Hello Everyone:
WellyForge6 (The Christmas Edition) on Weds Dec 10th is onto the waiting list, and very happy to say it’s being “sponsored” by Mark Pascall’s social-good project, The Wellbeing Protocol and its new brand, hum.community.
WellyForge is also sponsoring another Wellington infrastructure event on Weds Dec 17th, SaaSmas run by KiwiSaaS, which does still (just) have tickets left.
Updated map, find the WellyForgeHQ:
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Xplora Ventures has raised $3m+ for a product to improve the way heat pumps work. Nice work, Dr Nan Yang & team.
Fix & Fogg launch into the UK via Whole Foods Market, I look forward to the full-English breakfast flavour peanut butter.
Marama Labs wins Europe 2025 Deep Tech Demo Day, the Vic Uni/Dublin company looking to accelerate RNA therapy development with rapid and precise optical characterization of lipid nanoparticles.
Starboard Maritime win Emerging Business at NZ International Business Awards and get 11th fastest-growing business in the Deloitte Fast 50.
And other recent media coverage of local interest:
MORGO pod-cast with Bridgit Hawkins of Humble Bee Bio, talking about their work looking at elastin stimulation derived from rare bees.
Advemto, another Vic spin-out, lights up Times Square in New York following graduation from Biotools Innovation, great photo Justin Hodgkiss.
LensenMcGavinAI launches AI education for laywers - they are a consulting group with Dr Andrew Lensen from Vic, Chris McGavin LLM and now teaming up with Dr Andrew Chen with an interesting education program for lawyers.
Helpp Vet in the The Post - telehealth start-up putting vets on demand, another one for Island Bay.
NZ Indie Game Developers in the Guardian, good mentions of PikPok in here.
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
NZGCP CEO, James Pinner, talks about his “five 5s” [NBR} states his desire for 5000 new start-ups creating 50,000 high value tech jobs over the next 5 years. NZ Growth Capital Partners runs the Aspire start-up fund and Elevate fund-of-funds.
Icehouse have raised $75m for their Seed Fund IV, over double what they targeted originally. Exited founders re-investing and investors seeking visas appear to be two of the factors sitting behind the raise.
Prof Sally McArthur has been appointed to Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research at Victoria, it’s a critical role overseeing research grants but also heavily involved in commercialization.
Callaghan has officially become Innovation Services administered by MBIE
Courtenay place coming back to life? Nice work Willis Bond and others taking on the task of reimaging and getting stuff done.
Rule #3 - Nothing Falls Thru The Gaps
The Fission Project - 8 weeks over summer to get your idea moving by working collaboratively with the team that’s made the Atom such a pumping community - last few spots available!! Make sure you check out the video.
TedX Studio Ideas Wanted! Contact Alex Matthews, this is where they film you professionally giving a TedX style talk for distribution. If LinkedIn doesn’t work for contact, then email me.
Rule #4 - Get Inspired, Meet the Locals
Highlighted entries are new from last week.
NEXT 10 DAYS:
Wed Dec 3rd, 6-8pm, Freedom and Responsibility in Science at the Royal Society
Wed Dec 3rd, 5pm, Startup Weekend Wellington Reunion at the Southern Cross
Thu Dec 4th, 11-12, What is Quality in Healthcare Improvement? Lecture by Prof Vikki Entwistle from Aberdeen talking at Otago in Wellington.
Thu Dec 4th, 4-6pm, Cafe Complexite, runs once a month in the Atom, presents insights into complexity science that aim to be understandable by the public.
Thu Dec 4th, 5-7.30pm, Climate Tech Meetup at CreativeHQ
Thu Dec 4th, 5.30-7.30pm, NZTech End of Year Celebration at Silverstripe on Cuba, panel discussion and NZTech CEO, Graeme Muller’s predictions for 2026 (limited tickets).
Fri Dec 5th, 8.30-12, Supercharge your Business Productivity with AI, final event of the year from Serge van Dam & Dascha Cooper, held at Rutherford House, Vic Uni.
Wed Dec 10th, 12.30-, Angel HQ Xmas Lunch - many of the companies noted in this newsletter get funding from Angel HQ, make it your 2026 resolution to become one!
Wed Dec 10th, 12-1pm, AI in Prostate Pathology by Prof Egevad at the Malaghan.
Wed Dec 10th, 7-9pm, WellyForge6 Christmas Edition (click for full details)
KNOWN, MAJOR, FUTURE EVENTS
Sat Dec 13th, Avatar: Fire and Ash premiere at the Embassy!
Wed Dec 17th 5pm+, Wellington SaaSmas Party Tickets, hosted at Dockside
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), TBC, 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.