Hello Everyone:
WellyForge5 Halloween Edition is tonight and sold-out. If you are on the waiting list, watch email for any last minute tickets. The after-party, “Dead Startups Halloween Party” at Mean Doses on Tory St starting straight-afterwards run by Lane Litz does still have some availability. Gonna be a entertaining evening.
The Wellington Ecosystem Map welcomes DT Risk (InsurTech) , Flexitime (software for flexible working) and Avenir Technology (financial market infrastructure).
Somehow, we missed the “Government Innovation Week” which was a two day meeting in Wellington last week at Takina (Oct 21-22) and covered a range of things like AI, trust in AI in Govt and so on. Please let us know about these events!!
Loving some of the energy coming out from Victoria’s students, “The Fission Project” is an 8 week collabora-thon for young builders, thinkers and doers. Read more on Edmund Alexander’s LinkedIn Post on The Fission Project.
Also enjoyed the 50th celebrations of the Design & Innovation School at Vic over the weekend. If you get a chance, check out their final years exhibition.
Okay, enjoy the rest of this email and especially note:
Wellington Start-Up Collective on Thursday Nov 6th at 4.30pm - founders talking, absolutely no advice given. None. Registration vital!
Capital Capital on Nov 13th and, on the same day, Vic Professors explaining the science behind the Nobel Prize Awards. Then, it’s into Startup Weekend!
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
KiwiNet helps commercialize public research from 19 Universities in NZ. The KiwiNet annual awards were last week and saw a number of wins for the good guys:
Suse Reynolds wins the Commercialization Icon Award, “a powerful connector - bridging the worlds of research, entrepreneurship, and capital”, also see her NBR article on her 5 key lessons on startups (resilience, people, support, money, ask for help).
Ben Mallet wins Breakthrough Innovator, based at the Robinson Research Institute (part of Vic), and co-founder of JxB Space Systems
And two other awards to Wellington:
Lachlan Mead wins Wellington YES (Young Enterprise Scheme) for his Christmas Chaos card game. (Thanks, Mrinali Kumar for posting that, and shows how good having spaces like the Atom are for mixing).
Sharesies win Best Place to Work 2025 for NZ med-large companies.
And other recent media coverage of local interest:
Wellington FinTech Meet-Up launched by Octave, see the event Nov 18th
Nimo Naamani, CEO of Propagator on Startup Theatre, “I see a swamp, I jump right in”.
Wellington Regional Business Awards Finalists announced, the big event is noted below, Nov 21st, in Technology & Innovation, it’s OpenStar, BioOra, Somar Digital, Times-7, and I’m In, and in Manufacturing it’s AROTEC, Frater Perfumes, MF King Engineering, Preston Foods and Times-7. Good luck!
Kiwibank and Atomic.io team up, this article from Kiwibank illustrates well what can be achieved with Wellington-based Atomic’s in-app messaging tech.
Jessica Manins podcast with Anna Guenther talking about Beyond Studios journey, “relationship based raising, surviving COVID, and Snoop Dog”.
Biotech and safety firms join Upper Hutt Tech Hub, The Post, talking about local start-up Chitogel (nasal salve post sinus surgery) and global safety player Drager moving in to Upper Hutt’s Blue Mountains Campus, that’s where Te Papa’s Biodiversity Research Centre is placed.
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Wayne Brown in the NBR - “Auckland Tech Alliance and the 4000 people attending this week’s Startup Week….. more happening in economic growth… than anything that I’ve had from the Govt”. Hello, is anyone there Wellington City Council?
KiwiSaaS is back! Now an industry led community within the NZTech Group, with a range of events and info coming up, including SaasMas in Wellington, Dec 17th.
AI Trust Report by One NZ, Wellingtonians most optimistic about AI but we want AI to be accountable.
Shout out to AI Corner, great weekly summary of everything AI, I particularly like their honest takes on the latest news.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
TedXWellington is back and seeking “ideas worth spreading”
Rule #4 - Know the Locals
Note: there are many AI showcases going on, we’re trying to pick the ones more generic and more geared towards you all, rather than listing all of them.
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
NEXT TWO WEEKS:
Weds Oct 29th, 5-7pm, AI Agents and Agentic AI, a meet up run by Wellington AI group on Level 13, 10 Brandon Street.
Weds Oct 29th, 5-8pm, AI Voice in Production, Human in the Loop, hosted at Hnry on Johnston Street and run by Jack Shennan from Shire.
Wed Oct 29th, 7-9pm, WellyForge5 Halloween Edition (Details & Tickets), sponsored by What Founders Want, and note the 9pm+ after party "Dead Startups Halloween Party” (Details & Tickets)
Thu Oct 30th, 8-9am, Coffee with Ruth McDavitt at CreativeHQ. Open invitation, casual, friendly faces from a range of groups.
Thu Oct 30th, 12-1.30pm, “Westpac Smarts: Go from asking to automating with AI”, run by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, with local legend JD Trask as key speaker.
Thu Oct 30th, 4.30-6.30pm, Biotech n Beers, at Fork & Brewer
Thu Oct 30th, 6.15-8.00pm, “HerAIStory” being run by the AI Assembly at CreativeHQ.
Fri Oct 31st, 12-1pm, Getting Started with AI, intro course supported by WellingtonNZ
Fri Oct 31st, 8-5pm, Royal Aeronautical Society Symposium & Awards being held at Parliament.
Mon Nov 1st-14th, 9-4pm, Vic Design & Innovation End of Year Exhibition.
Tue Nov 4th, 10.30-11.45am, Eliminating cervical cancer, a lecture by NZer of the Year, Prof Bev Lawton from Victoria at the Embassy Theatre as part of U3A Lecture series.
Wed Nov 5th, 6-7pm, Antarctic Update 2025 by Professor Tamsin Edwards at the Hunter Building at Victoria in Kelburn.
Thu Nov 6th, 4.30-7.30pm, Wellington Start-Up Collective, meet other founders (young & old) and talk through just about anything in a supportive atmosphere
Thu Nov 6th, 6-7pm, Escalating Risk - Disaster Insurance, inaugural lecture by Prof Rebecca Bednarek at Rutherford House, Vic.
Thu-Sat, Nov 6-8th, Kawaiicon 2025, at the Michael Fowler Center, hacker paradise
Thu Nov 6th, iSANZ (Cybersecurity) Awards Gala Dinner, Shed 6
Fri Nov 7th, 8.30-12, Supercharge your Business Productivity with AI, at Rutherford House, Victoria Uni hosted by Dascha Cooper.
Fri Nov 7th, 12-1.30pm, NZ Product Accelerator Talk, at the National Isotopes Centre at Gracefield in Lower Hutt. Having used this group recently, I can confirm it was excellent in linking us up with experts in a very niche field.
KNOWN, MAJOR, FUTURE EVENTS
Mon-Wed, Nov 10-13th, ICDE (International Council for Open & Distance Education) is being hosted at Takina with AI a major focus
Thu Nov 13th, Capital Capital Summit 2025, a whole day summit for founders & investors, starting with the basics, moving into growth, and ending with the AngelHQ annual showcase. Going to be a big day.
Thu Nov 13th, 6-7.30pm, The Science Behind for 2025 Nobel Prizes being run by Victoria with local experts explaining the work, notably, how the immune system is kept in check, quantum physics in action, molecular architecture.
Fri-Sun, Nov 14-16th, Start Up Weekend Wellington is Back! Sponsored by WellyForge! Get along, get active, and get things moving.
Mon-Fri, Nov 17th-21st, Pacific Rim International Conference on AI (PRICAI) is being held at Rutherford House with plenty of input from the AI people at Victoria
Tue Nov 18th, 6-8pm, Public Policy & Science, Dame Juliet Gerrard at the Govt Buildings, Vic.
Tue Nov 18th, 9am-4.30pm, Food Safety in a Changing World, whole day session looking forward to future risks, being held at Massey.
Tue Nov 18th, 5pm, “The Secrets to Success (and Failure) in Fintech” hosted by CreativeHQ in collaboration with Octave.
Tue-Fri, Nov 18th-22nd, ANZ for Extracellular Vesicles Conference at Harbourside
Wed-Fri, Nov 19th-21st, Synbio (synthetic biology) is at Te Papa, organized by Mark Calcott
Fri Nov 21st, 6pm. Wellington Regional Business Excellence Awards 2025 in Lower Hutt
Fri-Sun Nov 21-23rd, Kiwi PyCon (Python!) at Shed 6
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), 6th Nov, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups
Fridays (every other), 31st Oct, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross