VC firm Blackbird Ventures has cracked open some of its golden eggs, offloading a small slice of its stake in design platform Canva at a US$25.5 billion (A$38.8bn) valuation in a secondary market sale to US investors. The deal with New York’s Coatue Management and San Francisco’s ICONIQ Capital is another step down the path… Read more »
Sydney startup MagicBrief has raised $2 million in a pre-Seed round for its marketing platform which acts like the lovechild of Canva and Pinterest for advertising. The round was led by Blackbird with support from Archangel Ventures. Several individual founders also chipped in as angel investors, including Vimeo’s Zach Klein, UsTwo’s Matt Miller, Tim Doyle… Read more »
A wild idea to create an “internet of energy”, transmitting power from space using light beams has landed $3 million in Seed funding Aquila Earth is a renewable energy startup looking to create the world’s first global, wireless energy network. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures alongside Possible Ventures, Icehouse Ventures and Startmate. Aquila… Read more »
Concerns over mail order weight loss brands Juniper and Pilot by Australian doctors haven’t dampened investor appetite its parent telehealth company, Eucalyptus, which has raised $50 million on a $520 million valuation. The round was backed by several existing Eucalyptus investors, including Blackbird Ventures, the Woolworths VC fund W23, and US investor Mary Meeker’s BOND… Read more »
Melbourne healthtech startup, MoreGoodDays has raised $3.5 million for a digital solution to managing chronic pain. The round was led by Blackbird, with support from impact fund Giant Leap, Side Stage Ventures, the Snow Foundation, and LaunchVic’s female-focused sidecar investment program, the Alice Anderson Fund. Neala Fulia and Helena Ngo co-founded the healthtech platform to… Read more »
Venture capital fund Blackbird has appointed three new general partners from within its own ranks Moving from principal to partner are Michael Tolo and Tom Humphrey in Australia, as well as Phoebe Harrop in New Zealand. It’s just the second time in the 11 years since Rick Baker and Niki Scevak founded Blackbird that the VC has… Read more »
Online fraud prevention startup Darwinium has raised US$10 million (A$15.6m) in a Seed round led by local VCs Blackbird and Airtree. The US-based customer protection platform was founded by Bondi entrepreneur Alisdair Faulkner, cofounder of cybersecurity startup ThreatMetrix, which sold in 2018 for more than A$1.2 billion (US$817m). Joining him at Darwinium is former ThreatMetrix… Read more »
Venture capital firm Blackbird has raised Australia’s first $1 billion VC fund, with superannuation funds once again cornerstone investors. The announcement comes just a week after Square Peg announced it had raised $860 million for its fifth generation of funds. Combined with another $700 million raised earlier this year by Airtree. that means the country’s… Read more »
New Zealand employee experience design startup Excellent has raised NZ$2 million in a pre-Seed round. ANZ VC Blackbird Ventures led the round, supported by Icehouse Ventures, Sir Stephen Tindall’s K1W1 ), and several other founders, including Sharesies founders Brooke and Leighton Roberts, Phase One Ventures CEO Mahesh Muralidhar, Joyous cofounder Mike Carden, Groov CEO Adam… Read more »
Last week we completed our end of financial year valuations for the Blackbird portfolio and communicated them to our investors. They’re down as you would expect in light of the public markets but with this blog post, we wanted to share in greater detail the process that we used to come to the valuations. The… Read more »
Sydney startup Sitemate has raised $5.2 million for its no code software tools for companies in the construction sector. The round was led by Blackbird, with participation from existing investors Shearwater Capital and angels including local tech founders Tim Doyle of Eucalyptus and Rory San Miguel of Propeller. Coincidentally, Blackbird general partner Nick Crocker was… Read more »
‘A rising tide lifts all boats’ is a saying popularised US President John F. Kennedy. It’s a reference to everyone winning when the economy is strong. For many investors, 2021 has been a king tide. And this month, the good ship Blackbird, the Australian venture capital firm, revealed just how rising valuations in the companies… Read more »
New Zealand digital metal casting startup Foundry Lab has raises US$8 million (A$11.2m) in a Series A. The round was led by Blackbird, supported by Kiwi VCs GD1, Icehouse and K1W1 as new investors, as well as Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck, Motional CEO Karl Iagnemma and former Autodesk CEO Carl Bass plus existing backers the Founders… Read more »
Anti-money laundering regtech startup First AML has raised A$28.7 million (NZ$30m) in a series B. The round was led by Blackbird Ventures, with support from new investors Headline Ventures, and existing backers Pushpay founder Eliot Crowther, US firm Bedrock Capital and Kiwi VC Icehouse Ventures. Blackbird partner Samantha Wong will join the board. The funds… Read more »
Working for a venture capital firm, I’m lucky to meet and support hundreds of startups in our portfolio and beyond. Many of these startups are at the earliest stages – they might not have a product yet, or perhaps their startup is just an idea. At Blackbird, our mission is to invest in wild hearts, with… Read more »
RAZZLE DAZZLED: Tech careers platform Earlywork named Best New Idea for 2023 
Fintech tikpay pockets $1.6 million pre-Seed round to transform transport ticketing 
FLYING HIGH: Food waste management innovator Goterra wins Best Sustainability Startup 
‘A truly flexible workplace’: Melbourne insurtech Kanopi wins Best Startup Culture award 
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