Airtree

Next week, an inspiring lineup of female founders and investors for the Women Forward a spotlight series, from Fishburners and Airtree. 📅 Date: 25th March 📍 Location: Fishburners Sydney, Level 2, 5 pm 🎟️ Register now: Link in comments Whether you’re at the idea stage, scaling up, or raising capital, this event offers a behind-the-scenes look at the founder journey, plus insights from top investors on what it takes to secure funding. Speakers include 📊 Barb Woodruff Swanson – Founder, Done Life Management Platform 🩻 Gunjan Wadhwa – Founder, Astra Health AI 🔐 Belinda Noel – COO, Secolve This is more than a typical panel event, but designed so you can walk away feeling more connected in the startup world, and more equipped to manage what each day throws at you. #womenintech

Looking for your next challenge? Airtree's hiring! As our new 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗢𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲, you'll be the linchpin that ensures Airtree's platform initiatives are efficiently executed, driving our external brand presence and supporting our incredible portfolio companies. This role will see you as a junior Chief of Staff for our Platform team. You'll manage all aspects of program and project delivery, from planning to execution, ensuring operational success in a fast-paced environment. There is no perfect background for this role, but our ideal candidate is hungry to make an impact with one of ANZ's leading VC firms, and passionate about the startup and tech ecosystem. Learn more and apply: https://lnkd.in/ggvpe2mK

Welcome to the Airtree portfolio Harmony Intelligence! 🛡️ "We're seeing an arms race developing in AI security," says Jackie Vullinghs, Partner at Airtree. "As AI systems become more powerful and accessible, the tools available to malicious actors are evolving at an unprecedented rate. Harmony's team combines deep AI and cyber expertise, making them exactly the kind of company we want to back." We're excited to lead their US$3m round and support Soroush J. Pour, Alex Browne and the team as they build cutting-edge defensive AI products that safeguard people and critical infrastructure around the world from AI-powered threats. Full announcement: https://lnkd.in/d7RM44bU

Heading to _SOUTHSTART this week? Here’s where you can catch the Airtree team 👀 👭 Monday 3 March • 6pm - 9pm: Kate Coffey and Victoria Lowe will be at ‘IWD25: Curate confidence. March Forward’ by Forever Projects 🍸 Wednesday 5 March • 2pm - 4pm: Sid Kasbekar will be judging the Pitch Showcase • 6pm - 9pm: We’re teaming up with our friends at Vanta to host the Airtree x Vanta Espresso Martini Cart during the Sundowners and Entertainment session Get all the event links in comments + book time with Kate Coffey, Sid Kasbekar and Victoria Lowe during the conference via the Brella app 👇

Lots to celebrate this month for the Airtree portfolio. Here are some of the highlights 👇 🧶 Twine raised a $2.3m pre-seed round to build the operating system for modern go-to-market and product teams. “What sets Twine apart is how they've leveraged cutting-edge AI advancements to shape their company and product. The Twine founding team are not just AI-native, they have proven that a new generation of startups are going to unlock massive amounts of value for enterprises, with smaller teams and at pace,” says Craig Blair, Co-founder & Partner at Airtree. 🦸 Employment Hero passed US$250m ARR and reached profitability. “They have exceeded the goals outlined at their Series A deck and proven their ability to build a world-class company,” says Craig Blair. “Operating at this level as a profitable business demonstrates shrewd, capital-efficient leadership. These are traits of an outstanding company with a bright future of continued global expansion.” 💜 Hnry announced their UK launch. “Over the years, we’ve helped tens of thousands of sole traders across New Zealand and Australia to never think about tax again, and now we’re bringing Hnry to the UK—with the opportunity to revolutionise the way that millions of sole traders work,” says James Fuller, Co-founder & CEO at Hnry. 🤖 Abyss Solutions Ltd announced their new partnership with Petrobras. "This new [partnership] strengthens our diverse portfolio of projects with major energy companies and demonstrates our long-term commitment to the Brazilian market, providing innovative and efficient solutions to meet our clients' needs", said Paulo Cesar Martins, Regional Director for South America at Abyss Solutions.

Should you be a startup founder? 🤔 Join 22k+ monthly readers and find out in February’s edition of AirMail—our monthly newsletter with startup resources, insights, news and more 💌 The next release will be sent out tomorrow (link in comments) and includes: 💅 Tips for nailing founder-led sales 💬 Lessons from Slack’s growth journey 💡 A differentiation framework to help you measure up against competitors

It’s no secret that startups evolve fast ⚡ The product you’re building now isn’t the same as the 10-year vision you pitched to investors; it’s a stepping stone on the roadmap to that endpoint. That’s why positioning isn’t a one-time exercise—it’s a continuous process, and your strategy needs to shift as you move from early traction to scale. Learn how to grow your product positioning alongside your startup with our guide on building a sales pitch that wins with April Dunford, product positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome (link in comments 👇)

The best teams are the ones that think like owners—that's where ESOPs come in handy. Figuring out the right employee share scheme structure for your startup at the beginning and as you grow can be a headache. Rather than being a hassle, we want to help simplify the process. Selecting the right structure comes down to 3 factors: 1. What are you eligible for? 2. What is the most tax effective? 3. What will drive the right behaviours? Here's a decision tree to get you started and get the full explainer from David Parfett on Open Source VC (link in comments) 🌴

We're excited to welcome Twine to the portfolio 🧶 Twine builds AI-powered connective tissue for modern organisations, empowering collaboration and routing intelligence between product and go-to-market teams. “What sets Twine apart is how they've leveraged cutting-edge AI advancements to shape their company. The team are not just AI-native, they're illustrative of a new generation of startups that will unlock massive amounts of value for enterprises, with far smaller teams and at pace,” says Craig Blair (Co-founder & Partner, Airtree) We look forward to supporting Brian Swift, Max Bausher and the ambitious team into this next chapter of their growth journey. Read the news from Daniel Van Boom and Capital Brief, in the comments 👇

Building in an emerging market? Your first job isn’t selling, it’s teaching 👩🏫 If you’re genuinely building a new category, your customers often won’t realise they have a problem yet. So, if you start marketing your solution to them, it’s going to fall flat. Rather, you need to focus on marketing the problem you’re solving, so they understand the importance of your product. What more product positioning insights? Check out our full session and guide on building a sales pitch that wins with April Dunford, product positioning expert and author of Obviously Awesome (link in comments 👇)