WELLINGTON – 30 JULY 2026: Introducing fifteen emerging startups building scalable Climate Tech solutions across Aotearoa.
The Aurora Climate Tech Summit, held at Wellington’s Shed 6, was Creative HQ’s biggest Climate Tech-focused event to date, bringing together founders, investors, industry leaders, policymakers and international leaders to explore how New Zealand can build a more resilient economy and low-carbon future.
The scale and energy of the event reflects a growing appetite for practical climate solutions. As Aotearoa faces increasingly urgent challenges – from extreme rainfall, slips and flooding, pressure on energy infrastructure and rising costs – the need to develop and commercialise solutions has never been clearer.
“Climate change can sometimes feel like an enormous, distant challenge, but the solutions are being built right here in Aotearoa,” says programme manager Holly Beals
The 2026 Summit brought together the wider climate tech ecosystem for a full day of pitches, expert discussions and connection. Alongside the Aurora Climate Lab cohort pitches, the programme explored the future of New Zealand’s energy system and bioeconomy, brought together international investors to discuss what it takes for climate tech companies to scale, and hosted a political forum focused on the future of energy and climate resilience.
The Aurora Climate Lab solution
Over the 12 week programme, these founders set out to deliver on some of the biggest infrastructure challenges of our time – from next generation energy systems to carbon-negative construction.
This year’s programme placed a particular focus on Energy and Bioeconomy, reflecting both the urgent need to decarbonise and the opportunity for New Zealand to build new industries around its natural advantages, scientific capability and entrepreneurial talent.
“Why energy? It was pretty simple for us – outside of the urgent need to build new energy solutions for the planet, New Zealanders are facing a cost-of-living crisis partly driven by ageing energy infrastructure,” says Holly Beals.
Our cohort from across the motu received world-class coaching, mentorship, access to potential investment, and the tools and resources to advance them at each stage of their growth.
This programme would not have been possible without the support of our partners. A sincere thank you to our key partner, Motion Capital, alongside MasterCard, Ara Ake, MBIE, Wellington NZ and Te Uru Rākau, for their continued commitment to growing New Zealand’s Climate Tech ecosystem.
Climate challenges into commercial opportunities
Now, more than ever, is the time to back climate tech innovation. 35% of emissions reductions needed by 2050 will come from technologies currently under development but are not yet viable at a commercial scale. Many climate tech solutions are within reach, but lack the finance and support necessary to scale up.
The 15 startups in Aurora Climate Lab 2026 have now graduated and are seeking support to develop and commercialise their technologies, spanning next-generation energy infrastructure, sustainable materials, industrial decarbonisation and climate intelligence.
Relive the 2026 Aurora Climate Tech Summit with us
Meet the founders from this year’s 2026 Aurora Climate Lab summit:
CullBeck
CullBeck is a process technology start-up that is further developing and commercialising a novel hydrogen direct reduced iron process recently spun-out from Victoria University of Wellington. Their proprietary reactor facilitates the conversion of titanomagnetite iron ore (including ironsand) into high-purity iron and critical minerals. The process uses 100% hydrogen thereby removing CO2 emissions from the steel making process. CullBeck’s mission is to help decarbonise the steel industry.
Better Balancer
Better Balancer builds electricity load shifting algorithms and hardware for commercial and industrial property operators so they can do more with the power they already have.
DataLoom
DataLoom provides climate transition foresight for businesses – software that connects climate data, market risk, and business performance so that transition pathways can be safely stress-tested against real world impacts before committing capital.
Futurity Bio-Ventures
High-performance renewable chemicals & materials. We harness lignin, the world’s second most abundant natural polymer, to develop alternatives to petrochemicals.
Gaian Technologies
Gaian is developing nature-inspired LVDC microgrids for decentralised renewable energy. Built from modular DER units, systems can run independently or connect into scalable networks.
GridGPT
GridGPT is an AI-powered energy technology company building next-generation tools for power system planning and grid connection studies.
Grid Share
Grid Share transforms the biggest challenges of the energy transition—grid congestion, landfill emissions, and renewable energy waste—into high-value compute resources.
Heatr
Heatr is a New Zealand energy tech company turning hot water cylinders into smart, grid-responsive assets. By measuring real-time stored energy, it enables precise load control—reducing peak demand, supporting solar uptake and improving grid stability using existing infrastructure without affecting comfort.
Hyphera
Hyphera is building the next generation of sustainable materials using fungi. We provide manufacturers with solutions to replace synthetic, non-regenerative inputs, like petrochemicals, with functional, biobased alternatives.
Materially Kiwi
Materially Kiwi transforms agricultural by-products into next-generation, bio-based materials for the world’s leading fashion, automotive and consumer brands. Beginning with discarded kiwifruit, they are redefining waste as a valuable manufacturing resource through science, circular innovation and New Zealand ingenuity.
Mackwell
Mackwell’s mobile engines will make our communities energy resilient by powering New Zealand’s transport, agriculture and forestry industries with locally sourced unprocessed low-grade, high moisture-content and waste biomass.
PhaseFoam
PhaseFoam is a New Zealand climate technology company developing cooling technology for refrigerated transport. Our solution stores cooling energy in advanced phase change materials, replacing diesel-powered refrigeration by delivering reliable temperature control throughout the delivery route.
The Research Sandbox
We are building a hybrid AI + physics platform that predicts localised weather at the 10–100 metre scale, providing actionable insights and enabling industries like energy, agriculture and aerospace to make better operational decisions.
Snap Power
Snap Power is reimagining how Kiwi households and businesses get value from their solar, batteries, and electric vehicles. Instead of accepting locked-in contracts for low buy-back rates, we help you unlock more value from the green assets you’ve already invested in and further accelerate your pay-back periods.
SwellGen
Offshore energy, onshore game-changer. SwellGen is inspired by the power of the ocean. Our patented wave energy technology allows remote coastal and island communities to generate electricity and clean water from the motion of the ocean. No dependence on diesel, sunshine, wind or rain. Just the natural energy of the ocean.
