Francis Roberts

Want a front-row seat to the frontier of tech? We’ve got the role (or two) for you! We’re expanding our frontier-tech team at Blackbird by hiring a Frontier Tech Investments Associate and Foundry Fellows! Got questions? We've got answers... 1️⃣ What are the roles? 🧪 Associate = a full-time VC investment gig in our Blackbird Investments team, working directly with me. We’re looking for someone with a science and/or engineering background and more curiosity than they can handle. You’ll grow your own investment brand and practice, support our portfolio founders, and will help build Foundry, our early-stage frontier-tech accelerator. ✨ Foundry Fellow = a casual/contract gig in our Blackbird Investments team, ~15h per week for 3 months. The Fellowship is ideal for PhD students and ECRs who want to learn more about startups and VC. You’ll go deep on emerging areas relevant to your expertise (or curiosity!), get a front-row seat to groundbreaking companies in those areas, build out your non-academic network, and develop a solid writing practice. 2️⃣ Why are you hiring? We love frontier tech, and we’re ready to grow our team. 3️⃣ Wow, it’s so great that you’re starting to look at deep tech! Look, we get it: we don’t make a lot of noise about our frontier tech investing. Buuuut we’ve been deep-tech investors since we backed Tim Kentley-Klay to found Zoox back in 2014—we’ve been on incredible journeys with PsiQuantum (building the world's first utility-scale quantum computer right here in Australia!), Inventia Life Science (transforming drug discovery with high-fidelity cell models), Remedy Robotics (surgical robots for remote endovascular procedures), Opto Biosystems (minimally-invasive neural implants to treat cancer), and more. We believe that frontier technologies, and great frontier-tech investing, will be part of the solutions to the greatest problems humanity faces today. 4️⃣ When do applications close? May 31st at 11:59pm AEST. 5️⃣ I have more questions! I’m sure you do! Clare Birch and I are hosting an AMA to answer any and all questions about these roles. Want to know what a week in the life of our team looks like? What’s keeping us up at night? What our ideal candidate looks like? Come along and find out - registration link in the comments 👇 Apply for these roles: Associate - https://lnkd.in/gCfj4EUJ Foundry Fellowships - https://lnkd.in/gj6ATZVZ If you know anyone that we should meet, send me their details! Cameron Elise Ben Andrew Robin Joseph Adelaide James Olivia Lucinda Raghav Jesse Christie Mohamed Tom Amee Pablo Haya Loong Hon Joshua Benjamin Megan Harry Denzil Matthew Diana Daniel Tom Deanna Justin Amar Lilly Stone Thomas

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We recently led a $9.5M seed round in Zeno, our very first energy transition company in Africa. Michael Spencer and the team are now officially out of stealth sprinting towards their first products - a swappable battery compatible with an electric motorbike of their own design. Their opening market is Kenya, where 3M+ boda boda taxi drivers are eager to find ways to shave costs down. With Zeno's battery subscription model, they'll make 50% in savings compared to owning a petrol counterpart! Going electric will soon become the obvious choice. Kenya is just the start. Over the next quarter century, Africa will be home to the largest share of young people in the world, and is set to double its population to 2.5 billion. Talk about a growth market. Zeno has a particularly special place in our hearts because Harsh Dubey, who hustled his way into Lowercarbon Capital right out of college and became an institution around here, built up so much conviction in this company that he's moved abroad to work on this rocketship full-time. That should tell you something. Congrats again to the team, read more here for the deep dive. #tech #climatetech #energy #mobility #battery #electric #africa #emergingmarkets

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✨ Breaking: BFM Fund Announces New Fund.- BFM Fund A seed-stage fund focusing on founders who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color, promoting diversity in venture capital. https://www.bfm.fund Please share to let other #Founders know For the ❤️ of Startups #Fusion42 #Startups#Venturecapital

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🐺🚨🚀Three years ago, we launched Pack Fund I. Today, we launch Fund II with some big news from U.W.!🚨🚀🐺 We are now a Preferred Venture Partner of the University of Washington and CoMotion at University of Washington! After three years of hard work, during which we backed 29 startups, mentored on campus, and sponsored entrepreneurship clubs and competitions in the UW Foster School of Business and Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, we are thrilled to be taking our collaboration with U.W. to the next level! On the back of this news and early successes, we are hosting a webinar for accredited and interested L.P.s to learn about joining Fund II - https://lu.ma/pbwih7xa What Is the Latest On Fund I? - 26 companies backed in 3 years - 12 have raised additional funding at higher valuations - $135M+ in additional funding and grants - Invested alongside Madrona, FUSE, Khosla Ventures, Y Combinator, Pioneer Square Labs, Trilogy Equity Partners, Cercano, Washington Research Foundation, and dozens of other top investors. - Supported founders in Software, Life Sciences - Recognized as a top 5 most active life science investor in the PNW in 2022 - 80+ L.P.s supported our vision How is Pack Fund II Starting? - Ti Zhao joined full-time - let's go!!!! - Agreement (M.O.U) signed with U.W., making us a preferred venture partner - 2 investments alongside top VCs - 50+ L.P.s already joined - Fund II is larger than Fund I already - Hundreds of companies reviewed already See the news from U.W. here -https://lnkd.in/girhA3BM GeekWire and Taylor Soper covered our vision masterfully here - https://lnkd.in/gHYFAxzY Thanks to all of the Pack members and founders who have been on this journey with us!

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Big things on the horizon, we are motivated and blessed to be at the dawn of a new age for the internet. Read more about our journey below or listen to the podcast: https://lnkd.in/eJeNhvVa

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At Outlander VC, we’re committed to backing the bold. As one of the key funding partners of LvlUp Ventures, Outlander VC focuses on visionary game-changers and industry disruptors who aren’t afraid to challenge the status quo. - Led by former founders: Our team has built and scaled companies to thousands of people and hundreds of millions in revenue. We understand the journey and are ready to get hands-on. - $150M Fund III: Outlander VC is deploying $150M over the next three years to fuel early-stage startups. Focus: - Industries: Agnostic (we back disruptors across all sectors). - Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed. - Geography: United States-based startups. If you're ready to disrupt your industry and scale, let's connect. We're here to help build something truly transformational. #VentureCapital #OutlanderVC #LvlUpVentures #Startups #PreSeed #Seed #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #Disruption #Scaling

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I’m thrilled to be announcing that Notion Capital is leading the $15m Series A investment in Cogna today. In the industry, we like to think that software has been eating the world. But when you look at the data a better description would be more of a nibble. Depending on what source you look at the software industry represents between 5-8% of global GDP. Contrast that with the services industry that represents between 60-70% of GDP and worth around $25 trillion on a global basis. Most services have been out of reach for the software industry. They have either been too complex or too specialized for off the shelf software to access in any economically viable way. But that’s beginnning to change with GenAI leading to the emergence of ‘service as a software.’ Cogna is at the forefront of this opportunity - building precision software at scale and delivering huge productivity gains for traditional industries. We know Ben Peters & Lars Mennen well having backed their previous company Five AI that was acquired by Bosch in 2022. And we’re very excited to be backing them again together with Hoxton Ventures & Chalfen Ventures Read my full blog post on why we invested here. Radu Bozga Ben Peters Lars Mennen Bryan G. Mike Chalfen Hussein Kanji Kirsten Connell https://lnkd.in/eh8mhcJb

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Honored to have moderated a panel on the “Future of TV: The Great Unbundling + Rebundling” at PrivTech Invest NYC, hosted by our firm, Grit Capital Partners! Joined by industry leaders Peter Naylor, Jonathan Carson (Antenna, the leading analytics provider), + Jason Cohen (MyBundle), we explored the rapidly changing streaming landscape. Key insights: Consumer Shift: Over 50M U.S. households have cut the cord, putting consumers in control, driving demand for simpler, more tailored streaming options. Retention & Churn: With churn rates averaging 37% annually, streaming platforms are focusing on personalization, ad tiers, + exclusive content to retain viewers. Broadband & Bundling: Broadband providers are moving from TV to fiber (Fiber adoption is up 10% YoY), creating new ways to bundle streaming + broadband services to reduce churn + simplify billing  AI & Personalization: 75% of streamers say AI-powered recommendations improve their viewing experience. Thank you to our panelists for joining us to discuss these trends + the opportunities ahead. New era for TV 🚀 #Streaming #Partnerships #Innovation #CustomerExperience #Customerfirst #bundling #ai

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Summary: Harlem Capital, a venture capital firm focused on backing diverse founders, is raising its largest fund to date of $150 million. This would be its third fund and is a testament to the industry's continued support for diverse communities. Key takeaways: Harlem Capital was founded in 2015 with the goal of supporting diverse founders. The firm has $174 million in assets under management and has made investments in over 80 companies. The successful raising of the $150 million fund would be a show of success for both Harlem Capital and the industry's continued focus on diversity and inclusion. #venturecapital #vc #venture #diversity #dei

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Thrilled to announce our team at Andreessen Horowitz is leading the Series A in [untitled]! 🎧 Thanks to AI, we're poised for an explosion in music. But software to create, produce, and share your work is stuck in the early 2000s, with clunky, expensive tools on desktop and iMessage / Notes on mobile. [untitled] is building the new operating system for musicians - finally giving them workflow tools that live up to their creative expectations. Importantly, they're starting with the first great mobile music product that allows artists to upload, organize, and edit music on the go - plus securely share/track listens. Music inspires people out in the world - in cars, clubs, and headphones. But AI tools to enable creative fine tuning (stem splitting, inpainting, generative extend) aren’t accessible on mobile. By solving this, [untitled] will minimize time between inspiration and execution. [untitled] already empowers 100K+ musicians and their teams each month, from bedroom creators to some of the biggest names in music. Founders Dan Lilienthal & José C. have deep creative DNA, and their dedication to their craft shines through in an intuitive and delightful product. We couldn't be more excited to partner with the [untitled] team as they build the first great, cross-platform product for musicians. And, this is just the start! Read more on where the company is headed (+ the roles they're hiring for): https://lnkd.in/g7i_cZ8y

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Dan Primack had some pointed criticism for #VC yesterday in his Axios Pro Rata newsletter (a daily must read IMO 😤). In short, the model doesn't work if it can't produce exits for LPs. Don't blame public markets (which are at all-time highs) for the lack of liquidity either. 📈 💸 Instead, this is a "liquidity drought of your making" where "...swinging for the fences on every pitch, rather than taking the single or double that's available" is the only way out when you invest at "sky high valuations." 😰 "A whopping 37% of "unicorns" are being held for at least nine years by VC funds, including 13% that are past the 12-year mark." 😳 ⌛ Is he right? Is VC at a dire inflection point? Or is Primack prematurely hitting the panic button? 🚨 https://lnkd.in/dts92pXr

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Btw, one more thing this week… As you probably have heard by now, we’ve raised $130 million in a mix of primary and secondary funding, increasing our valuation to $3 billion. A short story on how this round came to happen: By the end of 2023, we were receiving strong interest from investors about fundraising, but we were deflecting those conversations since we had a solid cash position and were quickly moving towards profitability. This meant that we had no immediate need for the cash, as it would be sitting in the bank without being invested or spent. Around the same time, given the current economic environment, we started thinking about providing some liquidity to our team, enabling them to sell some of their Sword shares. This was especially important considering the high interest rate environment and the day-to-day challenges resulting from it. So, we decided to redirect those investor conversations from Sword fundraising to brokering a deal between new and existing investors and the team members who wanted to sell their shares. This resulted in a $100 million transaction where hundreds of Sword team members were able to benefit from this opportunity. Since we set this secondary round at $100 million and it was oversubscribed (i.e., there was more investor interest than we could accommodate), we decided to leverage that interest and raise a small primary round just to update our 2021 valuation to a higher, and honestly more credible, 2024 valuation. Of course, all of this seems simple and straightforward, but as anyone who has done even a single fundraising round knows, there are countless minor and major details to manage to get this done. All in all, this is a great outcome for our team. A direct result of their incredible work, dedication, and talent. Still only 5% done though.

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My first ever Waymo, courtesy of a fund I met. I rarely make such a bad impression that they'll pay to get rid of me. Full marks for creativity! I love tech so much - this is one of the highlights of my San Francisco trip. #founders #startups #venturecapital #buildinginpublic #investinginpublic More at unbundled dot vc.

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If we want to see more diverse top companies like NVIDIA, we need to pave the way at the earliest stages—venture capital is that on-ramp. It was a pleasure to join Emerging Manager Office Hours hosted by Venture Forward earlier this week. Thank you to Rhianon Anderson and Maryam Haque for organizing such a value add event! A few (other) big takeaways to share: 👉 Distinguish the Curious from the Serious: Focus your time on LPs who are truly engaged. There are many LPs out there still excited about and committed to the VC asset class. 👉 Showcase Portfolio Performance: With liquidity tight, highlight KPIs, revenue growth, and the value your companies are building now to position for success when markets rebound. 👉 Clearly Differentiate: Provide concrete examples of how your approach stands out and drives unique outcomes, i.e., case studies. It was a pleasure connecting with friends and meeting inspiring next-gen GPs shaping the future of venture capital: William Crowder (Aperture® Venture Capital), Joshua Weed (Veteran Ventures Capital), Sonam Velani (Streetlife Ventures), Marcos Gonzalez (VamosVentures), Erica Duignan Minnihan (Reign Ventures), and Jenny Xiao (Leonis Capital). Here’s to collaboration, innovation, and creating lasting impact together.

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Summary: Crosscut Ventures, a venture capital firm in Los Angeles, is launching a $100 million fund focused on hardware-centric technologies, particularly in the areas of energy and power, space and underwater exploration, and advanced manufacturing. This shift in focus is driven by the emergence of talented entrepreneurs from companies like SpaceX and a recognition of the potential impact that hardware startups can have in solving big problems like climate change. Key takeaways: Crosscut Ventures is shifting its focus from solely investing in software startups to also including hardware startups, particularly those addressing frontier tech. The firm sees a growing number of talented entrepreneurs coming from companies like SpaceX and recognizes the potential impact of hardware startups in solving big problems like climate change. With the launch of the new hardware-centric fund, Crosscut is also bringing on a new partner with expertise in growth and project finance to help bridge the funding gap for hardware startups. Counter arguments: Some may argue that investing in hardware startups is riskier and more capital-intensive compared to software startups, making it a less attractive option for investors. Others may question the broad range of verticals that Crosscut Ventures is targeting with its new fund and the potential lack of specialization in any one area. #venturecapital #spacetech #vc

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20 hours in and Hoyo's formidable craftsmanship is on full display with ZZZ. ⭐1.0 release pool of 16 characters. Hoyo games have always prioritized quality over quantity, leaning instead on deep systems to enable diverse team comps / fun theorycrafting. Interestingly, Wuthering Waves also launched with the same # of characters in its 1.0 pool. I'm personally a big fan of this approach, and hope to see more games adopt it going forward. ⭐Female to male character ratio of 3:1. HSR currently stands at ~2:1 and Genshin at ~1.7:1. Every faction shown so far has only 1 male char. Surprising given Hoyo's recent titles have focused more on the "mainstream anime" audience instead of catering only to the core otaku audience. Very happy to see Hoyo honoring its roots here. They cooked and core fans are going to be very pleased with all of the fanservice (e.g. cinema artwork, main menu char selection, etc.). ⭐C6 / Cinema artwork is... IYKYK. They clearly tested it with HSR and are fully leaning into it with ZZZ. Congrats to all you Grace C6 havers. They knew exactly what they were doing. ⭐First Hoyo game with dedicated furries / anthropomorphic races. Ellen, Ben, and Von Lycaon are all very compelling characters. Wakayama Shion does such a fantastic job as Ellen's VA. Hoyo absolutely nailed the launch banner here. ⭐Just like other Hoyo games, ZZZ is more "casual" than it is "core." It doesn't demand much of your time as a single player live service title. For me it's the perfect side game that I can see myself spending 1-2 hours per week on. I don't expect everyone to like it (might be too "easy" for core gamers), but it's a winning formula that Hoyo has perfected for its target audience. ⭐One of Hoyo's underrated special talents is making "core" genres widely accessible from a gameplay standpoint across all platforms. ZZZ plays flawlessly on mobile, PC, and console without diluting the experience at all. Everything from the simplified switching system to the flat level design was intentional to make it incredibly accessible even for someone who has never played action games before. This is something really only Hoyo is capable of pulling off with such finesse. ⭐Really digging the comic / manga style storytelling. Glad to see Hoyo continue to innovate on how it delivers its stories and really looking forward to seeing more of this. ⭐Hoyo's investments into its music / animation departments are really paying off. The release trailer for ZZZ is Hoyo's best yet and their character drip marketing is perfected to the point where I'm basically forced to pull on every banner. In many ways, Hoyo is slowly becoming the Apple of the gaming industry, and their IPs are rapidly expanding the audience for gacha and anime on a global scale. I'm honestly humbled. Shut up and take my money... #zenlesszonezero

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Impactful Biz, Ops & Investment Roles at Early Startups & VCs: • Chief of Staff to Ex. Head of Product at Google • Founding GTM at the most YC product used by other YC companies in the past four years • Chief of Staff to a Partner at a Top-Tier VC Fund • Head of Platform of a NY State Backed Accelerator • Investment Associate at a Seed Stage Fund Investing in Category-Defining Companies • Partner at a Defense-Focused VC Fund • Chief Revenue Officer of a New Space Company in El Segundo • Venture Capital Analyst at a fund investing in overlooked geographies • Investment Associate at a Spirit-Focused Fund • Strategy & Ops Lead at a Company Focused on Helping Improve Autism • Senior Product Manager at a Company Focused on Building Shopify for Content Creators • Program Manager for a Space Security Company • Open-ended Investment Position at a Top-Tier Accelerator • Biz & Ops Lead for One of the Most Loved Digital Consumer Products 💸 All companies are well-funded and backed by top-tier investors. ⬇ You can find links to the roles above, plus many more, in the comments.

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