Blackbird Ventures
Stories naming Phoebe Harrop. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Blackbird's blog post announces portfolio company Tracksuit has bought Hall, an AI brand-visibility startup the firm backed at pre-seed in 2023; Hall founder Kai Forsyth and his team have joined Tracksuit.
Blackbird's New Zealand chief Samantha Wong is heading home to Australia, with partner Phoebe Harrop taking over the Kiwi business in May, backed by the existing team plus a new associate.
Blackbird partner Samantha Wong is handing leadership of the firm's New Zealand arm to Phoebe Harrop and reflects on building Blackbird Aotearoa, its fundraising, portfolio and lessons from Kiwi founders.
Blackbird has hired On Deck co-founder David Booth for its New Zealand investing team in an EIR role; the post recounts his career and On Deck's roughly $100 million raise.
Blackbird's yearly letter recaps 2023: 38 investments worth $189 million across Australian and New Zealand startups, heavy AI and deep tech deployment, community programs, and open investment-team roles.
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 interviews Jenny Busing, co-founder and co-CEO of employee experience firm Excellent, covering her dance career, mentorship lessons, the EX Revolution manifesto launching in December, and her philosophy that work should not be a drag.
Blackbird closed its fifth fund at over A$1 billion, backed by super funds, sovereign wealth funds and hundreds of individual investors — which the firm calls Australia's largest venture fund yet.
Blackbird's investment note announces it led Excellent's pre-seed round, profiling the employee-experience design learning platform and its founders: Sam Gadd, formerly of Humankind and Kin, and Jenny, ex-Drumfit.
Also Startup Daily
Blackbird announces its NZ Fund has backed Carepatron's pre-seed round, profiling founders Jamie Frew and David Pene and their all-in-one practice management software for small healthcare providers.
Blackbird's investment notes announce its participation in the seed round of EnergyBank, a New Zealand battery storage startup, and profile the founding team's backgrounds in engineering, renewables and offshore construction.
Blackbird answers common questions about its new Aotearoa Community Lead job, covering the New Zealand team's community events, programmes with partners, ethical investing approach, venture capital business model and application process.
Blackbird announces Phoebe Harrop joining as a Principal to build its New Zealand presence, and recalls opening its NZ office in 2019 and raising a $60M fund for Kiwi startups.