Black Nova believes ‘boring is better’ as it prepares a new $35 million fund

Early-stage VC firm Black Nova has launched a new fund seeking a target of $35 million as it aims to hit early stage B2B tech companies with some much needed extra capital.

Black Nova managing partner Matt Browne said the new fund’s direction will complement the work of Black Nova’s original fund that raised over $22 million last year.

“Without a doubt, our bold investment thesis ‘boring is better’ continues to work very well for us, demonstrating that there is an exceptional upside in supporting the less-glamorous, but essential, businesses solving acute, and the everyday problems for the mid-market and enterprise customer,” he said.

Black Nova emerged from the shadows in 2021 and has continued to expand on its founders’ priorities of funding un-sexy but reliable B2B tech companies, with 95 per cent of its capital hitting businesses that solve efficiency problems in areas like cyber security, construction, AI, and marketing-tech.

“Together, we support and coach our founders through various stages of growth until they ‘win’, and a win for our founders is, of course, a win for Black Nova and our partners,” Browne said.

The young VC firm helped satellite data analysis company Arlula raise $2.2 million, was an early investor in Sydney carbon reporting software startup Pathzero, and government relations data company GovConnex.

GovConnex founder and CEO Cooper Darling-Blair said his startup “has grown 17X” since Black Nova’s investment in 2020. 

“We wouldn’t have been able to achieve that result without, not just Black Nova’s capital support, but also their operational support,” he said.

“As a B2B SaaS company, operating in a niche market, sales operations can be particularly complex. This is one area where they have been able to lean into the nitty gritty of our business and help us achieve outstanding results.”