Hello Everyone:
Thank you to everyone that came to WellyForge5, Halloween Edition, it was a blast, check out reports and photos from Maddie White, Lane Litz, Kirsty O’Hara, Serge van Dam and especially Dascha Cooper who got some excellent photos (snips below). Well done to White Fish VC for winning the Halloween costume contest and check-in now for WellyForge6, The Christmas Edition, Weds Dec 10th.
We’re coming up on what’s promising to be one of the biggest innovation weeks in Wellington for a while. WellyForge is pleased to be the major sponsor for Startup Weekend Wellington AND we’re sponsoring 20 student tickets to Capital Capital:
Thu Nov 13th, Morning - Capital Capital - Investment Workshops, speakers include angels, founders, Blackbird, Icehouse and many more.
Thu Nov 13th, Afternoon - Capital Capital - Movac Growth Jam, led by Serge van Dam, includes Nicole Retter from PAM, Movac, Matt Hayter and more.
Thu Nov 13th, Evening - Capital Capital - AngelHQ Showcase, see pitches from the most exciting new start-ups to the local angel investor group, and then join AngelHQ and support those start-ups!
Fri - Sun, Nov 14th-16th - Startup Weekend Wellington (SWWLG) sponsored by WellyForge, and we’ll be helping judge (so be nice to us) - they still need mentors, volunteers and more.
And, there’s more, free stuff:
Two free-tickets to Startup Wellington Weekend (SWWLG)! For whoever first emails me ([email protected]) with the names of 3 of the 4 people in the photos above (a bonus if you get the 4th, but that would be kind of spooky!).
Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins
Wellumio has hit its $5m target on Snowball, based on the Terrace and working to transform stroke care through rapid diagnosis.
MBIE Research Fellowship to Prof James Bell at Victoria for research on marine ecosystems - they’ll use video and AI to create 3D models around NZ.
Massey Design Graduate Maci Libby wins a Good Design Award Australia for her multi-functional hiking pole - good luck to Wise Gear (and see you Dec 10th).
And other recent media coverage of local interest, all from the Hutt this week:
AROTEC (diagnostic agents) overview, based at Gracefield in the Hutt and going since 1996, they have 50+ staff, and see NZ at being a big plus due to isolation and purity.
Dulux NZ new Innovation Centre opens in Seaview where they develop and test various kinds of paints.
Hot Lime Labs launch Aplenty Brand . Hot Lime Labs has technology that converts wood waste biomass into clean CO2 for commercial greenhouses and more.
Rule #2 - Understand Your Environment
Science, Innovation & Technology Reforms - a recording of last week’s webinar with Dr Gill Jolly, Dr Shane Reti, Iain Cossar and Danette Olsen.
Movac Growth Opportunity Fund closes at $50m - this is a fund aimed at buying shares from founders and others in high growth companies in ANZ (min $10m annual revenues, strong year-on-year growth). This hopefully leads to money going back to early investors to be recycled into the next wave of start-ups.
Research and Development Tax Incentive 5 Year Report - basically says the incentive for growing companies is working well and probably better than the previous growth grants (which I liked more as they were more early stage and SaaS friendly and didn’t need teams of accountants to get, but what do I know?)
NZ Story Market Pulse 2025, this was pointed out to me as a useful resource for understanding NZ’s unique offerings globally, and how creativity enhances us.
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.
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 10 DAYS:
Mon Nov 1st-14th, 9-4pm, Vic Design & Innovation End of Year Exhibition.
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.
Fri Nov 7th, 12-1.30pm, Intermediate AI Agent Cooking Class being hosted by Autohive at 69 Abel Smith Smith.
Sat Nov 8th-21st, 10-4pm, Massey Exposure Exhibition, showcase of work in design, arts, screen and music. Check out the multiple events going on as part of the exhibition, and some of the world-class facilities they have access to.
Mon Nov 10th, 5-7pm, Future of Wellington: Optimize and Thrive, run by MinterEllisonRuddWatts with speakers Isabella Cawthorn, Emma Procter (PikPok), JD Trask (Raygun, Autohive)
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.
KNOWN, MAJOR, FUTURE EVENTS
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 with speakers from Feijoa, Hnry and others.
Tue Nov 18th, 3.30-5pm, MORGO Managing Up Workshop with John Quirk at Projectworks on Customhouse Quay
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
Thu Nov 20th, 5pm, Digital Health Meet-Up - Volition, re-arranged talk, being held at Level 4, Featherson House.
Fri Nov 21st, 10-12, AI and Cybersecurity with international speakers being hosted at Victoria University.
Fri Nov 21st, 6pm. Wellington Regional Business Excellence Awards 2025 in Lower Hutt
Fri-Sun Nov 21-23rd, Kiwi PyCon (Python!) at Shed 6
Thu Nov 27th, 4.30-6.30pm, BioTech ‘n’ Beers Speaker Series, with WellyForge’s own Ipshita Mandal-Johnson.
Wed Dec 10th, 7-9pm, WellyForge6 Christmas Edition
Wed Dec 17th, SaaSMas (party-time)
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), 14th Nov, Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross hosted by Jack Shennan, Alistair St Pierre and Adiraj.