Startup grants and programs in New Zealand (2026)
We track 7 programs open to startups in New Zealand beyond the worldwide ones: 4 national or local and 3 regional programs that include New Zealand. 6 are open now and 1 is paused until their next round. By type: Government Grants (2), GPU & Compute (2), Banking & Payments (1), Accelerators & Incubators (1), Research & Students (1).
The largest headline value among open national or local programs is MBIE New to R&D Grant from Callaghan Innovation / MBIE (NZ) (40% co-funding of eligible R&D costs, up to NZ$400,000 (~$230k) over up to 2 years). 2 of the national programs are government grants, vouchers or tax credits. 1 accepts students or researchers. On top of these, 234 worldwide programs (mostly cloud, AI and software credits) are open to New Zealand-based startups; the eligibility checker filters all of them for your company.
National and local programs in New Zealand (4)
| Program | What you get | Type | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MBIE New to R&D GrantCallaghan Innovation / MBIE (NZ) | 40% co-funding of eligible R&D costs, up to NZ$400,000 (~$230k) over up to 2 years | R&D grant | Open | 2026-10-30 |
| Airwallex for StartupsAirwallex | Stage-based offers (e.g. AU seed: 3 months Airwallex Grow, fee-free first A$100k payments and FX) + partner perks; varies by country | Global payments | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| New Zealand R&D Tax Incentive (RDTI)Inland Revenue (with MBIE) | 15% tax credit on eligible R&D spend (minimum NZ$50,000/yr, max NZ$120M) | R&D tax credit | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Google for Startups Accelerator: Australia and New ZealandGoogle | Equity-free mentoring, Google product credits and Cloud credits (amounts not stated), plus Cloud TPU access | Corporate accelerator | Paused: next round TBA | 2026-10-23 |
Regional programs that include New Zealand (3)
| Program | What you get | Where | Status | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lambda Cloud compute offer for Y Combinator companiesLambda | $20,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Lambda Cloud credits for NVIDIA Inception membersLambda | $1,000 in Lambda Cloud credits for on-demand GPU instances (B200, H100, A100, GH200) | 18 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
| Google Cloud Research CreditsGoogle | Google Cloud credits sized to your proposal (amount not stated on page), valid 1 year | 75 countries | Open | 2026-10-22 |
Other countries
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Program terms change often. Open a program to see its official source and verification date, and confirm on the provider's page before you apply. Spotted something out of date? Report a correction.