About Blackbird Ventures
Blackbird Ventures is a venture capital firm founded in 2012. It is primarily based out of Surry Hills, Australia. As of May 2026, Blackbird Ventures is an active investor, having invested in 143 companies, with 8 new investments in the last 12 months. It primarily invests in Seed round in Australia based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and Retail. Most recently it participated in the $***** Series B round of August Robotics Overall, Blackbird Ventures portfolio has seen 6 unicorns and 22 acquisitions including key companies like Airwallex, SafetyCulture and Leonardo Ai. A lot of funds co-invest with Blackbird Ventures, with names like Icehouse Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Blackbird Ventures has team of 106 people including 22 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Seed, Series A & 3 more
Portfolio Acquisitions
Deals in last 12 months
Blackbird Ventures' List of Top Investments
Blackbird Ventures has a portfolio of 143 companies, including 6 unicorns. Their most notable investments are in SafeStack and Carepatron.Their portfolio spans across Australia, United States, New Zealand and 4 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Retail and 29 other sectors, across stages such as Seed, Series A and 3 more. Here is the list of top investments by Blackbird Ventures:
1. Canva
Cloud-based collaborative design platform. It enables users to create various digital content, including social media posts, presentations, and videos, through its drag-and-drop editor. The platform provides access to thousands of templates, photos, and fonts, and offers AI-powered tools for users to enhance design abilities. It allows users to edit images for presentations, invitations, posters, flyers, business cards, and more. The platform offers pre-designed templates and effects. It also provides a stock library of photographs, illustrations, and images.
Key facts about Canva
- Founded Year: 2012
- Location: Surry Hills (Australia)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series F
- Total Funding till date: $589M
- Employee Count: 15,755 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Next Round Capital, Shasta Ventures and 53 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series F, May 01, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
2. Airwallex
Provider of multi-currency business accounts, global payments, and spend management. The company offers solutions for business accounts, global transfers, corporate cards, and expense management. It provides APIs and embedded finance options, including programmatic account creation, multi-currency account management, and global payment acceptance. The company also offers tools for invoicing, subscription management, and usage-based billing.
Key facts about Airwallex
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Annual Revenue: £504K as on Dec 31, 2021
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series G
- Total Funding till date: $1.58B
- Employee Count: 2,488 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Lone Pine Capital, Sequoia Capital and 41 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series G, Dec 08, 2025, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of a platform for workplace operations, safety, and compliance. The platform offers tools for inspections, audits, checklists, training, and asset management. It also provides features for task management, document management, and incident reporting. The platform includes integrations and analytics to improve workflows and identify risks.
Key facts about SafetyCulture
- Founded Year: 2004
- Location: Surry Hills (Australia)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $298M
- Employee Count: 844 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: TDM Growth Partners, Insight Partners and 41 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Sep 09, 2024, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
4. Mercato
Online grocery delivery connecting customers with local, independent grocers. It is a platform that partners with local and culturally diverse grocers to make healthy, nutritious, and culturally relevant foods more accessible to communities. It provides independent merchants with online shopping and local delivery, bringing more business to the shops. It offers a wide selection of products, including seasonal produce, hand-cut meats, seafood, international specialties, pantry staples, bakery items, specialty beverages, artisanal cheeses, spices, seasonings, and catered meals. Customers can shop from multiple stores in the same order and schedule delivery or in-store pickup. It aims to provide access to healthy, nutritious foods sourced by local grocers, with a focus on choice and dignity. It supports local businesses and empowers communities. The platform offers features like account creation, express checkout, reordering, referral program, and personalized shopping. It is a B2C platform with a social impact.
Key facts about Mercato
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: Brooklyn (United States)
- Stage: Series A
- Total Funding till date: $40.8M
- Employee Count: 214 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Flucas Ventures, Blackbird Ventures and 13 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Mar 25, 2021, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
5. Leonardo Ai
AI-powered platform to generate assets with models. It creates images, change controls, and create patterns. It allows users to create game assets using natural language commands.
Key facts about Leonardo Ai
- Founded Year: 2022
- Location: Sydney (Australia)
- Stage: Acquired
- Total Funding till date: $31M
- Employee Count: 258 as on Apr 30, 2026
- Investors: Blackbird Ventures, Smash Capital and 4 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series A, Dec 06, 2023, $*****
- Highlight: Acquired
Blackbird Ventures' Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Blackbird Ventures has invested in 143 companies over the last 14 years, with an average of 10 new investments annually in the last 10 years. In 2025, it made 29 investments, while as of May 2026, it has made 8 investments in this year. Its most recent first time investment was in Kimia and most recent follow-on round was in August Robotics.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 3 | 5 | 8 |
2025 | 15 | 14 | 29 |
2024 | 3 | 8 | 11 |
2023 | 11 | 13 | 24 |
2022 | 17 | 12 | 29 |
2021 | 15 | 12 | 27 |
2020 | 8 | 9 | 17 |
2019 | 11 | 6 | 17 |
2018 | 8 | 9 | 17 |
2017 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
Blackbird Ventures' Investments by Stage
Blackbird Ventures has made 90 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $3.01M, 25 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $10.9M, 6 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $23.3M, 1 investment in Series D stage with an average round size of $450M and 1 investment in Series F stage with an average round size of $150M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Seed | 90 |
Series A | 25 |
Series B | 6 |
Series D | 1 |
Series F | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Blackbird Ventures' Investments by Sector
Blackbird Ventures has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer, Vertical SaaS and Retail. Notably, it has invested in 120 Tech companies, 102 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 83 Software companies and at least 44 companies focusing on Saas.Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 69 |
High Tech | 37 |
Consumer | 20 |
Vertical SaaS | 15 |
Retail | 14 |
Others | 137 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Blackbird Ventures' Investments by Geography
Blackbird Ventures has made most investments in Australia (63), followed by United States where it has made 35 investments.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Australia | 63 |
United States | 35 |
New Zealand | 16 |
Singapore | 4 |
United Kingdom | 4 |
Others | 2 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Blackbird Ventures' recent investments
Blackbird Ventures has made 8 investments in 2026 so far. August Robotics and Marloo are the latest among them.Here are the most recent investments by Blackbird Ventures:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
May 21, 2026 | Australia | Series B | 7593 | [+3] | |
Apr 28, 2026 | New Zealand | Seed | 6365 | - | |
Apr 09, 2026 | Australia | Seed | 4626 | [+1] | |
Mar 24, 2026 | New Zealand | Series E | 7839 | [+7] | |
Mar 04, 2026 | New Zealand | Seed | 7870 | [+4] |
Unicorns in Blackbird Ventures' Portfolio
Blackbird Ventures has 6 unicorns in its portfolio - Halter, Bugcrowd, Culture Amp and others. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is Halter. It became a unicorn in 2025, 4 years after Blackbird Ventures first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Blackbird Ventures' portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
65 | Revolutionizing pasture management with virtual fencing and animal monitoring technology | 2016 | Auckland | Series E | kpixhge | ||
66 | Provider of crowdsourced security platform offering vulnerability disclosure and penetration testing | 2012 | San Francisco | Series E | gyuujzl | ||
73 | Employee experience management platform | 2009 | Richmond | Series F | {wbbdcz | ||
72 | Developer of photon-based universal quantum computers | 2015 | Palo Alto | Series E | ngzdj{t | ||
79 | Provider of a platform for workplace operations, safety, and compliance | 2004 | Surry Hills | Series D | dkhuzrm |
Acquired companies in Blackbird Ventures' Portfolio
22 companies from Blackbird Ventures' portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Ortto in Apr 2026 by Canva for $*****.Here are Blackbird Ventures' portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 08, 2026 | May 19, 2014 | Series B | 8373 | |
Feb 19, 2026 | Oct 2019 | Seed | 8164 | |
Feb 10, 2026 | Oct 17, 2018 | Seed | 8984 | |
Oct 23, 2025 | Mar 10, 2016 | Seed | 1015 | |
Jun 18, 2025 | Jul 06, 2023 | Seed | 7892 |
Team profile of Blackbird Ventures
Blackbird Ventures has a team of 106 members including 22 Partners, 4 Venture Partners and 8 Principals located in Australia, United States and 8 more locations. Blackbird Ventures' team sits on the board of 1 company.Here is a list of top team members in Blackbird Ventures:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Australia | - | ||
Partner | Sydney | - | ||
Partner | Sydney | - | ||
Partner | Sydney | |||
Partner | Sydney | - | ||
Partner | Auckland | - | ||
Partner | Sydney | - | ||
Partner | New Zealand | - | ||
Partner | Palo Alto | - | - | |
Partner | United Arab Emirates | - | - | |
Partner | Sydney | - | - |
Co-investors of Blackbird Ventures
Over the past 14 years, 642 investors have co-invested in Blackbird Ventures's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Blackbird Ventures: Startmate, Y Combinator and 104 others have invested in rounds before Blackbird Ventures. There are 5 companies where Startmate has invested before Blackbird Ventures and 4 companies where Y Combinator has invested before Blackbird Ventures.
- Top Co-investors of Blackbird Ventures: 223 investors entered a company along with Blackbird Ventures. These include investors like Icehouse Ventures (9 companies).
- Invested after Blackbird Ventures: A total of 313 investors have invested in Blackbird Ventures's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Hostplus (8 companies), AirTree (7 companies) and HESTA (6 companies).
Recent News related to Blackbird Ventures
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August Robotics Raises $30M to Scale Construction Automation PlatformVentureburn•May 22, 2026•Futurefamilyoffice, GS Futures, Tanarra, Big Pi Ventures and 3 others
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Blackbird Leads $10M Seed Round for Marloo to Streamline Financial Advisers' Paperwork with AITech Funding News•Apr 28, 2026•Blackbird Ventures, Marloo, Icehouse Ventures
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NRF invests $10.1m in Syenta to boost semiconductor performanceCapital Brief•Apr 21, 2026•Syenta, Playground, National Reconstruction Fund, Blackbird Ventures and 1 other
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NextWork Raises $4.45M in Seed FundingFinSMEs•Mar 04, 2026•NextWork, SHAKTI, Global From Day One, Cake Ventures and 3 others
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Expat Kiwi legaltech startup briefs $81 million Series BStartup Daily•Jan 20, 2026•Ivo, Costanoa, Global From Day One, Icehouse Ventures and 3 others
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Ivo Secures $55M to Transform Contracts into a Trusted Source of IntelligenceGlobeNewswire•Jan 20, 2026•Ivo, Costanoa, Blackbird Ventures, Uber and 8 others
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Elyos AI raises USD $13m to scale trade service agentsIT Brief UK•Jan 19, 2026•Elyos, PI LABS, Y Combinator, Blackbird Ventures and 1 other
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London’s Cyb3r Operations raises €4.6 million led by Octopus Ventures to tackle third-party cyber riskBebeez•Jan 15, 2026•PI LABS, CYB3R OPERATIONS, Octopus Ventures, ESA and 4 others
