Anna Mowbray
Co-Founder, Zuru
Anna Mowbray is a New Zealand entrepreneur who co-founded Zuru, the toy and consumer-goods maker that grew from a Waikato farm shed into one of the largest privately owned toymakers in the world. Her wealth sits inside that fortune. The 2026 NBR Rich List ranks the Mowbrays at the very top, with the family's Zuru fortune estimated near NZ$20 billion, and lists Anna in her own right rather than as part of a single family total.
What is Anna Mowbray's net worth?
There is no disclosed figure. Zuru is privately held and has taken no outside investment, so no audited accounts exist for any single owner. What is known is the shape of Anna Mowbray's wealth: she owns a share of a debt-free, investor-free business she helped build into a multi-billion-dollar group, she has spoken of a "significant cash out" when she stepped back from running it, and she appears on the 2026 Rich List separately from her brothers Nick and Mat. For how the money was built and where it sits today, see our full breakdown of the Mowbray family net worth.
How Anna Mowbray made her money
Mowbray joined Zuru in 2005, two years after her brothers had started making model hot-air-balloon kits on the family dairy farm near Cambridge. With a NZ$20,000 loan from their parents the siblings moved to China in their teens and early twenties, bought a single injection-moulding machine and manufactured toys themselves. Anna rose to chief operating officer and ran the commercial and operational side through the company's fastest growth, using relationships built in China to run manufacturing at a scale most rivals could not match. That discipline let Zuru take a product from sketch to store shelf faster and cheaper than the competition, and it kept the profits in the family. Global hits followed: Bunch O Balloons, X-Shot, Mini Brands and Rainbocorns, sold across more than 120 countries.
Zuru has since grown well beyond the toy aisle. Zuru Edge moved it into fast-moving consumer goods across nappies, haircare and wellness, and reached about US$1 billion in revenue within six years. Zuru Tech is trying to reinvent housebuilding through robotics and automation. The group is now a multi-billion-dollar operation owned entirely by the Mowbray family.
Why Anna Mowbray left Zuru
Mowbray stepped down as Zuru's chief operating officer in 2023 after nearly two decades and left with what she has described as a "significant cash out". The same year she launched Zeil, an app-first New Zealand job marketplace built to feel more like a social feed than a jobs board. She has since taken a stake in the football club Auckland FC and become an active investor, a reminder that the most interesting founders rarely stop at one company.
Anna Mowbray's private life
Mowbray's personal life draws nearly as much attention as her business one. She has three children from her first marriage, to Blake Wong. In August 2024 she married former All Black Ali Williams in Fiji, and the couple's plans for a private helipad at their Auckland home became a national talking point. Their Coatesville estate, bought in 2017 for NZ$32.5 million, was once owned by Kim Dotcom.
Anna features in our look at how New Zealand brands break out globally and our guide to the most famous New Zealand entrepreneurs.
How much is Anna Mowbray worth?
Her wealth comes from her stake in Zuru, the privately held toy and consumer-goods company she co-founded, and she appears on the 2026 NBR Rich List in her own right. The Mowbray family fortune is estimated near NZ$20 billion at the top of that list, though individual figures are informed estimates rather than audited accounts because Zuru takes no outside investment.
When did Anna Mowbray leave Zuru?
Anna Mowbray stepped back from her role as Zuru's chief operating officer and by 2023 had left the company she co-founded, describing what she called a "significant cash out". That same year she launched Zeil, her own New Zealand job-marketplace venture.
Who is Anna Mowbray married to?
Anna Mowbray married former All Black Ali Williams in Fiji in August 2024. She was previously married to Blake Wong, with whom she has three children.
What is Zeil?
Zeil is the app-first job marketplace Anna Mowbray launched in 2023 after leaving Zuru. It connects New Zealand employers and jobseekers through a social-media-style interface.
Sources: NBR · Wikipedia · The Denizen · Zuru
About this profile
This profile was researched and written by Noteworthy using publicly available sources. If something here is out of date or incorrect, let us know and we’ll review it.
