Investing in Startups · 2026-06-08 · 36 min
This episode originally aired in September 2024 - and it's aged remarkably well. We're bringing it back with fresh context on why Niki's predictions have proven out. Niki Scevak is co-founder and partner at Blackbird, Australia and New Zealand's most prominent venture capital firm. What started with a $29M AUD debut fund and 500 meetings to get 96 people to say yes has grown into a platform with six flagship funds, six portfolio unicorns, and a seed investment in Canva that became one of the greatest venture bets ever made. In this conversation, Niki talks about writing a $250K check into Canva's seed round and investing $270M+ across the company's life. Since we recorded this, Canva has hit $4B in annual revenue and is reported to IPO on the Nasdaq in 2026. We also dig into Niki's views on AI application software - the extraordinary growth rates, the premium pricing power, and the churn problem lurking underneath. Eighteen months later, the data has validated nearly everything he said here.
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