Electrify Aotearoa charges up the capital

The event has an objective to grow New Zealand’s network of female founders, which is getting ever closer. The 2025 iteration was the fourth time the event had been held, and the second time at St James Theatre. It offered a new Workshop Day, which attracted a sold-out crowd of excited entrepreneurs. More than 60% of the audience travelled to Wellington to attend the conference. 

“Electrify isn’t a traditional conference, we want the ‘wow’ factor. The theatre works really well,” says Ben Erskine, Head of Marketing & Community at The Ministry of Awesome, the organisers behind Electrify. “Wellington put on a real show.” 

The newly introduced Workshop Day saw founders share hard-earned lessons with early-stage entrepreneurs. It incorporated investor speed networking, workshop sessions, and a venture capital investor panel. 

“People wanted that deeper learning experience versus the traditional conference experience, which is more inspiration,” says Ben. The event proved so popular, it sold out twice. Ben says the workshops instigated several follow-up discussions and led early-stage businesses to initiate real change. 

“Feedback showed 85% of Workshop Day attendees plan to do something new or different after attending, from more customer research to introducing new capital streams.” 

The conference programme, the following day, welcomed 550 delegates from across the startup journey. Attendees heard 12 keynotes, three panel discussions, and enjoyed more than three hours of networking. Across the two days, 94% of attendees made two or more valuable connections, and 55% made more than five. In all, 91% achieved their primary objective, from growing their network to gaining new skills. 

Attendees were overwhelmingly positive about their experience. One described the event as “a total buzz — inspiring and uplifting. An educational, gutsy space for female founders in New Zealand.” 

Wellington makes the connections 

Ben notes that 80% of high-growth startups in New Zealand don’t have a woman founder or co-founder. Electrify aims to reduce that gap through education and creating connections between women founders, investors, and the wider tech ecosystem. 

Connections from supporting organisations WellingtonNZ and CreativeHQ helped bring the next generation of women entrepreneurs to Electrify. The event welcomed 50 high school students from the TechStep programme, plus 20 university students. They explored tech career pathways and found inspiration to kickstart their own entrepreneurial journeys. 

“There’s a really vibrant startup scene in Wellington. Having the event in the capital helped attract greater attendance from the government, which plays an important role in supporting the ecosystem,” Erskine adds. Speakers included Minister of Finance Nicola Willis and Minister for Women Nicola Grigg. 

Ben notes Electrify’s impact is already rippling through the ecosystem. “We can see who’s getting investment, who’s starting to trade overseas. The beauty of this event is anyone who’s one step ahead is always very generous to pass on their knowledge and experience to the next person.” That included Wellington-based Nicole Retter, a former attendee who returned as a keynote speaker to talk about the growth of her AI-powered family admin assistant, PAM. 

Ben says the feeling of growth is palpable. “You can see the success when you’re in the room, and you can feel the buzz. We try to grow that pipeline every year.”