Hello Everyone:
First up, we’re lining WellyForge7 up for Weds March 18th, 7pm, Undercurrent. Details to come.
Secondly, Adiraj Gupta and team at the Atom at Victoria have been running The Fission Project for the last few weeks. Teams work intently on start-up ideas for 6 weeks with in-house training as they go. This Friday (13th) they host “The Night Market” where they will be showing progress on creative magazines, game development, skincare and other ideas.
Thirdly, we are starting to update the ecosystem map, welcome to FinTech’s Count, Feijoa, Fundsorter and Hello Cashflow, and surfer app, Swellify:
And finally, thank you to Morgan Cable, recent Vic recruit from NASA for organizing the “Origins of Life” mini-symposium, outstanding event and awesome to have easily accessible to everyone in Wellington.
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Propagator closes $360k SAFE note, Nimo’s story! Propagator converts medical data into different formats, this is Nimo’s story of the fundraise process.
Wellumio announces pre-Series A $7.28m raised, that’s the minimum for the road (not clear if this is on top of the $5m raised via Snowball in Nov).
Assurity acquired by Aspire Systems, Reseller News reports the digital & software quality consultancy based in Wellington and founded by Garth Hamilton is now part of a big global company. Company structure remains the same but with bigger resources to draw upon. Sounds positive, and all part of the life cycle for many start-ups.
Taiawa birthday part attracts big numbers & names! Think we’ll take a win for Dascha Cooper’s Taiawa birthday party (that’s the scale up tech hub in Rutherford House at Victoria near the train station) where Stephen Tindall (founder of Warehouse and big sci/tech investor), Andrew Little (Mayor) and Nic Smith (VC of Victoria) all spoke of the importance of start-ups to a big gathering of people, controlled by Serge van Dam. Also, great to hear that Evithe has hit first revenues, and Arcanum have first US customers for their AI platform for SMBs.
The Atom supports over 100 unfounded funders, also in Rutherford House and being driven by Adiraj Gupta and others this is a space where students and unfounded founders can go work and collaborate. It’s working.
And other recent media coverage of local interest:
OpenStar’s $35m for clean fusion power facility, RNZ story about the funding from the Regional Infrastructure Fund which broke last Weds.
Victoria’s Commercialization Grant Launches - $20k for research activities that support commercialization efforts, permanent & fixed-term academic staff can apply.
Creative Tech Pre-Accelerator launched by CreativeHQ, this is for teams in the idea stage of a project and runs 19th March to 14th May, apply by 3rd March.
Brent Spicer stepping down from Marsello CEO role, be good to see Brent spending more time around town with start-ups!
Tim Copeland stepping down as CEO of Runn, eyes on AI now….
BioOra’s views on the Gene Tech Bill currently before Parliament - something I (and I suspect all of us) need to get our heads around.
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Catalist 2nd NZ Angel Report - First Increase Since 2021. Catalist is an on-line market place where start-ups and others can raise funds from qualified investors, often via an angel investment club (like AngelHQ). Highlights for me were $13.9m invested across 167 deals from 455 angels. 25% of angel money went into Wellington and 50% of the money went into deep-tech (that’s similar to where VC invested into Wellington over the last year). Wellington’s angels are very active and with 95 members is one of the biggest in NZ - let’s aim to double that next year!!
NZIAT/MBIE seeks feedback on Quantum Technology, NZ Institute for Advanced Technology is running a discovery process to understand activity and capability in quantum technology. Submissions by 6th March.
UK Research & Innovation have published a report looking at investors & Universities - “UK Universities are not just centres of teaching and research, they are engines of economic growth, generating companies that will be critical to the UK’s future” - with Wellington’s science base, this has to be key strength going forward.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
Aurora Climate Lab by CreativeHQ is looking for the next wave of CleanTechs, apply by Feb 23rd.
TEDxVUW returns in May, express interest at that link.
Play by Play wants local speakers for the “cosy games conference”, deadline is 28th Feb, and the conference is 8th/9th May at the Michael Fowler
Enter the NZ Hi-Tech Awards, entries close 2nd March, one of NZ’s highest profile events and great fun to be part of.
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
NEXT 10 DAYS:
Thu Feb 12th, 7.15am, Breakfast with the Mayor, being run by the Chamber of Commerce and held at BNZ Partners Centre - SOLD OUT.
Thu Feb 12th, 4.30-7.00pm, NZ Tech Rally at CreativeHQ with talks on engineering management and unlocking your brain’s edge with AI.
Thu Feb 12th, 5-7pm, Hutt Networking Event with a talk by Dave Night, Sales Coach “Hear, Say, Do”, at the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Thu Feb 12th, 7-8.30pm, Impending Crises in the Cryosphere, at Rutherford House by the train station - registration is required - this will have leading international climate scientists talking
Fri Feb 13th, 11.45am-1pm, Founder Series 1 - Kickstarting Success, run by BDO and Duncan Cotterill - legal basics, people, partners, protection, financial clarity.
Fri Feb 13th, 5.30-7pm, The Fission Project - Night Market, go see what the various focused start-up teams at the Atom have been working on.
Fri Feb 13th, 6-7pm, Astronomer v Billionaires Space Race, a talk by Dr Samantha Lawyer - “find out what happens when you find space debris on your farm, and silent SpaceX employees show up in rented truck to collect it”
Wed Feb 18th, 12.30-2pm, Blackbird Foundry Roadshow - basically, how venture works.
Thu Feb 19th, 3.30-5pm Morgo “Managing Up”, 5-6.30pm Morgo Networking Drinks
KNOWN, MAJOR, FUTURE EVENTS
Tue-Wed, Feb 24-25th, Capital City Complex Systems at the National Library, this includes Prof Carl Bergstrom.
Thu Feb 26th, 5pm, Women of Poneke, at the National Library - “What could our Capital become if we dared to dream bigger - together?”
Thu Feb 26th, 4.30-6pm, AI Tools for Investors, Parisha Shademan at the brand new Tiemann & Co Offices on Clyde Quay Wharf - waiting list open.
Fri Feb 27th, 4-5.30pm, “What’s new in AI and AI Governance in 2026?”, talk by Ali Knott at Victoria.
Wed Mar 4th, 5-7pm, Hutt Tech & Innovation Forum, features COUNT, The Better SMB and “I’m In and Your Sales Engine”, at the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Wed Mar 4th, 6-7.30pm, The 1855 Wairarapa Earthquake, what have we learnt? Public talk from experts from Massey & Vic, at The Pit at Massey.
Fri Mar 6th, 4-5.30pm, Can NZ Develop a “Sovereign Large Language Model"?, Vic AI Society Seminar Series, run by Ali Knott.
Mon-Wed, Mar 9-11th, Life Sciences NZ at Takina
Tue Mar 10th, 5pm, “Vibe Coding - Introducing vulnerabilities at pace”, Simon Howard from Bastion talking at “Sec for Devs” at InternetNZ, 18 Willis St.
Wed-Thu, Mar 11-12th, FinTechNZ Hui Tamata at Takina
Tue-Wed, Mar 17-18th, National Cyber Security Summit at Takina
Wed Mar 18th, Digitising Government Conference at Takina
Wed Mar 11th, 7pm, WellyForge7 details to come.
Thu Mar 19th, 5-8pm, Tech for Good with the French Embassy - Liquium, Kelvius, Farm Medix and along with Pierre Malou, CEO of Vic Univentures.
Sat Mar 21st, Code Camp Wellington hosted at Xero and Trade Me.
RECURRING EVENTS
The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by Entrepreneur in Residence, Adiraj Gupta - 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), 12th Feb 8am, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other), 13th Feb, 5-6pm, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, Alistair St Pierre and Adiraj Gupta.