CEO, Startmate
Stories naming Nick Crocker. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Product-mapping startup Adora, co-founded by an ex-Canva product chief, has landed seed funding with Blackbird leading and four other backers, earmarked for product work and Sydney hiring.
Blackbird partners explain why the firm's 2022 fund led Factor House's $5 million seed round, profiling the Melbourne developer-tools startup, its Kafka and Flink management products, revenue growth and customers.
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Melbourne developer-tools startup Factor House closed its first external round — $5 million, led by Blackbird, valuing it at $25 million — with OIF Ventures, Flying Fox Ventures, the Alice Anderson Fund and two angels joining.
Blackbird's blog interviews Juno founder Michelle Gilmore about her AI conversation product, its early adopters, and the $2.8 million raised to scale it.
Interview with Juno founder Michelle Gilmore on her AI listening engine, fifth venture and first external funding — $2.8 million with Blackbird's Nick Crocker leading — plus early customers.
Interview with Sunroom co-founder Michelle Battersby on her path from Citibank and Bumble to Kic and Sunroom; Blackbird partner Nick Crocker recalls backing the company.
Interview with Sunroom co-founder Michelle Battersby on her path from Bumble's first Australian employee and Kic CMO to founding the creator platform, plus investor Nick Crocker on backing the team.
Blackbird announces its investment in Atticus's $10.8 million raise and profiles the startup's founding team, product craft, and enterprise customers.
Atlassian's co-founder Scott Farquhar will vacate the co-CEO seat on August 31, staying on in governance and advisory roles, with Mike Cannon-Brookes set to lead alone from September.
Blackbird announces it led AI search startup Marqo's seed round, joined by January Capital, The Creator Fund and angel investors, having previously backed the company's pre-seed in May 2022.
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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.
Blackbird's team marks the firm's tenth birthday by unveiling a new A$1 billion fund to back ambitious Australian and New Zealand startups, sketching a 2032 vision of technology dominating the economy.
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Blackbird's investment notes explain why it led Sitemate's seed round, tracing the built-world software startup from its 2017 Startmate cohort and pre-seed backing to its collaboration products.
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Weekly roundup of Australian startup raises, including Airwallex's Series E extension, Fleet Space's Series B and Montu's record crowdfunding, plus Giant Leap raising $19.5 million toward a $50 million second fund.
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Employee experience platform Culture Amp has bought San Francisco values-recognition startup Disco for an undisclosed sum, with Disco's former CEO joining Culture Amp and an Asana executive added to the board.
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Roundup of recent raises: a New Zealand legaltech Series A, plant-based meat seed funding with a celebrity chef tie-in, hospitality software capital, and battery materials funding, plus board additions.
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Weekly roundup reporting Invoice2go's sale to Bill.com, raises by Go1, Employment Hero, InDebted and others, Rokt's secondary sale, Wildcard Ventures' launch, plus global deals including Zoom-Five9 and Salesforce-Slack.
Tennis Australia is creating Wildcard Ventures, a fund and syndicate backing early-stage sports, health and entertainment tech, and has named its investment team and advisory committee.
Weekly roundup covering Main Sequence's second-fund close, operating partner hires at Blackbird and AirTree, raises by Sea Forest, Adventus.io, Halter and others, acquisitions by Equiem, Stripe and Toyota, plus Big Tech earnings.
Blackbird announces Justin Angsuwat has joined the firm as Chief People Officer, returning from Silicon Valley, where he worked at Thumbtack, to lead talent and culture internally and advise its portfolio companies.
Blackbird's year-end review covers its fourth fund announcement, investments in companies including See-Mode, Morse Micro and SafetyCulture, Startmate's climate cohort intakes, Mike Cannon-Brookes joining its board, and numerous team hires.
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Profile of Adelaide charity-donations startup Good Thnx after Startmate's demo day, covering its Slack integration, fast enterprise sales, mentor network, a $75,000 investment and $1 million in donations facilitated.
Blackbird advertises an Operating Partner role to deepen relationships with late-stage portfolio companies and build operational programs, describing the role, requirements, benefits and the firm's mission.
Podcast conversation with Dovetail's founders about their research software and bootstrapped growth, including why Blackbird's Nick Crocker chose to back the company.
Startmate appoints Lauren Capelin from Reinventure as its first Principal and Blackbird's Samantha Wong to its board, replacing Nick Crocker, as it launches its first New Zealand accelerator cohort.
Blackbird announces the close of its fourth fund at $500 million, bringing total committed capital to $1.24 billion, and separately announces Mike Cannon-Brookes joining its board as chair.
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Blackbird's investment notes recount its participation in Eucalyptus's Series A, led by Woolworths' venture arm W23, having earlier led the telehealth company's pre-seed and seed rounds.
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Blackbird introduces seven new team members for 2020 across legal, operations and investment roles, while recalling a $100 million GP-led secondary, a raised New Zealand fund, and its earlier Startmate investment in Perx.
Blackbird's retrospective of its 2018: a third fund launched, new partners and staff hired, Startmate cohorts run, numerous portfolio raises led, Shape Analytics sold, and Shoes of Prey shut down.
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