Hey everybody,
Thank you for making WellyForge #7 the biggest one yet! From the bottom of the ocean to those oceans in deep space, connected by fireproof optical fibre and hacked multimeters, all made possible through bits and bobs procured through a homegrown global parts powerhouse! Catch up with summaries by Maddie and Dascha Cooper.
Last week in Welly, Forgin’
Another big thank you to a whole bunch of you who took the time to fill in the Next phase of WellyForge survey. It’s hard to ask a data nerd not to show charts… the gist of it is that most people are OK with less frequent activity.
But we’re listening to 1/5 of you who want it to keep going as is, hence we are not taking a break from the newsletter. This one will be a tad lighter while we hand over tools and responsibilities, but they’ll keep coming 🗞
Thank you, Ralph, for getting this awesome community going, and for being the driving force for its first year!
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Sir Rod Drury named New Zealander of the Year 2026!
Hello Cashflow has raised $370,000 of a $700,000 goal to 10x its customer base, after two years of bootstrapping and a FinTech Hui judges’ prize.
Congratulations Wellumio for completing the first in-human clinical trial of its portable brain scanner at The Royal Melbourne Hospital.
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Australia to join $155bn Horizon Europe research pool—New Zealand’s already there, so more scope for Wellington’s rad researchers to collaborate trans-Tasman.
Reminders:
MBIE want researchers to talk to them re commercialization, Suse Reynolds is chairing the group designing guidelines to implement the new national IP policy, and MBIE is wanting researcher perspectives to inform this group's work.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
Applications to MBIE’s New Zealand–China Strategic Research Alliance 2026 round open on 4 May.
Reminders:
CreativeHQ is launching a Scale Up Wellington program, fast growing companies apply by 27th March.
Wellington Gold Awards entries are now open, deadline is March 31st.
Royal Society, Research Honours 2026, deadline 31st March 2026.
KiwiNet Research Commercialization Awards for 2026 are open to April 17th.
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
Coming week:
Wed Mar 25th, 5.30–7.30pm, AI in Action with Google & TradeMe, includes pizza…
Thu Mar 26th, 6–8.30pm, Co-Founder Hunt Meetup at CreativeHQ.
Fri, Mar 27th, 5:30–7:30pm, REWIRED: Shaping the Next‑Generation of STEM Careers by Chiasma, at Vic.
Mon Mar 30th, 9am–2pm, Quantum Discovery Workshop, Tech NZ and the NZ Institute for Advanced Technology want your input.
Tue Mar 31st, 3.30–5pm, MedTech iQ meets Taiawa, MedTech IQ aims to foster med tech innovation across NZ, this is the Wellington branch hearing from Taiawa’s various biotechs (Evithe, UunaFit, Inhibit) - this will be at Taiawa, Level 5 Rutherford House.
Tue Mar 31st, 5.30–8pm Game Developers of Wellington host Indie Updates at the Vic Design School
Coming eight weeks:
Wed Apr 1st, 5.30–7pm, “Drug discovery inspired by peptide natural products”, Ferrier Public Lecture by Prof Richard Payne.
Wed Apr 1st, 6–7pm, “AI past, present and possible futures: It’s not rocket science!”, talk at the Royal Society by Bruce Aylward.
Thu Apr 9th, 10–2.30pm, Pitching & Being Trusted, workshop at Victoria run by Callum and David from Hardwired.
Thu Apr 16th, 2pm, FinTech Festival, Shed 6, celebrate the founders graduating from Fintech Lab 2026.
Mon Apr 20th, 10–4.30pm, Governing for Growth, run by the Angel Association.
Tue, Apr 21st, 5–8:30pm, Cracking the U.S. Market with TaxStudio and Studio Leonelli.
Wed Apr 29th, 5–7:30pm, Aurora Climate Lab launch at Creative HQ.
Sat May 2nd, TEDxVUW, with a theme of THRESHOLD, hosted at Victoria in Kelburn. all speakers announced and tickets are now on sale.
Wed May 14th, 5:15–7:30pm, AI for Good New Zealand at The Atom—Interested in speaking? Register your interest here.
Tue May 19th, 12–6pm, Hutt Valley Manufacturing & Innovation Expo.
RECURRING EVENTS
The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by NEW 🎉 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), 26th Mar 8am, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other), 27th Mar 5pm, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, Alistair St Pierre and Adiraj Gupta.