Blackbird nails 2nd $1 billion fund
Blackbird has locked in a second billion-dollar fund — its sixth, slightly bigger than the last — bringing in new institutional backers, and the article recalls portfolio wins, writedowns and failures.
Startup · $21m raised
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Shoes of Prey raised.
Companies Shoes of Prey acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Stories naming Shoes of Prey. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Blackbird has locked in a second billion-dollar fund — its sixth, slightly bigger than the last — bringing in new institutional backers, and the article recalls portfolio wins, writedowns and failures.
Weekly roundup covering seven Australian companies' fresh capital: EV charging, satellite IoT, sovereign cloud, wearables, workplace messaging, plus two crowdfunding raises on Birchal.
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KPMG administrators took control of ProForm Foods, the company behind the Meet brand, and the piece recalls earlier raises at v2food and All G Foods as the plant-based sector cools.
Woolworths' corporate venture arm W23 has added an undisclosed multi-million-dollar investment to its backing of Sydney alt-protein maker All G Foods, which had earlier raised a $16 million seed round in late 2021.
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Venture firm Touch Ventures debuted on the ASX, raising $100 million in its IPO and closing sharply higher; Afterpay backed it, and the firm recently put $1 million into Refundid's seed round.
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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Aera VC co-founder Derek Handley explains why the firm joined Fable Food Co's seed round, citing the Brisbane shiitake-mushroom meat alternative startup's retail traction, low-carbon product and experienced founding team.
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Sydney mushroom-based meat alternative maker Fable Food raised A$6.5 million in a Blackbird Ventures-led seed round to fund US expansion and R&D, and appointed Dan Joyce as chief growth officer.
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Vegan cheesemaker Hello Friend Foods exceeded its Birchal crowdfunding minimum, collecting $672,000 from 572 backers to lift production, packaging and product development.
Conference report from Melbourne where plant-based and conventional protein advocates debated. Fable Foods' funding round closed, and Michael Fox's earlier shoe startup Shoes of Prey is recalled as collapsed.
A holiday roundup of startup headlines: several Australian funding rounds, Airwallex's funds frozen amid a fraud probe, Fintech Australia's policy submission, and Travis Kalanick selling his remaining Uber stake.
Blackbird's post announces its seed investment in Fable, a mushroom-based meat alternative maker co-founded by Michael Fox, Jim Fuller and Chris McLoghlin, describing the plant-based protein opportunity and the founders' backgrounds.
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Shoes of Prey co-founder Michael Fox's mushroom-based meat alternative startup Fable has raised $1.5 million from Blackbird and Grok Ventures, with chef Heston Blumenthal to serve its products in his restaurants.
Roundup covering Jodie Fox's book on Shoes of Prey's failure, Google's agreed purchase of Fitbit, the return of Brisbane's RiverPitch investor night, Uber's new ventures, and Monica Lewinsky's anti-bullying Twitter bot.
Fast food billionaire Jack Cowin has launched v2food, a plant-based meat joint venture with CSIRO's innovation fund Main Sequence Ventures, seeded by his Competitive Foods Australia and led by ex-PepsiCo research director Nick Hazell.
Shoes of Prey co-founder Michael Fox is launching an unnamed plant-based meat venture on the Sunshine Coast with Mars accelerator grant backing, while the piece recalls Shoes of Prey's collapse and Beyond Meat's US listing.
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A columnist reflects on Shoes of Prey's collapse, drawing lessons about market research, runway, and choosing between venture capital and bootstrapping.
Custom footwear startup Shoes of Prey has entered liquidation, with FTI Consulting appointed, six months after pausing orders. Its cofounder reflected on the failure, including a 2015 US$15.5 million funding round.
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Custom footwear startup Shoes of Prey has entered liquidation after months of uncertainty, with FTI Consulting appointed. Co-founder Michael Fox explains the mass-market pivot failed and no further capital could be raised.
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