I find hugely ambitious Aussie and Kiwi founders solving deeply painful problems as early as possible, and try to back them with money, time and most importantly, our belief.
I was a lawyer, then a product manager then a Startmate company founder. I joined Blackbird as Head of Operations in 2015 before moving to investments in 2017.
You should internally fire yourself and re-apply for your job every year. We should optimise our careers, and life, for maximum learning. People and companies evolve too frequently to wait to do this every few years. Having an annual forcing function to ask: ’is this role or company still fulfilling my needs? Am I the best person for this job?’ prevents you wasting years of your life in jobs that you have outgrown. It follows that I don’t believe in long service leave because it incentivises the opposite of this behaviour.
Sunfed, Harrison AI, Heuros, Incodocs, Workyard and Mentorloop.
I led the Australian VC community to draft a Model Code of Conduct for the Startup Community. I launched our Women in VC Internship program. I am also heading up our office in Auckland with Phoebe.
I am fascinated by the future of food and worry about how we’ll feed another 1.5 billion people on earth by 2030 without destroying it first. I am also interested in synthetic biology, longevity and healthcare. However, I’m a believer that through the investments I make now, I’ll learn about other new areas to invest in tomorrow, so by the time you read this, it’s probably also out of date!
We’re thrilled to have led the Series A round into Foundry Lab, an Aotearoa startup pioneering digital metal casting (DMC) to create functional metal parts in less than a day.
Blackbird recently led the Seed investment round in Multitudes.
We're pleased to lead the Series Seed round in Christchurch-based startup Partly, a global SaaS-enabled marketplace for auto parts.
We are delighted to make our first investment from our inaugural New Zealand fund in Ao Air.
Blackbird partner Samantha Wong explains how we make investment decisions.
More startups are creating meat substitutes to feed a growing population.
We’ve invested in Incodocs, a software-as-service platform for trade and shipping.
Blackbird partner Sam Wong thanks the entrepreneurs that dream big and change the world.
Blackbird has introduced a model Code of Conduct as an example for the Australian startup community.
We’re excited to announce that we are bringing Blackbird’s community-driven approach to venture capital to New Zealand.
We have led a NZ$10M investment into plant-based meat company Sunfed.
At Blackbird, we look for founders who are doing their life’s work.
Who gives a crap cofounder Simon Griffiths shares some learning on The Sunrise.
Steps we have taken to improve Startmate's gender diversity.
The Edrolo team joins Blackbird for an AMA on Sunrise.
The closing of a year and beginning of the next is always a good time to sit back and take stock of what you’ve achieved
AMA with Blackbird Partner Sam Wong, talking about venture capitalism, diversity in STEM and Startmate.
The surprising response of women in tech on the gender issue and how can improve gender diversity anyway.
We’re excited to have led the Series B round in First AML, an Auckland headquartered SaaS business designed to manage complex customer onboarding processes.
We’re excited to announce Phoebe Harrop joins the Blackbird team this week as an Associate.
We are thrilled to lead the $32M Series B round in Halter, a hardware startup that has created a new approach to dairy farming.
Sam Wong explains how we defined our Operating Principles here at Blackbird.
Blackbird has invested in the Series B round of Mint Innovation, an e-waste startup turning garbage into gold.
