what we do

From free-to-public business events, early stage funding grants, acceleration and mentorship programs, to well ran event management, the Petridish community and services smooth out the path to success.

event management

If you need help with your event, Petridish can help make your vision come to life. Petridish has tons of onsite resources, catering connections, and event planners to make your event successful. Petridish can even help with marketing and promoting your event.

groups & organisations

Petridish organises and hosts some of Dunedin’s best community business events. It’s home to groups like Women in Business Otago, and events like Creative Dish, Petri-Kucha, and collaborative events with Dunedin’s tertiary institutions, and not-for-profit organisations.


grants

Petridish launched the Rising Tide grant scheme in 2019, which gives cash grants and mentorship programs to promising local start-ups. Rising Tide is funded by local entrepreneurs, individuals and businesses, and has partnered with Soda Inc., who provides world class mentorship through their Lift, Lift Lite and Boost Programs. The fund aims to give out grants, quarterly, and has already helped companies like Winely, FilmQuest, PĹŤtiki Poi, Spout, Fred Fred, Timbr, and Pabagames move quicker towards their goals.

local mentorship

Petridish also partners with mentors from some of Dunedin’s most successful businesses and institutions to help give insightful advice for your business. The best thing about this service… it’s open to anyone. You don’t even have to be a Petridish member!

inventor's lab

Petridish is partnering with the Provincial Growth Fund to create Dunedin’s first product accelerator - the "Inventor's Lab". We are developing a community for passionate people to designing products across a range of technologies by providing access to workshop and educational resources. If you have an idea for a gadget or physical product that you want to design, then join other community members and our next great inventors to create prototypes at our Inventor's Lab, while getting advice from New Zealand’s best product designers, distribution experts and mentors.