Blackbird Foundry
Venture capitalAuckland · Pre-Seed–Series A · 48 people tracked
Investment thesis
Blackbird invests in founders rather than particular sectors or stages, believing that major breakthroughs come from a passionate few tackling the world's greatest problems. It emphasizes long-term commitment, backing companies from the earliest days (such as investing in Canva when it was just an idea) and continuing to support them through every subsequent round. Community is central to the firm, which builds early relationships with founders and offers dinners, retreats, mentoring, and events. Above all, Blackbird aims to give founders courage and belief so they can pursue their most ambitious goals.
Source: firm website, verified Aug 2, 2026.
Team · 48 people
from the firm's websiteAuthored the post on behalf of Blackbird about the Tracksuit acquisition of Hall; involved with Blackbird's investment in Hall.
Leads the Foundry program and is the main contact for applicant questions.
Investments · 4 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathHybrid mechanistic and ML cell models to make biology programmable; raised $2.25M pre-seed plus a $3M Gates Foundation grant.
Blackbird portfolio company where Hall's founder was the first hire.
Fault-tolerant quantum architectures designed to reduce qubit overhead, working with PsiQuantum and Oxford Ionics; $2M+ raised.
Infrastructure for fine-tuning LLMs, used by NVIDIA, NASA and Meta with 2M+ monthly downloads.
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Blackbird Foundry invest at?
- Blackbird Foundry invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A stages.
- What sectors does Blackbird Foundry focus on?
- Blackbird Foundry focuses on Deep Tech, Sector Agnostic.
- Where is Blackbird Foundry located?
- Blackbird Foundry is headquartered in Auckland, NZ.
Media · Podcasts & interviews
from their channelLIVE from Sunrise Australia: How Alex Zaccaria Reclaimed Linktree’s Vision and Culture
Blackbird Ventures
The COO perspective: tech, education and innovation with Stephanie Carullo
Blackbird Ventures
Rockets Made in Australia: Taking on the global space race with Adam Gilmour
Blackbird Ventures
Satellites and solutions: Flavia Tata Nardini's journey to solve big challenges.
Blackbird Ventures
Wild Hearts with Dr Thomas Kelly | CEO & Co-Founder, Heidi
Blackbird Ventures
Re-writing the rules of learning: Amber Joseph on building NextWork
Blackbird Ventures
Images
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