Australia’s Blackbird bags over $640m for investment fund

Venture capital firm Blackbird has raised A$1 billion (US$642 million) for an investment fund that will focus on firms based in Australia and New Zealand. The fund has backed 18 startups so far.

This marks a record close for the firm, which was founded in 2012 by Rick Baker and Niki Scevak.

Photo credit: Blackbird

The Sydney-based company is said to be the largest VC in Australia after receiving roughly US$6.4 billion in investment returns. Blackbird is one of the early investors of design app Canva.

The fund will be split into three different endeavors, TechCrunch reported. Roughly US$182.2 million will be allocated to finance pre-seed Australian firms, while NZ$75 million (about US$44 million) will be set aside for New Zealand startups. The VC firm will also use US$428.7 million of the amount to support its portfolio companies.

The report added that investors in the fund include 270 entrepreneurs as well as Australian and New Zealand-based investment vehicles such as Hostplus, AustralianSuper, New Zealand Growth Capital Partners Fund, and Future Fund.

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Currency converted from Australian dollars and New Zealand dollars to US dollars: US$1 = AU$1.56; US$1 = NZ$1.71.