Three cities hold nearly three-quarters of New Zealand’s tech firms
- Auckland 43.8%, Wellington 18.8%, Christchurch ~10%
- Xero, Wellington, since 2006
- Wētā FX in Miramar since 1993
- Rocket Lab launches from Māhia, not Christchurch
Three editorial pieces on the New Zealand digital market. Editorial register, no product pitch. Companion series: Canada, Australia.
How New Zealand’s tech scene grew
Wētā is founded in Miramar
Started by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk in a Wellington suburb. The visual-effects work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and later franchises gave the neighbourhood its nickname, "Wellywood".
The digital economy here
One correction belongs at the top, because it is repeated constantly: Rocket Lab does not launch from Christchurch. Launch Complex 1 is on the Māhia Peninsula in Hawke’s Bay, several hundred kilometres away. Getting that right matters more than it might seem — repeating it is exactly the kind of error this series exists to avoid.
The real shape of New Zealand technology is concentration. On NZTech’s 2022 sector metrics, Auckland holds 43.8% of the country’s tech firms, Wellington 18.8% and Christchurch roughly 10% — three cities accounting for close to three-quarters of the total. Auckland’s tech industry employs more than 68,000 people regionally and contributes close to NZ$10 billion, described as more than half of the country’s total tech GDP. Fintech, gaming and health-tech all operate there at a scale nowhere else in the country matches.
Wellington trades breadth for depth. Xero, founded on 6 July 2006 by Rod Drury and Hamish Edwards, is still headquartered there, and Wētā FX — Weta Digital until 2021 — has been in Miramar since 1993 and reported around 2,000 employees as of 2025. Two of the country’s most internationally recognised technology names, in one city, doing entirely unrelated things. Christchurch is genuinely third rather than nominally so: NZ$2.4 billion contributed to the regional economy and more than 15,000 jobs, with Tait Communications and Seequent among the names associated with its growth.
Where the work happens
A dominant commercial capital, a smaller capital with disproportionate international reach, and a real third city.
Auckland
43.8% of the country’s tech firms, more than 68,000 people employed regionally and close to NZ$10 billion contributed — more than half of national tech GDP. The structural lead has held for as long as the sector has been tracked.
Xero, Wellington
Founded 6 July 2006 and still headquartered in the capital — the clearest example of Wellington producing internationally significant companies without Auckland’s volume.
Wētā FX, Miramar
Founded 1993 by Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk, around 2,000 employees as of 2025, and the reason the suburb is called Wellywood.
NZTech
The industry body whose sector metrics the regional shares on this page come from — worth going to directly rather than relying on secondhand figures.
How New Zealand businesses buy websites
Distance and time zone shape this market the way they shape Australia’s, but more so. New Zealand businesses serve dispersed catchments, sit a long way from most of their export customers, and are used to doing business asynchronously. A site that answers questions without a phone call is worth more here than a site that invites one.
The register is direct and quietly sceptical of overclaiming. New Zealanders notice inflated language quickly, and a plain description of what you do will land better than a confident one that overstates.
Trades and home services
Service areas matter across real distances. Name the suburbs and towns you actually cover.
Clinics, salons and studios
Online booking is the expectation, and prices on the page rather than on request.
Shops, cafés and hospitality
Tourism regions are searched from Australia, Asia and further out, often months ahead and in another time zone entirely.
Export and B2B
Selling from New Zealand means selling to people who will never visit. Be specific about capability, and make the site answer everything a first call would.
How well do you know New Zealand’s digital economy?
5 quick questions. Get all 5 right and you win a 10% off discount code. Every answer is somewhere on this page.
New Zealand quiz · 1 of 5
Where does Rocket Lab actually launch from in New Zealand?
Why FastSites works here
A market that does business across time zones needs a site that works while you are asleep. One clear page, answering the obvious questions, does more than a larger site nobody finishes reading.
Live in days, published price, built mobile-first and light — rural connections in New Zealand are not uniformly good. Tell us which regions you actually serve.
Cities covered
The New Zealand series
One piece per city, written in an editorial register for people assessing the market rather than shopping for a supplier.
Christchurch: a real tech sector, and one popular claim about it that isn’t true
Christchurch has a genuine, if smaller, technology cluster contributing NZ$2.4 billion to the regional economy.
2 min readWellington: Xero was born here, and so was the visual-effects work behind Lord of the Rings
New Zealand’s capital produced a global accounting-software company and a visual-effects studio that shaped modern blockbuster filmmaking — both still headqu…
1 min read