Ministry of Awesome (MoA) has opened the first hub in its New Zealand Startup Hub (NEST) Network. The organisation wants to put founders, investors and support under one roof, and eventually in many places around the country.
NEST Christchurch, at 829 Colombo Street, opened last week. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Minister for Economic Growth Nicola Willis and Minister for Science, Innovation and Technology Penny Simmonds attended the launch.
The 1,100m² space will be MoA’s base in Ōtautahi and the pilot for the wider network. It brings founders, mentors, investors, academics, corporate partners and government representatives together in one place. Members get workstations, meeting rooms, event spaces and recording studios, along with changing rooms and garage space. MoA will also run programmes, mentoring, investment and business development from the hub.
The bigger aim is to link up the start-up hubs, programmes and communities that already exist across the motu, so founders can reach the right people at the right time.
MoA chief executive Graham Scown says the model is built around the idea that start-up success compounds.
“History has shown us that one Rocket Lab can give birth to several new unicorns. That’s the ambition of a space like this, and programmes like ours. We’ve already seen huge successes, like Partly, come out of Ministry of Awesome.”
The launch was attended by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon. Photo: Kai J. Lee.
He says the hubs are meant to make useful encounters more likely.
“By deliberately creating environments where shared knowledge building, community, and chance encounters between founders are more likely, we can profoundly accelerate the incidence of start-up success and contribute to the productivity of NZ Inc.”
Existing regional partners could copy the Christchurch model in Wellington and Auckland, and in smaller centres such as Whangārei, Taranaki, Nelson and Wānaka.
The network will be funded through tiered memberships, regional expertise and corporate sponsorship. Its stated target is one high-growth, globally focused start-up for every 1,000 New Zealanders, or about 5,000 in total.
For government, corporates, universities and investors, MoA says the network will give them a clearer way to work with high-growth companies. For founders, it should make capital, expertise and customers easier to reach.
Martin Cudd, general manager of innovation and business growth at ChristchurchNZ, says the hub builds on Christchurch’s reputation as a city that backs founders.
“Start-ups play a vital role in creating high-value jobs, attracting investment and developing solutions that can be scaled globally,” he says.
“The new premises adds to that momentum, creating a space for founders from across the country to connect, collaborate and access the support they need to succeed.”
