Venture capital fund · 18 deals
Surry Hills, NSW
Every published round Black Nova Venture Capital took part in, and every parcel of existing shares it bought off another holder. Deals we hold but haven't published yet are not counted.
Companies Black Nova Venture Capital has backed in a published round, and companies whose existing shares it bought off another holder.
| Company | What it does | First invested | Rounds | Led |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathzero | Makes it easy for companies to disclose carbon emissions and take action | Oct 2020, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Hudled | 1Q 2021, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| Saasguru | 7 Feb 2022, Pre-seed | 2 | 0 | |
| Upflowy | 24 Feb 2022 | 1 | 0 | |
| Varicon | 21 Mar 2022, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Blakthumb | 11 Apr 2022, Pre-seed | 1 | 0 | |
| The Mintable | management training startup | 8 Jun 2022, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Aussie Angels | Former name of Ventari, angel investment platform | 13 Jan 2023, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Kismet | Melbourne-based Kismet provides a digital platform for elder and childcare | May 2023, Pre-seed | 1 | 1 |
| Arlula | Earth Observation data platform giving seamless access to satellite imagery and data | 22 May 2023, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Phantm | 9 Nov 2023, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| 8seats | 27 Dec 2024, Seed | 1 | 0 | |
| SPEC Toolbox | Construction engineering platform for mass timber construction, formerly CLT Toolbox | 19 Jan 2026, Series A | 1 | 1 |
| Refresh | Aug 2026, Seed | 1 | 1 | |
| Zabidou | AI computer vision for automated industrial robotics QA | 3 Aug 2026, Seed | 1 | 1 |
| Nullify | AI agents that autonomously find, validate and fix software vulnerabilities | 4 Aug 2026, Seed | 1 | 0 |
| Operata | Platform monitoring voice quality, performance and customer experience at cloud contact c… | 4 Aug 2026, Series A | 1 | 0 |
Companies Black Nova Venture Capital's own portfolio page lists that no published round yet places it in. The page is the source; the round is being looked for.
Fund closes reported for Black Nova Venture Capital, as distinct from the investments it has made.
| Fund | Announced | Committed | Target | Close | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | 2022 | $22m | - | Final | Startup News (WA), Startup Daily |
Companies Black Nova Venture Capital has backed that another company then bought. An exit for the holding, not a deal Black Nova Venture Capital did.
| Name | Role | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| Darcy Naunton | Founding Partner | Forbes Australia (4 Aug 2026), Forbes Australia (4 Aug 2026), Startup News (WA) |
| Matt Browne | Managing Partner (former) | Startup Daily (17 Sep 2026), Startup Daily (27 Dec 2024), Startup Daily (18 Mar 2024), SmartCompany, Startup Daily (11 Jul 2023), Startup Daily (17 Mar 2022) |
| Matthew Browne | Managing Partner | Startup Daily (27 Apr 2022), Startup Daily (10 Jan 2022), Black Nova Venture Capital team page |
| Noga Edelstein | Operating Partner (former) | Startup News (WA), Black Nova Venture Capital team page |
Stories naming Black Nova Venture Capital. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
Antler Australia urges founders planning a pre-seed raise to move early and close before the summer break, promoting its five-week Fast Track cheque and citing Refresh's later rounds as proof it works.
Also Startup Daily
Weekly roundup: Firmus completes its $2.85b round; Procore acquires DroneDeploy; Atlassian rebounds while Canva cuts guidance; plus fresh raises for Zabidou, BioScout, Vexev, Enrola, Spacetalk and others.
Roundup of four Australian raises: Firmus Technologies' US$2 billion round at a $15 billion valuation, Eudaemon's $3.75 million, Zabidou's $3.5 million seed round, and Rampart's $2.3 million.
Deep tech founder Cibby Pulikkaseril has banked a $3.5m seed for Zabidou, whose lasers inspect factory output, with Black Nova, Main Sequence and Antler backing; his earlier LiDAR venture Baraja folded.
Also SmartCompany
Weekly roundup of ten Australian and New Zealand startup raises totalling nearly $194 million, topped by Neara's $90 million round at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Splose, Operata, HAMR Energy and Adora also covered.
Operata, which watches over call centre performance, has banked a Series A of $11 million at a valuation topping $100 million, with Tidal Ventures at the helm and funds earmarked for AI-era integrations.
A Melbourne software firm monitoring AI-driven customer service operations has closed a Series A round led by Tidal Ventures, valuing it at $100 million, with proceeds earmarked for platform integrations and international growth.
Australian-founded AI vulnerability platform Nullify, now San Francisco-based, has closed a second seed round led by SYN Ventures with returning backer Black Nova; SYN's Glenn Chisholm joins its board.
Also Startup Daily
Roundup of four ANZ raises: a Queensland rocket company's nine-figure Series E, a New Zealand legal-AI firm's Series B, a seed round for AI code-security, and a Melbourne construction-software raise.
Roundup of four ANZ raises totalling over $307m: Gilmour Space's Series E, Ivo's Series B, Dam Secure's seed round and SPEC Toolbox's pre-Series A, plus a board appointment at Dam Secure.
Melbourne construction software firm SPEC Toolbox, once CLT Toolbox, has banked a fresh $3 million round with Black Nova and Investible co-leading, its third raise after earlier seed and bridge funding.
Also SmartCompany
1Breadcrumb has acquired Canberra rival SignOnSite and raised a $4.5 million SAFE note from Five V Capital, Tribe Global Ventures and a US family office, creating a merged construction-safety technology provider.
Also SmartCompany
Weekly roundup covering seven Australian companies' fresh capital: EV charging, satellite IoT, sovereign cloud, wearables, workplace messaging, plus two crowdfunding raises on Birchal.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Kismet has raised a further $20 million to complete a two-part seed round totalling $32.5 million, with new backer MassMutual Ventures joining Prosus and Airtree; the healthtech startup plans international expansion.
Also SmartCompany
Partner-content memo in Antler's investor series profiles pre-seed startup Factory AI, whose AI platform predicts manufacturing equipment failures; covers founders, Antler's backing, customers like Bega, and revenue targets.
Roundup of four Australian startups that each announced fresh capital this week: a caregiver healthcare app, a green ammonia producer, a clean energy project modelling platform, and a wellness advice marketplace.
Also SmartCompany
Weekly roundup of funding rounds at eleven Australian startups, including a $28 million Series B, a $14 million raise paired with an acquisition, and a neural-implant company appointing a new chief executive.
Profiles three founders: Kismet's Mark Woodland ($4m pre-seed for disability-services software), Forage's Tom Brumskill and Pasha Rayan (job-simulation platform, Series A and B), and Diolog's Amy Benson (self-funded investor-communications startup planning a seed round).
Also Startup Daily
Sydney app Upstreet, which gave shoppers fractional shares for their spending, is closing; the founders gave no reason, 18 months after a Wattle Hill-led seed round and a lifetime raise near $5 million.
Also Startup Daily
The venture firm is out raising a second vehicle targeting $35m for unglamorous business software, after its first vehicle gathered over $22m; it recalls backing Pathzero and GovConnex and supporting Arlula's earlier raise.
Also Startup News (WA)
Sydney Earth-observation analytics firm Arlula has banked a $2.2 million seed injection, led by Main Sequence with backing from Black Nova, adding to earlier accelerator support, a pre-seed raise and a state government grant.
Weekly roundup of seven Australian and New Zealand startup raises, headlined by a previously unreported $32 million seed for banking software venture Constantinople, plus new rounds for six other companies.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Techboard·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·AgFunderNews·Startup News (WA)·Forbes Australia·AgFunderNews
Early-2023 roundup of startup raises: a solar software company closed a Series B, an adventure-tech firm landed Series A money, and an angel investing platform raised seed capital.
Pathzero has topped up its Series A with $8.6 million led again by Carthona Capital, lifting that round to $15.6 million. The piece also recalls earlier raises and notes funding by Arvani and Greener.
Also SmartCompany
Weekly roundup reporting nine Australian startups that together secured roughly $104 million across sports tech, semiconductors, regtech, legal automation, SaaS, edtech, agtech and biotech, with Vald's $36 million the largest.
Also Techboard
Saasguru, an edtech platform for cloud skills training, raised a $4 million AUD seed round led by Square Peg Capital; founders previously sold SaaSfocus to Cognizant.
Manager-training platform The Mintable, founded by Lauren Humphrey and Melissa Miller, has raised a $6.8 million seed round led by Blackbird, after previously securing $1.3 million in pre-seed backing.
Also Startup Daily
Six-month-old EV sales startup Vyro has raised a million-dollar seed round led by Ellerston Capital and Antler Australia, with several angels, to launch a digital electric vehicle dealership.
Tasmanian construction cost-management software firm Varicon raised a $2.25 million seed round led by Black Nova with several industry angels, following a smaller raise a year earlier, to support national expansion.
Also Startup Daily
Upflowy, an Australian no-code platform for optimising signup flows, raised $4 million led by Counterpart Ventures with returning backers, and plans to grow headcount and expand into the US.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·Startup Daily
A year-in-review of Startup Daily's most-read 2021 stories, recalling major Australian tech exits including A Cloud Guru, Afterpay and Sweat, Canva's soaring valuation across three raises, Zero Co's crowdfunding record, and new VC funds.
Also Startup Daily·Startup Daily·Startup Daily·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·SmartCompany·Fintech News Australia·Business News Australia·Crunchbase News·LaunchVic
Payments startup QuickaPay has been bought by legal payments platform RapidPay, marking the first exit for accelerator Antler Australia, which provided the company's pre-seed funding in 2019.
Also Techboard·SmartCompany
Org-design software maker Functionly announced a AU$3.6m seed round with Black Nova Venture Capital leading and several funds plus angels taking part, bringing its overall funding to AU$5.9m alongside an earlier A$598k government grant.