Blackbird Ventures

Niki Scevak founded Startmate in 2010 after returning to Sydney, before co-founding Blackbird with Rick Baker. The firm dates its investing history to 2012. Its fund table updated in 2026 lists A$29 million of commitments and 20 core investments for the 2013 vintage, and A$193 million and 31 core investments for 2015. The table covers discretionary funds and excludes direct co-investment vehicles.⁠[5][1][3][4]

On April 2, 2018, Blackbird announced its third fund with A$261 million. Returning backers included Hostplus, around 100 individual investors and First State Super, while new investors included the Future Fund and Cambridge Associates clients. The announcement marked expansion six years after formation; the 2026 fund table records 35 core investments for this vintage.⁠[6][1]

On August 4, 2020, the firm announced a A$500 million fourth fund and A$1.24 billion in cumulative fund commitments. Backers included the Future Fund, AustralianSuper, HESTA, First State Super, TelstraSuper, Cendana, Greenspring, Pavilion and institutional clients of Cambridge Associates. The announcement said Mike Cannon-BrookesMike Cannon-BrookesMike Cannon-Brookes is an entrepreneur who co-founded the software company Atlassian with Scott Farquhar in Sydney in 2002 and is its CEO and a board member.Open the full entry joined as chairman of the management company, all employees became management-company shareholders with carry participation, and Samantha Wong and Nick Crocker became equal partners alongside Rick Baker and Niki Scevak. These were the arrangements announced at that time.⁠[7]

On November 2, 2022, Blackbird marked its tenth anniversary by announcing a A$1 billion fund. It said its seven superannuation-fund investors represented about 4.5 million members. The subsequently updated 2026 table lists A$1.032 billion of commitments and 85 core investments for the 2022 vintage, and A$647 million of commitments for 2020. Those later figures cover discretionary funds and differ from amounts reported when individual fundraisings were announced.⁠[8][1]

On August 25, 2026, Samantha Wong announced A$1.05 billion across new early-stage and growth funds. The early-stage fund targets the first financing of Australian and New Zealand founders, while the growth fund provides subsequent backing, keeping small initial and large follow-on investments in separate capital pools. New international investors included Adams Street Partners, Schroders and Morgan StanleyMorgan StanleyMorgan Stanley is an American global financial services firm that grew from an investment banking partnership into a publicly traded financial group spanning investment banking, securities trading, wealth management, and investment management.Open the full entry Investment Management.⁠[9]

The sixth-vintage announcement reported 20 new companies and 31 follow-on rounds in the previous year. Eighty percent of new companies were pre-seed or seed; those stages represented 96% of initial investments in the preceding early-stage fund deployed over three years. The firm said it had maintained a growth fund since Canva’s 2015 Series A. It reported increasing its Eucalyptus stake from 15% at seed to 26% at its 2026 sale to Hims & Hers, building Heidi ownership to 35% over six years, and investing seven further times after its initial Halter investment.⁠[9]

The investor page updated in 2026 lists 188 backed companies and a 32.24% net internal rate of return on money invested in Blackbird funds as of June 30, with portfolio value of A$10.28 billion. The August 25 fundraising article separately reports portfolio value above A$12 billion, over A$3 billion invested, more than A$2.25 billion returned in cash and approximately 32% net IRR over 14 years. The portfolio-value figures differ between the two company disclosures and should not be treated as one precise measurement.⁠[1][9]

On November 10, 2026, Alta (financial infrastructure)Alta (financial infrastructure)A blockchain payments and settlement infrastructure company for financial institutions, co-founded by Loong Wang, Catherine Porter and Jack Zhang.Open the full entry announced a $47.5 million Series A led by Index VenturesIndex VenturesIndex Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in Geneva in 1996. It invests from seed through growth and operates across London, San Francisco and New York, supporting technology companies through a transatlantic network.Open the full entry, with Blackbird Ventures, GV, Square Peg CapitalSquare Peg CapitalSquare Peg Capital is a technology investment firm founded in Australia in 2012, backing startups across Australia and New Zealand, Southeast Asia and Israel, with growth funds and a listed technology strategy spanning company development stages.Open the full entry and Capital49Capital 49Capital 49 is a venture capital firm established in 2021 by Airwallex founders to invest in early-stage technology companies, focusing on AI infrastructure and applications, enterprise platforms, fintech and payments.Open the full entry participating. Combined with an earlier $32.5 million seed round, Alta reported $80 million raised for institutional onchain financial infrastructure. The release quoted Blackbird’s Michael Tolo on the investment thesis of regulated financial institutions adopting onchain infrastructure.⁠[10]

The website accepts direct founder pitches without introductions. Its process includes initial conversations, further research, diligence and an investment-committee decision, with terms typically reached within days to two weeks according to the firm. The current roster lists partners Niki Scevak, Rick Baker, Samantha Wong, Nick Crocker, Michael Tolo, Phoebe Harrop and Tom Humphrey; Alex Apoifis as partner and COO; Ben Watiwat as CFO; and Robyn Denholm as board member.⁠[11][12]

Blackbird connects founders through Sunrise events, the free Giants mentoring program, Foundry for researchers and Something New dinners originating in Auckland. Its 2026 fund announcement said Sunrise was in its eleventh year with more than 13,000 attendees cumulatively, while Giants held 782 sessions for 220 early-stage founders in the prior year. Blackbird Foundation supports young people’s creativity through grants and storytelling, including Protostars and Believers.⁠[9][13]

The official website is https://www.blackbird.vc/ (opens in a new window), with the foundation at https://www.blackbird.foundation/ (opens in a new window). Connections include founders Niki Scevak and Rick Baker, startup program Startmate, portfolio companies Canva, Airwallex, Halter, Heidi, Eucalyptus and Alta, and fund backers Hostplus, the Future Fund, Adams Street Partners, Schroders and Morgan Stanley Investment Management.⁠[2][5][6][9][10]