Billion Dollar Moves™ with Sarah Chen-Spellings | Global Venture Capital · Sarah Chen-Spellings

Inside the Fund Fueling Aussie Unicorns: Canva, SafetyCulture, and Culture Amp w/ Rick Baker, Blackbird VC

October 16, 2025·49 min·45 clips

Rick Baker traces Blackbird’s origin story back to a time when almost no institutions wanted in. He says the first fund took 22 months to raise. It also took roughly 530 meetings to get there. The final investor base included 97 limited partners. That first pool backed companies that later became important names in Australian startup history, including Canva, Safety Culture, Culture Amp, and Propeller. He revisits the kiteboarding trip where he first met Melanie Perkins and heard the Canva vision. The episode uses that meeting to show how big outcomes often start in unpolished places. Baker also explains why Blackbird built in early liquidity. He frames it as a way to protect Fund One without getting in the way of company growth. From there, he talks through the awkward reality of 10-year fund structures. In practice, he says, funds often run much longer than the headline term. The episode treats that mismatch as a practical limit, not just a philosophical one. Baker outlines how Blackbird now invests from its fifth fund. He describes it as a billion-dollar Australian fund. He also says the firm is raising a new fund to keep the platform going. The scale is far different from the beginning. Still, he returns to the same discipline. Blackbird started with a small-house mindset and found that the ecosystem could support something larger. Australia was the first focus. New Zealand came later and widened the deal flow. He says ambition grew alongside the quality of founders coming through the region. He also says the firm eventually wanted to become more than its two original partners. New partners joined through the 2018 fund. That shift gave the franchise more depth and continuity. Across the interview, the tone stays practical rather than promotional. Baker talks about capital, timing, and company-building in the same breath. The result is a portrait of a venture firm shaped by persistence, not mythology. It ends as a reminder that the best funds are built over vintages, not headlines.

As heard by us

A grounded look at how conviction compounds across fund vintages.

Rick Baker's conversation follows Blackbird's move from a small debut fund to a broader venture platform without losing sight of the practical details that made that shift matter: 530 meetings, 97 limited partners, a $29 million Aussie first fund, early investments in Canva,…

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Why you'd press play

Hear how a small Aussie fund took 22 months, 530 meetings, and 97 LPs to get over the line, then backed Canva, Safety Culture, and Culture Amp.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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