Michael Tolo

Heidi hits $1.2 billion valuation with $470 million in fresh funding

Heidi raised US$100m in a Blackbird-led Series C plus US$240m in customer-acquisition finance from General Catalyst, reaching a $1.26 billion valuation as Australia's fourth billion-dollar startup of the year.

Also Dealroom·Cut Through Venture·Startup Daily·This Week in Australian Startups·Dynamic Business·This Week in Australian Startups·Mirage News·This Week in Australian Startups·Forbes Australia

Kiwi startups HR firm Humankind acquires Blackbird-backed management training platform The Mintable

Wellington HR consultancy Humankind has bought The Mintable, a Blackbird-backed platform that trains new managers, adding structured training to its consulting services.

Also This Week in Australian Startups

Investment Notes: Baseten Series-E

Blackbird's investment note sets out why the firm joined Baseten's $300 million Series E with IVP, Capital G, Nvidia and Greylock, praising the inference startup's customer culture and its purchase of Parsed.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio

Investment Notes: Coherence Neuro

Blackbird's investment note recapping its backing of Coherence Neuro and the neural implant startup's development milestones, institutional collaborations, and path toward first-in-human glioblastoma trials.

Investment Notes: Heidi Series B

Blackbird's investment notes announce its backing of Heidi's Series B alongside Point72 Private Investments, describing the AI medical scribe's rapid growth, enterprise traction, and international expansion.

Also Tech Funding News - Australia

Airwallex lands $465m series F and a decacorn title

Airwallex has wrapped a $465 million Series F at a $9.6 billion valuation; Blackbird joins for the first time and half the round is a secondary sale for early backers.

Also Australian FinTech·Women's Agenda·Crunchbase News

Quantum startup jags $2 million pre-Seed round to team up with PsiQuantum

Nine-month-old Sydney quantum startup Iceberg Quantum raised $2 million pre-seed, led by Blackbird with LocalGlobe participating, to build cheaper fault-tolerant designs for PsiQuantum's photonic platform.

Five ANZ startups that raised $21.2 million this week

Weekly roundup detailing funding rounds by five Australian and New Zealand startups: a diversity analytics platform, a thermal energy storage maker, a carbon accounting service, an activated carbon producer, and legal communications software.

Medtech Heidi Health raises $10 million Series A

Heidi Health, whose AI tool trims paperwork for family doctors, has banked a $10 million Series A round led by returning backer Blackbird, with co-investors including Hostplus and Hesta.

Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia·Forbes Australia

Blackbird backs Heidi Health’s AI platform for overworked doctors

Melbourne healthtech firm Heidi Health has pulled in A$10 million Series A capital, headed by Blackbird Ventures, to grow its AI scribe that lightens clinicians' documentation workload.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

Investment Notes: Sumday

Blackbird's investment note announcing it led Sumday's $2M pre-seed round, profiling the Tasmanian startup's carbon accounting software for accountants and its three co-founders.

Also SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany

Greatness from Within

Blackbird welcomes Michael Tolo, Tom Humphrey and Phoebe Harrop into its investment partnership, citing their craft, founder relationships and contribution to its New Zealand expansion.

The Super Seven: Meet Blackbird's Seven New Associates

Blackbird presents its seven new investment associates, profiling their varied backgrounds across elite sport, science, banking, consulting and startups, plus prior roles at firms including Sprint Ventures, NZ Growth Capital Partners and AustralianSuper.

Doctor training platform Oscer scores $5 million seed round

Oscer, which trains student doctors via AI virtual patients, raised a $5 million seed round led by Blackbird with January Capital, Inventures, Archangel Ventures and two angels, valuing it at $20 million.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio

Blackbird is hiring Three Investment Associates

Blackbird Ventures is recruiting three investment associates for its investment team, reporting to principals Michael Tolo, Tom Humphrey and partner Sam Wong. The post describes the role, benefits, culture and the firm's portfolio.

Investment Notes: PsiQuantum

Blackbird Ventures announces it joined PsiQuantum's USD450 million Series D round, and sets out why the startup's silicon photonics approach can scale to a useful quantum computer.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Forbes Australia

Investment Notes: Carted

Blackbird's investment note announces it led Carted's ten million US dollar seed round, profiling founders Holly Cardew and Mike Angell and their universal commerce API enabling direct checkout across online content.

Also SmartCompany·Women's Agenda·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Startup Daily

The Next Generation of Blackbird’s Investment Team

Blackbird introduces Tom Humphrey and Michael Tolo as new investment Principals alongside Tip Piumsomboon, and notes its fourth fund closed at $650 million in late 2020.

Also Blackbird Ventures portfolio