There's nothing quite like the gentle roll of a bowl across a perfectly manicured green to bring out the competitive spirit in the NZ tech ecosystem!
On Thursday 19th March, at the Auckland Bowling Club in Parnell, GD1 hosted the start-up and tech eco-system for our inaugural Late Summer Social and Bowls Competition. We gathered our vibrant network of founders, operators, partners and investors for an afternoon in the sun.
Community at the Core
While GD1's mission is focused on a global scale, this event served as a powerful reminder that our strength is rooted in the community we build right here at home. Seeing leaders from across the ecosystem ditch the office for the green—flat-soled shoes and all—reinforced the importance of the human connections that power innovation. We exist to help founders go global, but we know that we can only achieve bigger when we 'Believe Bigger' together.
Cheers to our Champions and Partners
Two names rose to the top of the leaderboard. A massive congratulations to our 2026 Lawn Bowls Champions: Ralph Chang (Motion Capital) and Phil Howie (Sydekick). You've set the bar high for next year!
This evening wouldn't have been possible without the generous support of our ecosystem friends. Special thanks to our sponsors:
- Oxygen Advisors
- Peritos Solutions
- Avid Legal
Finally, a special thanks to GD1 portfolio company Foundry Lab. Challenged to provide a trophy for the event, they went above and beyond. They ran an employee competition to design a trophy for our winners. They then unleashed their digital metal casting and produced a beautiful result. Thank you to Tim Curtis from Foundry Lab, who joined us and presented the trophy to our winners.
We're already looking forward to defending titles and making more memories on the green in 2027.
Thank you to everyone who joined us for making it such a memorable wrap-up to the season. See you next year!
