Blackbird partner Phoebe Harrop will take the helm of VC fund’s Kiwi out as its founding head, Samantha Wong, returns to Australia pending the birth of her second child.
Wong announced the move back across The Ditch on Blackbird’s blog, saying “I’ve decided this is the right time for me and my family to move back to Sydney where my extended family live”.
Blackbird’s new New Zealand head Phoebe Harrop
Harrop, who joined the VC after moving from London amid 2021’s lockdowns, where she worked as an investment director at Al Gore’s growth stage firm, Generation, will take charge on May 1, supported by David Booth, James Palmer, and new associate Georgia Robertson. Blackbird is currerently recruiting for two new members of the team
Wong will take leave until 2025 and says that when she returns to the office, will still work closely with the NZ team.
“Much of my dealflow will still be NZ based, and I’ll still continue to seek out and lead investments in Kiwi founders wherever they may be,” she said.
“After the move, I will retain my relationships with Kiwi companies I’ve led investments in, like Halter, Partly and FirstAML. The only major change to Blackbird Aotearoa will be that day-to-day management of the New Zealand business will pass to Phoebe.”
Since setting up the VC’s first international office in Auckland four years ago, Wong has raised NZ$140 million to invest in Kiwi founders, with $133 million deployed in 28 startups.
“Building Blackbird Aotearoa has been the most rewarding Zero to One journey of my life, and I feel incredibly privileged to have had the opportunity to do it,” she said.
Reflecting on her time in New Zealand, Wong said “the number 8 wire mentality is real”.
The fencing wire entered Kiwi folklore as the byword for local ingenuity and entrepreneurship – a problem-solving talent using whatever’s close at hand around the farm.
Wong says that state of mind “means Kiwi companies achieve more with less money than other startups” but adds that No. 8 thinking can hold founders back because it keeps them “doing everything themselves for far too long. There is a time to be resourceful and to multi-task, and there is a time for bringing on people who can help you scale”.
And there’s perhaps a simple reason why No. 8 mentality is so predominant in Kiwi startups. As Wong observed so many founders grew up on farms and only moved to the city as adults.
That set the stage for the independent thinking New Zealand founders bring to the table and also has Wong thinking about how she’ll raise her own family.
“I’ve come to believe these circumstances help nurture a sense of curiosity, self-confidence, initiative and resourcefulness that are great attributes for any human being, but particularly ideal raw ingredients for a startup founder,” she said.
“As a parent of young children now, the Kiwi founders I’ve been fortunate to back have inspired me to think about how I will raise my children differently in the hope a bit of their magic rubs off on them.”
You can read more of what Blackbird partner, director and soon-to-be mother of two Samantha Wong has to say here.
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