontier AI model costs: With all this talk of sovereignty, let’s put a number on it. This is analysis estimates the infrastructure costs (build vs buy), and assesses strategic choices facing New Zealand and Australia in the AI age. Link
The data centre backlash is uniting Americans: Increasingly in American discourse (more or less guaranteed in the centre and left of centre), data centres are axiomatically evil and obviously undesirable. This sharp take is bound for our shores, if it isn’t fully incubated already: expect community revolts against large-scale data centre developments. Link
Digital identity & scaling globally
New AML/CFT rules drive shift toward privacy-first digital credentials: The 2026 Code rewrite formally recognizes accredited digital trust services as a standalone verification pathway. In turn this sparks calls in the tech sector to disclose selectively so users need not overshare private data. Link 1 (AML/CFT Code) | Link 2 (Selective Disclosure)
Sphere New Zealand launches home for climate & cleantech Innovation: A new framework and website aim to help Kiwi-developed climate tech align its various systems so we can punch above our weight. Link
The digital export opportunity is already here via KiwiSaaS: A new manifesto details how digital and SaaS exporters can tap into global market openings. Link
Lane Litz on why New Zealand’s small size is an innovation superpower: A beautifully laid out perspective on how our highly connected startup ecosystem allows a single founder to build something useful and quickly reach the entire country. Link
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
Most of these are not Welly-local, but I think good to know.
Nobel laureate John Jumper departs DeepMind for Anthropic: AlphaFold's co-creator leaves Google and keeps the popcorn moments going in the constant realignment of frontier AI labs. Link
Google Partners with A24 for AI Filmmaking Tools: An independent studio and tech giant partner to develop AI tools for filmmakers. Link
Tech New Zealand is looking for new Board members: If you are affiliated with a member organisation, you can nominate for one of four vacancies across corporate, business, gov/education. Link
Is New Zealand's record funding year an illusion? Faith Jeremiah cautions on NBR that massive, outlier raises like Halter’s mask a worrying lack of pipeline funding for early-stage, next-generation startups. Link
Kari Jones dissects Five Eyes AI cyber directives: A recent multi-agency intelligence brief prompts leaders to look beyond simple IT patch schedules and address operational resilience. Link
Wellington City Council opens regional amalgamation survey: Perspectives sought before July 19th. Link
Julia Rothman appointed GM of KiwiStar Optics: KiwiStar is one of those quiet achievers that I like to write about (also I’m an astronomer so they give me the feels #biasedbutfair). Importing strong talent from Rocket Lab is great news as they look to expand globally. Link
Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in Historic Deal: Of course, Rocket Lab has its own big news. The node to acquire a global satellite giant may well create an integrated space powerhouse. Link
Reminders:
Optimal Experience Awards entries close 10 July.
AgriTech New Zealand Executive Council nominations close 9 July.
2026 Aotearoa AI Awards entries close 23 July.
If you are studying at Vic, the International Experience Grant is open. Go learn cool stuff, come back 🙂
Wellington Tech Sector Survey takes five mins to fill, and it will quantify the presence and impact of Tech in Welly and our role in NZ more broadly.
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
Wed, Jul 22nd, 7:15–8:30 am, Beehive to Business with Qiulae Wong at Wellington Chamber of Commerce — The TOP leader shares her perspective on moving past short-term political cycles to unlock long-term tech innovation and purpose-led economic frameworks. Link
Thu, Jul 30th, 9:00 am–5:00 pm, Aurora Climate Summit at Creative HQ — An excellent opportunity to see leading sustainable deep-tech ventures like SwellGen and Snap Power pitch live[cite: 2]. Link
Thu, Jul 30th, 12:00–2:00 pm, Supercharge your Business Productivity with AI at Victoria University Rutherford House— A collaborative, hands-on workshop designed to boost operational efficiency and quality using LLM ecosystems. Link
Coming week:
Thu, Jul 2nd, 12–12:45 pm, Ian Axford Fellows Report Back (Fulbright adjacent smart people).
Thu, Jul 2nd, 6–6:30pm, Generative AI, contaminated information and rhubarb, part of This Thinking Life at Massey.
Thu, Jul 2nd, 6–8:30pm, Start with the People, a Do AI × Everybody Eats fundraiser dinner.
Tue, Jul 7th, 3–4:30pm, R&D experience and career chat by Chiasma and Wellington NZ, VUW-Kelburn.
Tue, Jul 7th, 5:30–6:30pm, Targeting diseases the organic way, inaugural lecture by Prof Bridget Stocker
8–9 Jul, Sovereignty Beyond Territory: Culture, Identity and Language in an Uncertain Digital World at the Irish Embassy. Email [email protected] for a seat.
Coming eight weeks:
Tue, Jul 14th, 6:00–7:30pm, Our Mysterious Brain: The Making and Breaking of Memories, Rutherford Medal talk by Prof Cliff Abraham at the Royal Society.
Wed, Jul 29th, 6–8pm, NZ Tech Rally Meetup: AI assisted coding: Productivity, fatigue or tech debt.
Mon, Jul 20th, kick off of AI for Charities course (8 weeks) by Fundsorter.
Tue, Jul 21st, 9am, BizFest 2026 in Porirua.
Wed, Jul 22nd, 7:15–8:30am, Beehive to Business with Qiulae Wong at Wellington Chamber of Commerce
Wed, Jul 22nd, APHANZ Annual Conference, shaping smarter rules for plants, animals, and biosecurity.
Wed, Jul 29th, 5:45–7pm, Café Scientifique: Life at the (plate) boundary, at Southern Cross.
Wed, Jul 29th, 6–7:30pm, John Lekner Royal Society Lecture: Electroporation in Cancer Therapy, and Beauty in Physics.
Thu, Jul 30th, Aurora Climate Tech Summit.
Thu, Jul 30th, 12–2pm, Supercharge your Business Productivity with AI at Rutherford House
6–7 Aug, the AI Hackathon is back at AWS 🛠
Tue, Aug 11th, Digital Trust Hui Taumata at Te Papa.
Wed, Aug 12th, Shadow Tech offers girls in years 9-11 an opportunity to discover the world of tech, spark their curiosity and explore career pathways.
Aug 24–25, GEN NZ Unconference and Workshops at Rutherford House. I’ll post more about this soon 🙂
Thu, Sep 24th, SaaSpocalypse Now at Hnry Stadium, early bird to Aotearoa’s premier SaaS gathering by hosted by KiwiSaaS.
Recurring events:
The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by Entrepreneur in Residence, Parisa Shademan - Email [email protected], or join the Facebook community.
Mondays 8–9am, Atom - Founder Mentoring ON-LINE
Weds 12–1pm, Atom - Founder Support Drop-In Hour
Thursdays (every other) at 8am, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other) at 5pm, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, and Alistair St Pierre and Ruth McDavitt.