Hello Everyone:

Tonight is the night, WellyForge3, the WCC mayoral candidates will be strolling on stage at Undercurrent seeking to amaze us with their insights into the economy, science, technology & innovation. Good luck to Peter Griffin keeping them focused and the discussions on track, and thank you to JD Trask and AutoHive for sponsoring. If you cannot make it, please let me know asap, we have a huge waitlist!

The Ecosystem Map is developing, but too many of you are still shown in the harbour - tell me where you should be! On that map, you’ll see service providers like Taiawa listed which is a Vic/WCC incubator for companies with global ambitions, they currently have some space - contact Dascha Cooper for details, [email protected]

Of the events below, please particularly note a couple just added for November:

• Kawaiicon hacker conference, along with the iSANZ cyber-security awards night, if you want an award, apply before Aug 29th.

• The Pacific Rim International Conference on AI, being run by various people at Victoria’s AI department, which is the biggest AI department in the Southern Hemisphere according to literature, we need to use that expertise across the city!

Rule #1 - Celebrate the Wins

• XFrame, a spin-out from Vic based on Cuba St have won a contract to roll out its modular, internal construction system to 650 branches of the Commonwealth Bank in Australia. Well done Ged Finch and team! [The Post]

• Te Papa are building a new $155m facility in Upper Hutt to house the world’s largest collection of NZ and Southern Ocean fishes [The Post], this reinforces one of the topics of WellyForge3 - we need to act as a region.

• Bupper announced their first real use of a quantum computer [LinkedIn]

• MORGO, the annual entrepreneur’s refresh run by Wellingtonian, Jenny Morel, was last week. Outstanding event as usual, with some great presentations about their respective journeys from various companies including from Wellington: Matt Hayter, Projectworks; Simon Howard, Bastion Security; Leighton Roberts, Sharesies, Rod Badcock, Openstar Technologies; Boyd Multerer, Kry10 and we’ll also claim Stuart Wilson, Modica Group. This is Boyd presenting, he’s going to be a hit on the stage at Undercurrent one dark night in the future:

And recent media coverage of relevant local events:

• Simeon Brown (Minister of Health) visiting the amazing Malaghan and BioOra (currently raising $15m) [LinkedIn]

• Chris Teeling (now Arlo CEO) on the Startup Theatre Podcast “This is why founders SUCCEED OR FAIL” [YouTube]

• Don Christie, co-founder of Catalyst Cloud being interviewed by Peter Griffin “Christie is adamant NZ can, and must, chart its own course by leveraging open-source AI” [Omyn FM]

• Black Pearl launch $15m capital raise for acquisition of US competitor [NBR]

Rule #2 - Meet the Locals

Weds Aug 20th, 1-2pm, AI in Mediation and Arbitration at Denton’s on Bowen Street [INFO]

Weds Aug 20th, 6-8pm, WellyForge3 with Peter Griffin and the mayoral candidates for Wellington City, sponsored by AutoHive - what are their plans for economic prosperity and how do they see science & tech playing into them? [WAITLIST]

Mon-Thurs Aug 25-28th, ANZ Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Conference at the James Cook Hotel, “Building a Lasting Legacy” [INFO]

Tues Aug 26th, 5-7pm, AI in Action Report #3 Launch by the AI Forum NZ at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (BNZ Place) [TICKETS]

Weds-Fri, Aug 27th-30th, RustForge is in Wellington run by Tim McNamara [INFO]

Weds Aug 27th, 5-7pm, Critical Signals - “Songs for my Chatbot” [TICKETS]

Weds Aug 27th, 5.30pm, “Hiring Smart - A Recruitment Masterclass for Startup Founders”, run by AngelHQ at CreativeHQ and led by Rob Woodward [INFO & TICKETS]

Thur Aug 28th, 5.30pm, Tawhaki Special Use Airspace “The Journey” - Aero Society talk by Adam Houston at the CAA, Asteron Centre. [INFO]

Thur Aug 28th, 5-7pm, NZ Agentics Meeting Up hosted by Starfish [WAITING LIST]

Friday Aug 29th, 4.30-6.30pm, Biotech & Beers at Fortune Favours [INFO]

Weds Sept 3rd, 5.30-7pm, The Future of Insurance by Jonathan Boston from Vic at the amazing Critical Signals [INFO]

Thurs Sept 4th, 5.30pm, “The Beauty of Uncertainty”, inaugural lecture by Prof Ivy Liu of the Maths & Stats department at Victoria [TICKETS]

Tues Sept 9th, 5.30-7.30pm, Chiasma Wellington who seek to bridge academia to the local STEM community (that’s you) are getting back into gear after a hiatus with a workshop on career catalysts - including things like summer internships. Info from [email protected].

Weds Sept 10th, 5pm, Upper Hutt Mayor Candidates talking business [TICKETS]

Friday Sept 12th, 4-5.30pm, “AI Safety and Alignment: Research Agendas and Organizations” by Hanna Betts at Rutherford House as part of the AI & Society Series at Victoria [DETAILS]

Weds Sept 17th, 5pm, Hutt City Mayor Candidates talking business [TICKETS]

Thurs Sept 18th, 6pm, TBC, Visual Effects Society (TEQ) Talk [DETAILS TO COME]

Sat Sept 20th, 11am-12, “Art & AI: Brit Bunkley in Conversation with Megan Dunn” [TICKETS]

Sept 25-27th, NZGDC 2025, the NZ Game Developers Conference at Takina [DETAILS]

Tues Oct 7th, 8.30-10.00am, Sustainable Business Network. Victoria and the MacDiarmid Institute are co-hosting the October network meeting at the Marae at Victoria [DETAILS]

Thurs Oct 9th, 5-8.30pm, Startup World Cup, NZ Final hosted in Kapiti - apply via CreativeHQ by 5th September [DETAILS]

Oct 10-12th, Startup Weekend Wellington at Rutherford House [LINKEDIN]

Nov 6-8th, Kawaiicon 2025, my new bestie, Simon Howard, tells me this is a major event for hackers in NZ, it’s at the Michael Fowler Center, and looks like fun [DETAILS]

Nov 6th, iSANZ (Cybersecurity) Awards Gala Dinner, Shed 6, you need to enter by Aug 29th [DETAILS]

Nov 10-13th, ICDE (International Council for Open & Distance Education) is being hosted in Wellington at Takina and covers off plenty of interesting subjects including AI. [DETAILS]

Nov 17th-21st, Pacific Rim International Conference on AI (PRICAI) is being held at Takina with plenty of input from the AI people at Victoria [DETAILS]

Nov 19th-21st, Synbio (synthetic biology) is at Te Papa, organized by Mark Calcott

Fri Nov 21st, 6pm. Wellington Regional Business Excellence Awards 2025

Fri-Sun Nov 21-23rd, Shed 6, Kiwi PyCon (Python!) [DETAILS]

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), 28th Aug, Kapiti Start-Up Network Meet-Ups

• Fridays (every other), 22nd August, Atom - Founders Meet Up at Southern Cross

Reminders:

• Deloitte Fast 50 entries open to 29th August (good for PR!)

• SummerOfTech are looking for employers ready to help junior talent

• TedXWellington is back and seeking “ideas worth spreading”

• Wellington Regional Business Excellence Awards 2025 open (to 12 Sept)

Rule #3 - Understand the Wider Environment

• The Advanced Technology Institute appear to be taking shape with MBIE now advertising for an “Entrepreneurial scientist” to join the Board, whilst more money appears to be going into that Institute cut from the Marsden funding for blue-sky research - I hope we’re not cutting off the pipeline of ideas for future impact…..

Rule #4 - Your Local Community Index

• AngelHQ for contacting the local angel community

• Angelic Drop In (ADI) Clinics in Wellington, and general info

• Atom at Victoria, contact Entrepreneur in Residence, Adiraj Gupta

• Glean Report for a full round down of knowledge events in Welly

• LabMates for scientists of any career stage to connect & collaborate

• MacDiarmid Institute invites companies with R&D challenges to present to their Science Advisory Panels for science matchmaking

• Momentum for students with ideas

• Morgo for NZ entrepreneurs (run from Wellington by Jenny Morel)

• Movac, Wellington’s local VC

• Start-Up Coaching (Free, via CreativeHQ)

• Start-Up Wellington (the people behind Start-Up Weekend)

• Taiawa Wellington Tech Hub (WCC/Vic), run by Dascha Cooper

• Virtual CXO’s, you can filter under each role for Wellington

• Wellington Gold Awards (Hall of Fame)

• Wellington NZ Business Support

• Wellington Start Up Collective to meet non-advising fellow start-up nuts

• WhatFoundersWant useful stuff from Wellington-based Lane Litz

WellyForge