Australia's Blackbird launches New Zealand fund

This is the first allocation from Elevate NZ Venture Fund, a vehicle controlled by New Zealand Growth Capital Partners, a government fund-of-funds previously known as New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. Elevate was formally launched in March with a NZ$300 million pool of capital earmarked to fill a local gap in early-stage start-up funding.

It comes less than a month after Blackbird raised A$500 million ($364 million) for its fourth flagship fund, which will also target New Zealand. This was said to establish the firm as Australia’s largest VC with some A$1.2 billion in assets under management. Blackbird claimed that its net IRR for every dollar invested across all its funds was 46.7% as of the end of June.

“Despite COVID-19, we have seen no slow-down in the number of high-quality Kiwi founders wanting to get started and raise capital to accelerate their journey,” Samantha Wong, a partner at Blackbird, said in a statement. “Due to excess demand, we raised the cap on the fund size from NZ$50 to NZ$60 million and are delighted to have Elevate as a major backer in our inaugural New Zealand fund.” 

Blackbird launched its New Zealand strategy last year with the opening of an Auckland office led by Wong and Tip Piumsomboon, formerly of NZ Super Fund. The New Zealand fund, which will make investments at the Series A and B stages, is expected to reach a final close in the next few weeks.

Blackbird has made at least four investments in the country to date, including alternative protein brand Sunfed Meats, customer feedback software provider AskNicely, and FreightFish, a hydrofoil maker for the maritime logistics industry. Earlier this year, it joined a $2 million round for AO Air, a US and New Zealand-based facemask maker targeting polluted cities that is experiencing a bounce in demand on the back of COVID-19.

“There is a strong cohort of rising stars who are raising Series A funding rounds from respected international firms like Sequoia, Horizons, Data Collective, Founders Fund, Lightspeed, and Aspect Venture Partners,” Wong said at the time of the Auckland office launch. "However, at the $1–5 million round, there is a gap in New Zealand between local angels and accelerators and global growth investors.”

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Technology
• New Zealand
• Blackbird Ventures
• New Zealand Venture Investment Fund
• TMT