Australia's Blackbird Ventures reaches first close on VC fund
Sydney-based VC firm Blackbird Ventures has reached a first close of A$20 million on its A$30 million ($31 million) internet-focused venture capital fund.
The majority of the capital came from industry insiders, including 35 Australian tech founders and Silicon Valley venture capitalists. These investors will help mentor portfolio companies.
Blackbird's management team consists of Niki Scevak, founder of Australian accelerator Startmate; Rick Baker who ran venture investing at MLC and Bill Bartee, co-founder of Southern Cross Venture Partners. They will be assisted in Silicon Valley by Southern Cross Partner John Scull, who sits on the investment committee.
"The essential ingredients of Blackbird are successful founders helping the next wave of Australian start-ups," Niki Scevak, co-founder of Blackbird, said in a statement.
The fund aims to build strong links with the US to give start-ups access to mentoring, networking and market opportunities.
Blackbird expects to make 25 investments in total. The first deals include undisclosed rounds with Canva, a collaborative design platform, and Ninja Blocks, a startup that builds Nest-like connected hardware.
This first close comes at a time when Australia's VC industry is under fire with Matt Barrie, founder of prominent internet start-up Freelancer.com, declaring the industry is "dead." Barrie said funding from venture capital firms for technology start-ups had declined every year by 50% since 2010, when it was A$160 million compared with A$40 million last year.
Dr. Katherine Woodthorpe , CEO of the Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (AVCAL), admitted there was a decline in activity due to global economic conditions but stressed the situation was not unique to Australia.
Adam Jacobs, managing director of online fashion retailer The Iconic which recently received $25 million from Summit Partners, also drew rebukes from AVCAL when he said the Australian investment community was very conservative towards online retail and e-commerce.
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