GD1 (Global From Day One) is an Auckland, New Zealand-based venture capital firm that invests with high conviction in B2B technology companies originating from New Zealand with global ambitions. Founded in 2012, the firm backs startups from seed through Series B stages across enterprise software, SaaS, deep-tech, health-tech, and connected hardware.
Deal activity increased 50% year-over-year (3 deals in the last 12 months). Their most common stage is series-a (53% of deals). Average disclosed round size is $14.0M (across 16 rounds with reported amounts).
Portfolio
17
Fund Size
—
Top Stage
Series A
Last 12 Mo
3
Team
John Kells
Co-Managing Partner
Vignesh Kumar
Co-Managing Partner
Aaron Small
General Partner / Investment Principal
Nawaz Ahmed
General Partner
Jonathan Tan
Investment Associate
Portfolio Breakdown
Stage Distribution
Sector Distribution
Investment Activity
Portfolio
| Company | Round | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
 Dawn | Series B | $25M | Jun 2026 |
 Caruso | Series A | $6.5M | Apr 2026 |
 Ivo | Series B | $55M | Jan 2026 |
| Ivo | Series A | $16M | Feb 2025 |
 Alimetry | Series A | $18M | Oct 2024 |
 Layer3 | Series A | $15M | Jun 2024 |
 Polymath | Pre-Seed | — | Jan 2023 |
| SStretchSense | Series A | $7.6M | Nov 2022 |
| FFormus | Series A | $5M | Jan 2022 |
| RRunn | Seed | $1.4M | Dec 2021 |
 Easy Crypto | Series A | $17M | Oct 2021 |
 Shuttlerock | Series A | $7.5M | May 2021 |
 Foundry Lab | Series A | $8M | Jan 2021 |
| UUbco | Unknown | — | — |
 Ribbon | Unknown | $8M | — |
 Atomic Tessellator | Seed | $11.3M | — |
 Vessev | Series A | $19M | — |
 Junofem | Seed | — | — |
| Caruso | Seed | $3.2M | — |
Top Co-Investors
Last updated: 8 September 2026