Auckland Startup Week is back for its second year, bringing together startup founders, investors, researchers and technology experts for five days of events across the city.
Running from 12 to 16 October, the programme includes 45 events at GridAKL in Wynyard Quarter and other venues around Auckland. That's up from 32 events in 2025.
Most events are free and open to the public.
Mayor Wayne Brown says Auckland has the skills, ideas and businesses needed to strengthen the city's technology and innovation sector.
"If it's innovative, it's in Auckland. We have hundreds of creative, risk-taking businesses here that can solve real problems. So, let's nurture them and shout about them."
Since July, Brown has been promoting local startups through his 100 Days of Startups campaign, wearing a different Auckland startup T-shirt each day in the lead-up to Auckland Startup Week.
Connecting people and ideas
The week is designed to connect people with new business ideas to investors, researchers and others who can help them grow.
Pam Ford, Auckland Council's General Manager Economic Development, says the event is about creating opportunities through connections.
"This is about getting the people with the big ideas into the same room as the people who can help make those ideas happen.
"Whether you've got a crazy idea scribbled on the back of a napkin, you're looking for your first investor, or you're ready to take your business offshore, there's something here for you."
This year's programme is organised around four themes: starting out, scaling up, collaboration and connection.
Events include keynote presentations, workshops, networking sessions, pitch competitions and the Challengers' Expo, where founders can showcase their businesses to investors and others in the innovation sector.
International guests to attend
Mayor Takashima of Fukuoka visiting GridAKL in 2016.
Auckland Startup Week will also welcome international visitors, including representatives from Innovate UK, Fukuoka in Japan and Ningbo in China, as well as investors and technology specialists from Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
International venture capital firm Bridgewest Ventures will host an event on the opening day, featuring speakers working in areas including human health, planetary health and frontier technology.
Supporting Auckland's innovation sector
Mayor Brown says Auckland is well positioned to grow its technology and innovation sector and connect local businesses with investment and international opportunities.
The event is supported by the Auckland Innovation & Technology Alliance, which brings together businesses, investors, researchers and government agencies to help address challenges such as access to capital, talent and research.
Marissa Brindley, Head of Investment at Auckland Council's Economic Development Office and Auckland Startup Week lead, says the week helps showcase Auckland's innovation sector while strengthening connections within it.
"With Auckland Startup Week we continue to enable and showcase Auckland as a tech-savvy, future-focused place doing amazing stuff on the edge of the world. We can also better connect the startup ecosystem, bringing together founders, investors and enabling organisations, for the benefit of us all."