We hope you find what you're looking for in our New Zealand Startup Ecosystem list of resources covering these three areas
1. The Idea Stage
A whole heap of links to find inspiration & education in the form of media, events, networking, training, team formation and help building the first product
2. The Launch Stage
A list of help to find services to help you launch or in your early stages of starting out, including legal, accounting, co-working spaces, support, connections, creative services, human resources, development/design and marketing as well as recommendations when it comes to seed funding, acceleration and incubation.
3. The Growth Stage
Help for when you're looking for recognition, with suggestions on investor networking, major media, funding with Angels / VCs, funding platforms, expansion consultants and government support.
1. The Idea Stage
Where new entrepreneurs go to get inspired, learn best practices, develop skills, validate ideas, and begin to build their team and product.
Inspiration & Education
Startup media
Centralised local information, listings, inspiration, and news (startup blogs/publications/lists/groups/newsletters)
- BizEdge
- Entrepreneurs Unleashed Podcast
- Launch List
- NZ Tech Startups Ecosystem Facebook Group
- New Zealand SME Business Network
- NZ Entrepreneur Magazine
- NZ Business Podcast
- NZ Tech Podcast
- SOTW
- Startup Digest New Zealand
- Techweek Monthly Newsletter
- The Spinoff - Business Is Boring
- Twice Podcast
- Unfiltered (paid)
- whatisITnz
- Access Granted Podcast
Low cost inspirational events
Open, inclusive startup events designed to inspire and share knowledge.
Auckland:
- Bootstrappers' Coffee - ZeroPoint Ventures
- Entrepreneurs Unleashed
- GridAKL Events
- Idea Show And Tell
- Mum's Garage Lean Coffee
- MUV Talks
- Spark Lab
- Startup Grind
Wellington:
Christchurch:
Other:
- Business at the Library - Tauranga
- Entrepreneurs Everywhere - Tauranga
- Spark Lab - Nationwide
Higher-cost inspirational events and conferences
Open, inclusive startup and tech events designed to inspire and share knowledge.
- Festival For The Future - Auckland
- Project17 - Auckland
- Techweek - Nationwide
- The Leap - Auckland
- SingularityU NZ Summit - Christchurch
Paid networking
- Network NZ - Nationwide
- New Zealand Chamber of Commerce - Individual Chapters Nationwide
- Te Awe Wellington Maori Business Network - Wellington
- Venus Business Women's Network - Nationwide
Training & Feedback
Skill & idea development providers (bootcamps & comprehensive training programmes)
Auckland:
- CO.STARTERS - AUT, EcoMatters
- ecentre Sprint Programme
- Enspiral Dev Academy
- Ideas You Can Execute, Mum's Garage
- Institute of Management New Zealand
- Maori Women's Development Inc
- Startup Weekend Auckland
- The Icehouse Programmes
Wellington:
- Collider WTGN (not active)
- Enspiral Dev Academy
- Institute of Management New Zealand
- Maori Women's Development Inc
- Startup Weekend Wellington
Christchurch:
Other:
- CO.STARTERS - Tauranga, Gisborne, Nelson, Dunedin, Wanaka
- GovWorks CivicTech Programme - Nationwide
- Innes48 - Hamilton
- Mashup: Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge - Tauranga
- Startup Weekend - Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Kapiti, Nelson, Dunedin, Queenstown
Team & Idea
Team Formation
Resources for teaming up (resources that directly facilitate early-stage recruitment and cofounder matching).
Building the first product
Hackathons and other builder-focused events and resources.
- Climathon NZ
- Global Game Jam - Nationwide
- GovHack New Zealand - Nationwide
- Hack Miramar - Wellington
- Lifehack - Wellington
- Nature Hack - Wellington
- Startup Weekend New Zealand
Specialist knowledge groups
Auckland:
- AI Meetup
- ARVR Garage
- Auckland Game Development Meetup
- Blockchain Meetup
- IOT Auckland Meetup
- Hardware Meetup AKL
- Natural Language Processing In NZ Meetup
- Speakers Tribe
- Serverless
Wellington:
- 1st Assembly
- Blockchain Wellington Meetup
- Game Developers of Wellington Meetup
- Machine Learning & Data Science Meetup
- Projectr (not active)
Christchurch:
Other:
- IoT Meetup - Waikato
- Gamedev Meetup - Dunedin
2. The Launch Stage
In this stage, entrepreneurs establish and formalise the company, develop the product, get feedback from customers, and prepare for the next step.
Starting out
Cost-effective legal and professional services.
Nationwide:
- Beany - free accounting advice
- Flying Kiwi Angels ADI Clinic - free investment drop-in - Queenstown, Wanaka, Wellington, Auckland, Whangarei
- Simmonds Stewart - free legal resources
- AJPark IP- free coffee and initial meeting, as well as lectures for startup and incubator groups (contact Anton Blijlevens)
Auckland:
- Hudson Gavin Martin - free legal drop-in
- Innovation Liberation Front (IP Law) - free first conversation
Cost-effective workspace
Hot-desking, dedicated desks, and offices in co-working spaces.
Auckland:
- Alike
- B:Hive
- BizDojo
- Colab
- Enspiral Dev Academy
- Generator
- GridAKL
- Institute of Management New Zealand (room hire)
- Level Two - Deep Tech/Hardware
- Loft503
- Movers and Shakers
- Parnell Coworking Space
- Shared Space Waitakere City
- Social Entrepreneurs or Freelancers
- Tangleball - Makerspace
- The Common
- The Arcade
- The Crate
- The Distiller
- The Icehouse
- The Workshop Auckland
Wellington:
- 1st Assembly
- BizDojo
- CreativeHQ
- CBD Biz Hub (not active)
- Enspiral Space
- In Good Company
- Institute of Management New Zealand (room hire)
- Level Up
- Urban Hub
Christchurch:
Other - North Island:
- The Orchard - Whangarei
- Workspace Whangarei
- Momentum - Katikati
- The Junction - Mount Maunganui
- Basestation - Tauranga
- The Kollective - Tauranga
- Studio64 - Tauranga
- The Incubator - Tauranga
- Soda - Hamilton
- The Creative Cluster @ The Meteor - Hamilton
- The Space - Hamilton
- The Firestation - Rotorua
- Kloud Collective - Taupo
- Manifold - Taranaki
- Double Farley - Whanganui
- The Factory - Palmerston North
Other - South Island:
- The Bridge Street Collective - Nelson
- 8Stafford - Dunedin
- Startup Dunedin
- The Distiller - Dunedin
- The Cell - Wanaka
- The Hangar - Queenstown
Co-working resources
- Coworking Aotearoa Facebook Group - Nationwide
- Coworking Map - Nationwide
Develop
Local support
Free support for Startups.
- Microsoft BizSpark - gives promising Kiwi startups free Microsoft software, tools and to up to USD $750 p/month of Azure.
Global connections
Organisations connecting NZ with the world, and the world with NZ.
Formal paid services - for early stage New Zealand startups
Human Resources
- Institute of Management New Zealand (IMNZ) Courses
- Recruiting 101 For Startups - Weirdly
- Sourcer - tech talent acquisition consultancy
- The Ultimate Guide To Startup Recruitment For Founders - Rocketshp
Creative
Development / design - software
- Almond - Auckland
- Product Done - Auckland
Development / design - hardware / product
- Blender Design - Auckland
- Brideson Design - Auckland
- Procreate & Partners - Auckland
- Locus Research - Tauranga
- GPC Electronics - Christchurch (complex electronics manufacture - later stage)
Marketing / PR - free resources (created by NZ companies)
Marketing / PR - services
- Adhoc (Facebook marketing)
- Concentrate - Christchurch
- Contento
- Pursuit PR - Auckland
- Swaytech - Auckland
Prepare for seed
Advanced mentorship providers (personalised knowledge sharing, later stage events and resources for startup teams)
Auckland:
- Ākina Foundation - social enterprise
- ecentre
- Institute of Management New Zealand
- Mum's Garage
- The Icehouse
- Wolf And Fox
Wellington:
- Ākina Foundation - social enterprise
- CreativeHQ
- Institute of Management New Zealand
- ZeroPoint Ventures
Christchurch:
Other:
- Soda - Hamilton
- Venture Centre - Tauranga
Seed-funding acceleration programme providers
Digital and/or physical technology
Social Enterprise
Other
- Kiwi Game Starter - Gaming
- Sprout - AgTech
- R9 - Government
- VentureUp - Youth
Incubator programme providers
Digital and/or physical technology
Social Enterprise
Pitch & demo
Open showcases of local startups for investment.
3. The Growth Stage
Find recognition and funding.
Recognition
Investor networking
Connect professional investors with founders, i.e. events or groups that facilitate connections with professional investors.
- ecentre Investment Night - Auckland
- Flying Kiwi Angels ADI Clinic - Auckland
Major media
Mainstream local business press (major local or regional publications that frequently champion local businesses).
Funding
Angels / VCs
Seed-stage, series A and beyond investors.
Auckland:
- Aera Foundation
- Ākina Foundation
- Arc Angels
- BioPacific Ventures
- Centrality
- First Cut Ventures
- Flying Kiwi Angels
- Fonterra Ventures
- Goat Ventures
- Ice Angels
- K1W1
- NZVIF
- Pacific Channel
- Punakaiki Fund
- Spark Ventures
- Sparkbox Ventures
- Zino Ventures
Wellington:
Christchurch:
Other:
- Enterprise Angels - BOP
- MIG Angels (The BCC) - Palmerston North
- Venture Accelerator - Nelson
- Blackbird Ventures - Australian based, but invest in NZ startups
- AirTree Ventures - Australian based, but invest in NZ startups.
Funding platforms
- Snowball Effect - Founder platform
- PledgeMe - Founder platform
- AlphaCrowd - Investor platform
- Angel Equity - Investor platform
- Equitise - Investor platform
Expansion
Growth consultants (programs and business consultants for capital-rich companies to grow and scale).
Government support
Auckland:
- ATEED - Grow Your Business Resources
- MBIE
- NZTE - Export Assistance
- Callaghan Innovation - R&D Grants and Innovation IP Program
Wellington:
- WREDA - Grow & Innovate
- MBIE
- NZTE - Export Assistance
- Callaghan Innovation - R&D Grants and Innovation IP Program
Christchurch:
- CDC - Business Support
- MBIE
- NZTE - Export Assistance
- Callaghan Innovation - R&D Grants and Innovation IP Program
Other:
- Regional Economic Development Agencies (contact details depend on location)
- MBIE
- NZTE - Export Assistance
- Callaghan Innovation - R&D Grants and Innovation IP Program
Philanthropic Funding
Last updated 09/08/18
About this list
We're building this list to provide more transparency to our community around what awesome events are happening in the New Zealand startup & tech ecosystem. Wellington's CreativeHQ also have an ecosystem map.
To get added to the list, your event needs to be well organised, startup related, and provide significant value to attendees. If you're running an event that fits this bill, please add it to our spreadsheet. To speed up the process you can tweet at us @MumsGarage (then we can follow you).
*This template has been modelled of the Founder Institute Startup Ecosystem Template - thanks @founding for the great resources and support you provide for startup communities!
And big thanks to David Bosman for helping to spur this on, and to Elyse Wyatt for putting hours of work into making sure everything was in here and making it look good!