While Wellington is already home to some of Aotearoa’s biggest technology companies, www.wellingtonnz.com and www.CreativeHQ.co.nz are supporting the next generation of high-growth, high-value technology companies with a targeted support package, launched today.
Applications are now open for the Scale-up Wellington Support Package. Valued at $30,000 per company, it will see eligible companies given rent-free office space at Wellington’s Innovation hub, CreativeHQ, access to international business mentors, and funding for on-the-job training so as to boost capacity.
The package is targeted at early-stage technology companies that employ under five people, have global ambitions and who intend to have a significant footprint in the Wellington region.
The Scale-up technology sector strategy, to be launched at an event at the CreativeHQ this evening, includes the first technology initiatives from the Regional Economic Development Plan being implemented by WellingtonNZ, which aims to create some of the 100,000 high-value jobs needed in the region over the next 30 years.
The initiatives are being led by technology entrepreneur, Rebekah Campbell, who returned to the Capital in 2020 after twenty years of building companies in Sydney and New York. “I always wanted to come home to Wellington, but I wasn’t sure if it was somewhere I could build a technology business,” she says. “I’ve been blown away by the number of world-leading products that are being developed here.”
Xero, TradeMe, Sharesies are examples of major technology companies which were founded and remain headquartered within a two-kilometre radius of Courtney Place. The Wellington region is responsible for 24.4 per cent of the $18b created by technology businesses in Aotearoa each year, despite Wellington accounting for just 11 per cent of the country’s population.
“While the Capital is home to some well-known tech firms, there are so many others that are just starting to scale,” Campbell continues. “Not only will these companies create the high-value jobs of tomorrow, some will improve our healthcare or quality of life, and others will develop renewable energy and recycling technology that will lead us to a more sustainable future.”
