Blackbird nets $800m payday from Canva share sale

“I hate selling even one Canva share, it’s such an amazing company and certainly one of the very best software companies at scale anywhere in the world,” Mr Baker said.

“But it’s time for some of our earlier funds to take some profits off the table and give them back to our investors.”

Among those investors are super funds HostPlus and Aware Super which were cornerstone investors in the VC firm’s $225 million 2015 fund.

Rishi Dua, portfolio manager at Aware Super, said venture capital continued to play a role in its diversified portfolio.

“We’re delighted to see our early investment in the sector realising strong returns for our members, while still maintaining an exposure to Canva as it continues to scale rapidly,” Mr Dua said.

Proceeds for the sale are expected to flow into Australia’s residential property market and reinvested into new funds and start-ups.

The sale of existing Canva shares – known as secondaries in the investment market – is also an early indication of the huge windfall coming to Australian investors when Canva makes good on its plans to go public.

Investors said they were confident their stakes – currently priced well below the company’s 2021 valuation of $US40 billion – would grow in value as Canva headed towards an IPO.

“We’ve been through the ups and downs of the markets and we’ve seen Canva’s valuation go up and down along with them. But in the long term, it’s been an excellent venture capital success story – the likes of which you only used to see in Silicon Valley,” Mr Baker said.

“Blackbird and Canva have grown up together, I remember sitting on the banks of the Swan River with Melanie, both dreaming about starting new businesses. Those businesses turned into Blackbird and Canva. This is a moment to take stock of the amazing journey.”