Hey everybody,

Short and sweet this week as I’m hanging out at the Aotearoa AI Summit. There is a strong public sector presence among speakers and I’ll be looking out for other elements with a distinctly Welly flavour.

🛠 The first session of Hack Aotearoa Welly is 80% booked so grab that ticket if you are still on the fence. Plus there are two newly announced features: office hours and end of day beverages 🍻

🗓 Last few tickets available for WellyForge #10 (access code: WFN20260923):

Why should you grab one? (a) The speakers are bringing some very serious Welly-grown Deep Tech and (b) through the collaboration with Chiasma you will get a glimpse into our town’s very rich talent pipeline.

#AI_allthethings? Well, maybe not that half-million dollar report to a public organisation that’s under constant cost scrutiny. If pricey consulting outfits are leaning so heavily on LLMs, the GovTech imperative is glaring: let’s equip our own public servants with AI tools and build this capability.

Builders in the primary sector, beware of agritech fatigue. I’m not convinced that we’ve crossed a threshold, but it looks like a clear commitment to reliability and gains will go a long way right now.

Blackbird has closed an historic $1.25 billion Fund VI, with partner Phoebe Harrop Meadows reaffirming that Kiwi founders remain central from pre-seed through late-stage growth, as reported by Peter Griffin.

Welly is still a powerhouse of clean tech. Have a look inside Creative HQ's Aurora Climate Lab, where fifteen Welly startups are tackling the climate crisis.

One highlight from Day 1 of AI Summit was Datacom chief Greg Davidson’s map of six plausible roles that NZ can play in the AI future. Among them is a rather underwhelming possibility that many fear is becoming inevitable. But it’s not inevitable: that’s why we are here, WellyForgers 🦸

Sometimes innovation requires advocacy to get over the line. Prof Bev Lawton spent years campaigning for cervical cancer screening, and from next year this will be available to all women aged 25 to 69 👏

Three opportunities on the radar:

Highlighted entries are new from last week.

8–9 Sep, Aotearoa AI Summit at Tākina.

Wed, Sep 9th, 10am, Founders Fireside: Sportstech lessons from Texas

Wed, Sep 9th, 12:30–1:30pm, AI risks & speculative fiction at Unity Books.

Thu, Sep 10th, 6pm, book launch by Dame Juliet Gerrard at Unity Books.

Fri, Sep 11th, 4–5:30pm, All the time in the world: AI-driven computation hones lab work and frees human hands and brains for creative work at AI and Society. By yours truly.

Mon, Sep 14th, 5–7pm, Summer of Tech Intern Job Fair at Hnry Stadium ✨

Tue, Sep 15th, 5:20–7:15pm, TED-Style Talks.

Wed, Sep 16th, 6–7pm, Critical Minerals, Material Solutions, at Rutherford House. 🪨

Fri, Sep 18th, HackAotearoa [WLG]: Co-working for startup builders has a venue booked and is already at half capacity 😎 🛠

Sat, Sep 19th, 10am–4pm, Software Freedom Day Wellington 2026.

Wed, Sep 23rd, 5–7:30pm, The 2026 Innovation Election Debate, hosted by Creative HQ at the Beehive.

Wed, Sep 23rd, 6–8pm, WellyForge #10 at Gracefield.

Thu, Sep 24th, SaaSpocalypse Now at Hnry Stadium, Aotearoa’s premier SaaS gathering, hosted by KiwiSaaS.

Fri, Sep 25th, 4:30–6.30pm, Welly Biotech ‘n’ Beers at Fork and Brewer.

Fri, Oct 9th, Small nation, big opportunity: NZ's path into global fusion ⚛

30–31 Oct, Kawaiicon 4 at the Michael Fowler Centre no less.

Fri, May 7th 2027, NZ Tech Rally on a Super Early Bird launch.

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.