Rear Window

Blackbird and the problem of investing in women

Australia’s most prominent VC firm self-reported data that shows funding female-led start-ups is a no-growth sector.

Mark Di StefanoColumnist

Dec 6, 2023 – 5.55pm

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You won’t find a place in the Australian corporate landscape populated by more mediocre sycophants than the country’s VC-backed start-up community.

VC is supposed to be all moonshots and big bets on the future. “We were supposed to get flying cars,” the saying goes. Instead, we have three big shops – AirTree, Square Peg and Blackbird – who redirect super money to fund B2B tech start-ups. Stirring stuff!

Mark Di Stefano is Rear Window columnist, based in the Sydney newsroom. He previously worked at BuzzFeed, the Financial Times and The Information before joining the Financial Review as a media and tech correspondent.