{"id":44962,"date":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:40:01","slug":"blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/blackbird-venture-capital-update-and-tips-500-start-up-applications-and-nine-deals-later-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackbird Venture Capital update and tips: 500 start-up applications and nine deals later – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
Eight months, over 500 applications and nine investments later, Blackbird Venture Capital has published a detailed update about the deal-flow on their blog.<\/p>\n
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Since launching earlier this year, 326 start-ups have applied to Blackbird Venture Capital, and a further 260 to the Startmate Accelerator Program<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Fund co-founder Rick Baker told StartupSmart<\/i> almost 100 of the ideas pitched to them weren\u2019t even logged because they were pitched too early.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cIt was more a stage issue, as we\u2019ll log anything even if it\u2019s a crazy idea. For that 100, they were usually people who had ideas that hadn\u2019t formulated their idea into an actual business yet,\u201d Baker says.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Baker says they rarely invest in start-ups without customer traction, and they do look at revenue as a key indicator.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cWe like a late seed round company, where the product is in the hands of a core group of happy, repeat customers,\u201d Baker says. \u201cOne of the greatest indicators of happy customers is revenue, and especially recurring revenue, so that is something we focus on but that\u2019s not the only measure.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n