Callaghan Innovation has confirmed two years of additional funding for Bay of Plenty technology incubator WNT Ventures, and for two other incubators that won funding under a three-year pilot programme that got underway in 2014.
WNT Ventures was the only regional company of the three funded when the programme was initiated by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). The other two - Astrolab and Powerhouse Ventures - are headquartered in Auckland and Christchurch respectively.
"The minister is comfortable about where it's been going and the progress, and pleased with everything that's happening and is happy to extend it to the full five years," said WNT Ventures chief executive Carl Jones.
MBIE has extended funding until June 2019 and another review is expected in 2018, at which point the hope was that it would be rolled over for a longer period, he said.
The technology incubator programme allows potentially high-growth, early-stage firms to access repayable grants. WNT Ventures establishes and nurtures businesses based on intellectual property and novel technologies primarily sourced from New Zealand, publicly funded research organisations such as universities and Crown Research Institutes, as well as the public sector.