Founder, Rockpool · angel in 1 deal

Neil Perry

Roles

Role	Organisation	Sources
	Vow	SmartCompany (Fri 26 Mar 2021), SmartCompany (Fri 8 Jan 2021), Blackbird Ventures portfolio, SmartCompany (Fri 18 Dec 2020)
Founder	Rockpool	Startup Daily, SmartCompany

Disclosed deals

Every published round Neil Perry took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.

Company	Stage	Announced	Amount	Role	Alongside	Sources
Uluu	Seed	28 Nov 2022	$8m	Participant	Karlie Kloss Kevin Parker Voice Capital Alberts Tame Impala Festival Republic Future Classic Albert Impact Ventures Mistletoe Possible Ventures Main Sequence Ventures Melvin Benn Nathan McLay Neil Perry AM	Startup Daily (Thu 30 Oct 2025), Forbes Australia (Thu 30 Oct 2025), SmartCompany (Thu 30 Oct 2025), SmartCompany (Wed 24 Sep 2025), SmartCompany (Wed 17 Jan 2024), Startup News (WA) (Wed 13 Dec 2023), SmartCompany (Wed 14 Jun 2023), Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio (Fri 16 Dec 2022), SmartCompany (Wed 14 Dec 2022), Techboard, Startup Daily (Mon 28 Nov 2022), SmartCompany (Fri 18 Nov 2022), Startup News (WA) (Fri 18 Nov 2022), Forbes Australia (Wed 16 Nov 2022), Startup Daily (Wed 16 Nov 2022), SmartCompany (Wed 16 Nov 2022), Alberts Impact Ventures portfolio (Wed 16 Nov 2022), TechCrunch Venture, Alberts portfolio

Portfolio

Companies Neil Perry has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.

Company	What it does	First invested	Rounds	Led
Uluu		28 Nov 2022, Seed	1	0

Funds

Fund closes reported for Neil Perry, as distinct from the investments it has made.

Fund	Announced	Committed	Target	Close	Sources
No fund closes recorded for Neil Perry yet.

Portfolio companies acquired

Companies Neil Perry has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Neil Perry did.

Company	Bought by	Kind	Announced	Price
No portfolio company of Neil Perry is recorded as having been acquired.

Coverage

Stories naming Neil Perry. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.

News

Me&u takes on American Express and DoorDash as it eyes first profitable year

Me&u launches a new AI-powered reservations platform to compete with Resy and SevenRooms, targeting profitability in 2026 after merging with Mr Yum.

Forbes Australia Wed 12 Aug 2026 Acorn Capital American Express DoorDash Merivale Me&U Mr Yum OpenTable Resy SevenRooms Squarespace Tock Tyro Payments Uber Justin Hemmes Kim Teo Neil Perry Stevan Premutico

Unnamed stage $250k

Canva has a new $500 million shareholder – a Sydney private equity firm that previously made a fortune from pet food

Sydney PE firm Quadrant bought a $500 million Canva stake from existing holders including Blackbird, at a US$25 billion valuation — the first deal for Quadrant's ninth fund.

Startup Daily Fri 3 May 2024 Canva Adore Beauty Barbeques Galore Canberra Data Centres Fitness First Icon Group iSentia Modibodi Quadrant Private Equity Real Pet Food Co Rockpool Super A-Mart Zip Blackbird Ventures Kate Morris Kristy Chong Neil Perry

Seed

Investment Notes: Vow

Blackbird announces it followed on in cultured meat startup Vow's Series Seed round, led by Square Peg, having earlier backed Vow's 2019 pre-seed round, and profiles the company's approach.

Blackbird Ventures portfolio Wed 6 Jan 2021 Vow Blackbird Ventures Square Peg Capital George Peppou Neil Perry Samantha Wong Tim Noakesmith

Also Square Peg Capital portfolio·Square Peg Capital portfolio·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Cut Through Venture·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·AgFunderNews·AgFunderNews·TechCrunch Venture

8 deals

From AI sewer tech to lab-grown meat: SmartCompany's 10 startups to watch in 2021

A roundup profiling ten Australian startups expected to grow in 2021, reporting raises by VAPAR, HealthMatch, Ovira, Heaps Normal, Vop and Outland Denim, plus grants, accelerator alumni and founders' plans.

2 deals

Sydney startup Vow cooks up a storm with celeb chef Neil Perry, in a bid to take lab-grown meat mainstream

Cultured meat startup Vow teams with chef Neil Perry on a trial menu of lab-grown dishes. The Sydney company previously took pre-seed money from Blackbird and is preparing a seed round.

SmartCompany Wed 2 Sep 2020 Memphis Meats v2food Blackbird Ventures Rockpool Vow Bill Gates Sir Richard Branson Corey Costelloe George Peppou Neil Perry Tim Noakesmith

Series B $8m

UberEats in reverse: Dining-out platform me&u bags $8 million from laundry list of high-profile investors

Dining-tech firm me&u has closed an $8 million series B to fund a countrywide rollout, with Merivale's Justin Hemmes and Tyro's Robbie Cooke among new backers; founder Stevan Premutico earlier sold Dimmi to TripAdvisor.

Also SmartCompany·SmartCompany

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