Hey everybody,
A few years back I was living in Santiago de Chile and skipped over the Andes to visit Buenos Aires. After commenting about the weather being better on the Chilean side, the locals in Argentina took neighbourly rivalry to what I thought was a silly place: they told me that the ever-changing weather in their beloved city makes them expeditious. If the weather is always nice, you’ll put off your good weather work for later. And sometimes, “later” never comes.
I didn’t buy it then, but Wellington has taught me it’s 100% true. The washing line as a right-now-thing really does reframe how people work in this wonderful city. It also helps that the press has turned a page and is now strongly promoting all the good stuff that you all make here. Keep it up, rain or shine!
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
BioOra celebrates its brand new scale-up facility and having a real moment in the press, with coverage in Stuff, Newstalk ZB, The Press, NZ Herald, and all over! Yes, I understand a ribbon cutting for a building still under construction just before an election is a bit iffy. But this is one of Welly’s big-deal successes; the science and tech is real and it will deliver for a long time to come.⚕🚀
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Two pieces of news challenge the perception of NZ as a place of startups that scale elsewhere:
“New Zealand startups raised more funds in the first half of 2026 than in any other six-month period” writes Greg Hurrell on BusinessDesk, with much of this coming at the scale stage.
With a $10M injection from NZGCP, Outset Ventures is well on the way to a $50M target for Momentum Fund 1. This looks to fund Deep Tech people past the ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ phase, when revenue seems like a plausible and promising future.
Just a couple of items to report on election policy from an innovation lens: NZ First wants to boost subsidies to our video game industry, National wants to expand the maths acceleration programme. I talk to a lot of undecided people, most of them tech workers, so let me know if I’ve missed anything important.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
What Founders Want is an ideal resource for anyone starting out in Wellington or anywhere in Aotearoa. It’s free for founders, and to keep it that way WFW is looking for 2027 Founding Partners. Get in touch with Lane and support an initiative that immediately became an institution!
Still on those earliest stages: MBIE has released a request for proposals for a Deep Tech incubator pilot. The aim is to fund 40 ventures starting Feb ’27, and going for 16 months with a possible 12-mo extension. Lots of cool deep tech in Wellington, let’s jump on this!
Also on the MBIE docket, catch the recording of the science reforms webinar from 9 October.
Even on a slow week there is a lot of connection to report on: Show me the Money and Aurora Climate Lab brought people together last week. Don’t forget this is our great power: our walkable city where everyone is two degrees from the person they need to meet for everything to fall into place.
And very nice to see Gestalt featured on Caffeine Daily ☕
Still open for your form-filling satisfaction:
Creative HQ is taking applications for Fintech Lab, 12 weeks fully funded.
Caffeine Daily is running the Aotearoa founder survey, to answer all those questions people aren’t too keen to ask. Only takes 10 minutes, worth it!
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
Today, Oct 28th:
12–1pm, AI for Good Aotearoa lunch & learn.
Coming week:
Thu, Oct 29th, 3–5pm, CREATIVITY 101, because creativity begets innovation.
Thu, Oct 29th, 3:30–5pm, MedTech iQ: Smarter Clinics & Better Learning, featuring presentations by Gestalt and Propagator, at Taiawa (Level 5, Rutherford House). No online event page ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thu, Oct 29th, 5:30–8pm, Wellington UniVentures & Booster NZ Showcase at Rutherford House.
Fri, Oct 30th, HackAotearoa 🛠
Fri, Oct 30th, 8:30–9am, Beans to Tokens at Gemini Cafe… conincidence?
Fri, Oct 30th, 4:30–6:30pm, Biotech ‘n’ Beers at Fork and Brewer.
30–31 Oct, Kawaiicon 4 at the Michael Fowler Centre no less.
Coming eight weeks:
Tue, 10 Nov, 5:30–6:45pm, Doodle Cafe.
Thu, Nov 12th, 5–6:30 pm, EdTech Community Connect at Taiawa.
Tue, Nov 17th, Superconductor Valley 2026 by Paihau—Robinson Research Institute, at Rutherford House.
Wed, Nov 18th, 4–6pm, Michael Volkerling Lecture: Artificial Intelligence, Memory and Culture: crossroads and cul-de-sacs at Te Papa.
Wed, Nov 18th, 5–7pm, MP Climate Consensus report launch at CHQ.
Thu, Nov 19th, 3:30–5:30pm, IP for SaaS: How to protect Your business.
Wed, Nov 25th, 6–7pm, The science behind the 2026 Nobel Prizes in Medicine, Chemistry, and Physics
26-27 Nov, Indigenous Tech Summit at Tākina
Fri, Nov 27th, 6pm, Wellington Game Review is an opportunity to playtest locally made games 🕹
Much later:
Thu, Dec 3rd, 5:00–7:30pm, Tech Women & CyberCX end of year celebration.
Thu, Dec 17th, 5pm–late, SaaSmas Party 🎉
9–12 Feb 2027, eResearch NZ comes to Wellington. Submissions now open.
25-26 Feb 2027, Aurora Climate Tech Summit.
15-17 Mar 2027, Life Sciences Summit at Tākina, early bird member tickets out.
17-18 Mar 2027, FinTech Hui Taumata at Tākina.
22-23 Mar 2027, National Cybersecurity Summit at Tākina.
23 Mar 2027, Digitising Government at Tākina.
Fri, May 7th 2027, NZ Tech Rally on a Super Early Bird launch.
Recurring events:
The Atom at Victoria is open for any unfunded Founders (Students, Early Stage, Idea Stage) and is run by Tania Jones, with entrepreneurs in Residence, Parisa Shademan, Jack Shennan, and Alistair St Pierre and investors in residence Dave Moskovitz, Aaron Scott & Ralph Highnam. Email or join the Facebook community.
Mondays 8–9am, Atom Founder Mentoring online.
Weds 12–1pm, Atom Founder Support drop-in hour.
Thursdays (every other) at 8am, Kapiti Start-Up Network meetups.
Fridays (every other) at 5pm, Wellington ENTrepreneur meetup at Southern Cross.