This is Blackbird’s fifth fund, and it’s double the size of the VC’s last fund which closed in August 2020.
General Partner Sam Wong says “
Let's ignore the doom and gloom on Twitter and elsewhere - there has literally never been a better time to be a founder in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Many thanks to the founders whose success has enabled us to earn the trust of the super funds, sovereign wealth funds and hundreds of individual investors.
To the next chapter!
Superfunds and Succesful founders are backing this fund
Superannuation funds like AustralianSuper, Hostplus, Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, New Zealand’s sovereign wealth funds and New Zealand Growth Capital Partners Elevate fund, which is a government-backed fund.
A decade ago, most Australian and in particular New Zealand institutional investors didn’t want to put their money anywhere near tech startups.
It makes sense for superannuation funds to back the tech space because they have a long-term horizons and can afford to be patient. Tech is high growth, high return. It’s very long dated, and and funds are generally locked up for 10 years.”
The fund is also backed by over 270 individual investors, many of whom are tech founders and operators that Blackbird backed through earlier funds, according to the firm. Those founders will support the fund both with their own capital, but also their expertise, knowledge and connections.
This is what the team at Blackbird have to say
The mission
We are here to change the system, to change the culture.
The Vision
The year is 2032.
Australia and New Zealand’s five most valuable companies are technology companies. One-fifth of our GDP comes from technology.
Hundreds of startups each employ more than a thousand highly skilled employees. Those employees will take their experiences from these startups and found the next generation of companies that follow.
At Atlassian and Canva, there are hundreds of thousands of people creating technology used by consumers and businesses all over the world.
Founders of successful startups invest in and help the next generation. The superannuation and Kiwisaver funds of all Australians and New Zealanders provide the capital to fuel the ever-increasing ambition.
Australia and New Zealand as countries have, quite simply, succeeded, punching far above our weight on the world stage.
This is the future we work towards at Blackbird. We are here to change the system and change the culture.
In pursuit of this mission, we are pleased to announce Blackbird has raised a new fund of A$1 billion to invest in generational companies born in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
Its all about relationships and travelling the journey with the founders
Our second decade
Blackbird started ten years ago. Over the course of our first decade, it became very clear that our world of venture capital comes down to a few generational companies and that it should be our mission to believe in them at the very beginning and continue to invest throughout their life, with hundreds of millions of dollars.
The atomic unit of Blackbird is great relationships, not picking morsels from an alphabet soup of funding rounds. And so we have designed our funds, team and culture around building relationships we hope will last decades.
As we have always done, we strive to start those relationships right at the beginning, before product and revenue. No member of our investment team will ever say “it’s too early” to a founder.
We love to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first round of capital, as much as we love to invest hundreds of millions throughout the later stage rounds of generational companies.
Blackbird will invest in founders possessing the greatest of ambition. There is nothing greater than a founder doing their life’s work, determined to make a difference, and having a high sense of responsibility to see that change through.
That ambition is the common thread that ties graphic design, robotaxis and rockets together.
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