Startup World Cup
New Zealand Final
Startup World Cup is a global pitch competition powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures, connecting top startups to investors and the chance to pitch in Silicon Valley for a USD $1 million investment prize.
Each year, we host the New Zealand Final in Wellington, bringing together startups from across the motu to pitch live in front of an expert judging panel, investors and the wider innovation community.
Finalists from 100+ countries worldwide, send their best startups to compete, pitching before global investors, technology leaders and media for the chance to compete for a US$1 million investment prize.
What to expect:
24 August: Startup World Cup NZ Finals – 12 selected teams will pitch and celebrate with Aotearoa’s startup ecosystem in Wellington.
Meet the finalists
Introducing the 12 startups competing to represent Aotearoa in this year’s Startup World Cup.
AgRhythm
AgRhythm is a drone-enabled farm intelligence platform built with and for farmers. It brings technicians, services, tools and data together for each farm, making technology easier to adopt and turning information into better farming decisions.
Bondao
Bonds built the world’s infrastructure, but everyday people have become locked out of owning them. Bondao exists to fix that: giving retail investors real access to fixed-income, the asset class that built wealth for institutions for centuries.
Bspkl
Cheaper hydrogen starts with cheaper catalyst. Bspkl has developed a breakthrough process that slashes the amount of costly, scarce iridium needed in hydrogen electrolysers, while boosting performance, tackling a key cost barrier to affordable green hydrogen.
COUNT
Accounting firms run on fragmented software. We replace all of it. COUNT is the AI native platform for firms and the SMBs they serve. Dual launched in the US and NZ as part of a global vision, COUNT is the next generation of accounting and practice management solutions.
Delightable
Delightable helps brands understand decision making at the point of purchase, making customer emotions as measurable as customer actions.
Evithé Bio
Evithé Bio is transforming natural health by turbocharging plants. With inflammation affecting 1 in 5 people, Carelwon® delivers up to 105× greater anti-inflammatory potency than any other natural product.
Feijoa
Feijoa is the simple and secure app that grows your future wealth with every purchase, every day.
Kode Veterinary Sciences
Kode Veterinary Sciences is developing accessible injectable cancer immunotherapies for pets, enabling treatment in general veterinary clinics and expanding access to advanced oncology care worldwide.
Neumic Therapeutics
Neumic Therapeutics is a deep technology company, based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Neumic is developing novel solutions to treating brain disorders, combining wearable focused ultrasound, intelligent treatment-planning software and targeted therapeutics within a single integrated system.
Ovitage®
Ovitage® deconstructs sheep skin into precision bioactive peptide systems redefining nutrition for women. By unlocking the biological intelligence within natural tissues, we’re building the next generation of evidence-based ingredients to improve the healthspan of 10 million women globally by 2032.
PAM
The PA for busy families. PAM gets everything out of your head and scattered apps — into one source of truth that thinks three steps ahead. A quarter of users report 70%+ less stress, which has created amazing viral growth.
Tacit Intelligence
Tacit Intelligence. We capture the best of human judgement & turn it into deployable, sovereign AI to help every organisation perform like its best people and beyond.
The 2026 judging panel
Bex Gidall
Principal, Icehouse Ventures
Jonathan Good
Co-founder & CEO, Scentian Bio
Dr Kathleen Lucere
Investment Manager, Foggy Valley Aotearoa
Keren Phillips Ngātiwai
Co-founder, Weirdly
Leighton Roberts
Co-CEO, Sharesies
Previous winners
Congratulations to our 2025 winner, Scentian Bio, who earned a place in the global Top 10 and represented Aotearoa on the world stage in Silicon Valley. The event also celebrated outstanding founders across the finalist cohort, including Forever Harvest and UunaFit. Since then, Scentian Bio has raised $7 million and gained national media attention.
After pitching at the 2024 Startup World Cup, Natalia Lopez and Kitea Health secured national recognition, media coverage, launched clinical trials, raised a $10M funding round and emerged as leading advocates for deep tech innovation in New Zealand.
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