Craig Blair
Craig Blair
AirTree Ventures Founder and Partner
Craig Blair is the Co-Founder and Partner at AirTree Ventures, Australia’s largest venture capital firm with $1.3bn funds under management which has invested in some of Australia's iconic companies. He has led investments in Canva, Petcircle, Go1, Employment Hero, Brighte, Different, Drone Deploy, and Archistar.
Over the past 15 years he has invested in and built some of Australia and the UK's leading technology businesses.
Prior to AirTree, Craig was Executive Director of netus, a venture fund backed by News Ltd that delivered top decile returns to investors. Craig was also Founder of Travelselect in the UK that successfully exited to [Lastminute.com], CEO & Chairman of Beamly (a TV second screen app) and Founding Chairman of PetCircle (Australia’s leading online pet goods company).
Prior to being a founder, Craig spent his early career in strategy consulting at Kachlas Group (founded by ex-Bain and McKinsey partners), investment banking at Macquarie, and as a civil engineer.
Craig is a Councillor on the St Andrew's College Council, University of Sydney and a guest lecturer at AGSMs Graduate School of Business.
Over the past 15 years he has invested in and built some of Australia and the UK's leading technology businesses.
Prior to AirTree, Craig was Executive Director of netus, a venture fund backed by News Ltd that delivered top decile returns to investors. Craig was also Founder of Travelselect in the UK that successfully exited to [Lastminute.com], CEO & Chairman of Beamly (a TV second screen app) and Founding Chairman of PetCircle (Australia’s leading online pet goods company).
Prior to being a founder, Craig spent his early career in strategy consulting at Kachlas Group (founded by ex-Bain and McKinsey partners), investment banking at Macquarie, and as a civil engineer.
Craig is a Councillor on the St Andrew's College Council, University of Sydney and a guest lecturer at AGSMs Graduate School of Business.
Connect
Related Sessions
What Will VC Look Like In 2050?
TUE, OCT 17, 2:30 PM
Conference
Although Australia's first VC fund was established in 1970, venture capital didn't truly take off in Australia until the mid 90s - and even then it was a far cry from where we are now. Today, we are home to more than 70 funds, and last year alone $3.6b of capital was raised to back our region's most ambitious founders. So what's in store for the future? In this session we'll discuss the challenges, opportunities and trends that are shaping the future of VC, and dust off our crystal balls to explore what Venture Capital could look like in Australia in 2050.
