Hello Everyone:
Welcome to 2026! Below is the news from the last 4 weeks followed by a growing list of in-person events that are coming up in Wellington ranging from FinTech to Origins of Life - that’s what makes Wellington great.
Before we get into the details, some asks:
What Founders Want want to hear from service providers for a new directory that launches 1st Feb.
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.
And well done to Victoria’s AI department which has been rated in the top 50 in the world! With the Digitising Government Conference March 18th, and then the Aotearoa AI Summit scheduled for Sept 8/9th at Takina, maybe Rod Drury’s vision as Wellington as a global leader in Govt Tech might come to fruition.
We’re back to weekly newsletters from now, big year ahead Wellington!
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Richard Taylor wins Visual Effects Society Visionary Award, another win for the Weta Workshop team.
Personal Admin Manager (PAM) has closed its first investment round at an over subscribed $800k, great advice list on LinkedIn from Nicole Retter.
In the New Year’s honours lists, we note in particular these titans of the science, tech & innovation scene in Wellington:
Rod Drury, founder of Xero, was knighted for services to business, the technology industry & philanthropy.
Prof Graham Le Gros, director of the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research from 1994 - 2024 was knighted for services to medical science.
Prof Bev Lawton, for services to women’s health.
And other recent media coverage of local interest:
Hnry Stadium from March, according to the Post which says the regional stadium will be named after one of our hottest FinTech’s Hnry - “Claire and I started the business in 2017 with a couple of spreadsheets, now we’re 150 staff and taking on the naming rights for our local stadium”.
Humble Bee Bio raising $4m [NBR] to disrupt the global beauty industry with its anti-ageing peptide.
Jessica Mains podcast about Beyond VR with Charlie Meaden
The Story of Velara, a Wellington start-up looking at surgical planning
Vic Uni’s AI Lead, Prof Megjie Zhang profile on Business Desk. Vic is #50 in the world for AI, just behind MIT, and ScholarGPS rates Vic as #1 for genetic programing. The article notes their work in applied AI in aquaculture, climate change, healthy aging. Also article in the Post, “Vic breaks into global top 50 for AI”
MBIE Science & Innovation reporting on Wellington City Council’s role in Minority Report, a Horizon Europe project building a “SimCity” for resilience planning.
Hayley Horan, CE of Wellington Chamber of Commerce, “Leaning into the Wind, Together”, note her line “Tech and Innovation: A Quiet Strength”, we need to get noisier - read also her LinkedIn Post or The Post article “Capital comeback: Is Wellington starting to find its spark?”.
Mark Oldershaw, WellingtonNZ previewing 2026 and all the amazing things coming back to life (path to Petone, Central Library++) in the Post.
FinTech Lab 2026 run by CreativeHQ announces cohort, includes the following Wellington-based companies that we expect to win at the final showcase on April 26th:
Count “accounting on auto-pilot”
Feijoa “Simplest way to grow your KiwiSaver”
Fundsorter “a better way to get funds sorted”
Hello Cashflow , “bringing your numbers to life”
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
NZ new academic IP policy - interesting, but Rod McNaughton questions if academics can recognize something of commercial value?
IMF says NZ not just underperforming, but actively backing wrong types of growth - Rod McNaughton in Newsroom, arguing we need more “gazelles”, high growth firms in ICT, software and professional services.
“Tech utopia within a decade” says Icehouse CEO, Robbie Paul in The Post based on our fundamentals, capability, connectivity, capital and time.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
Aurora Climate Lab by CreativeHQ is looking for the next wave of CleanTechs, apply by Feb 23rd.
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
NEXT 10 DAYS:
Wed Jan 28th, 2-5pm, Grounding Your Product Strategy with Vidya Dinamani event run by Taiawa and Victoria, a “hands-on, get mucky… workshop”
Wed Feb 4th, 5pm, Wahine Fuelled Tech - Deep Dive into Creative Tech
KNOWN, MAJOR, FUTURE EVENTS
Mon-Thu, Feb 9-12th, Climate & Cryosphere Open Science Conference at Takina
Tue Feb 10th, 10-4pm, Origins of Life Mini-Symposium. Run at Vic in AM103 with global experts, including recent Vic recruit Morgan Cable from NASA, contact her for more details.
Tue Feb 10th, 5pm, Open Backing | AI & the Future of Finance, Fintech Welly meet-up hosted by Octave in collaboration with CreativeHQ.
Tue Feb 10th, 5.30-7.30pm, Celebrate Taiawa Tech Hub, meet the founders, and listen to Sir Stephen Tindall talking about tech start-ups, along with the Mayor, Andrew Little, and Nic Smith (Vice Chancellor of Vic).
Thu Feb 12th, 7.15am, Breakfast with the Mayor, being run by the Chamber of Commerce and held at BNZ Partners Centre.
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.
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
Tue-Wed, Feb 24-25th, Capital City Complex Systems at the National Library
Thu Feb 26th, 5-7.30pm, Women of Poneke, at the National Library - “What could our Capital become if we dared to dream bigger - together?”
Mon-Wed, Mar 9-11th, Life Sciences NZ at Takina
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
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), 29th Jan 8an, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other), TBC, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, Alistair St Pierre and Adiraj.