About the fund

We support Founders improving the lives of families.

We are purpose-built to help Founders grow their startups into large, commercially successful enterprises.

How we invest

We take a patient, collaborative approach to working with our Founders. We are trusted thought partners that enjoy working closely with founding teams at the earliest stages of their journey.

Founders

Supporting Founders lies at the core of our operating philosophy. We are drawn to those that are:

The team

We are a team of seasoned investors and operators. We leverage our diverse experiences to provide practical insights and guidance to portfolio Founders in a frank, honest, and helpful manner.

Headshot portrait of Amit Sharma

Amit Sharma

General Partner

Amit is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, and ultimately, making all investment decisions at Black Jays.

He began his career as a global strategy consultant with Deloitte (in Canada and the UK), where he advised blue chip media, telecoms, and technology clients on matters of corporate strategy, digital transformation and growth.

Prior to starting Black Jays, Amit was an active advisor and investor to a number of early stage digital media and consumer startups in London and New York. He is also a Board Member with the New York Angels.

Headshot portrait of BlackJay team member

Jay Kim

Associate

Jay started his career in Equity Research before joining Dig where he spent 5 years as an operator; supporting various tech and growth initiatives. In parallel, he has been an active advisor to other early stage Founders across the Consumer ecosystem. Jay holds a BA and MS from Brown in Economics and Engineering.

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Tim Thimmaiah

Principal

Tim is a Principal at Black Jays, responsible for sourcing and vetting deals and working closely with founders to execute their vision.

He has been an operator for the past decade, most recently as the CEO and founder of ToneDen, which was acquired by Eventbrite in 2020. As a designer and engineer, Tim is well versed in launching consumer and enterprise products, along with a deep understanding of commercialization, go to market, and digital marketing.

Tim is now building Typefive

Headshot portrait of BlackJay team member Brian Muller

Brian Muller

Principal

Brian is a Principal at Black Jays and the CTO of Parallel Markets.

He has founded and run engineering, data science, and product teams in multiple industries - including e-commerce, media, and energy.  Prior roles have included positions at Vox Media, the Washington Post, LivingSocial, and ZOLA Electric in Tanzania - and, most recently, the VP of Data and Growth at The Atlantic.

Prior to joining Black Jays, Brian was the Co-founder and CTO of OpBandit, which was acquired by Vox Media in 2015.

“The Black Jays team supported the development of our organization from the very beginning. They trust the people they invest in and find ongoing ways to support.”

Matt Scanlan, CEO / Founder @ Nadaam
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Another founder said...
“Black Jays have been an integral partner to me and the business. They built early conviction and were an ever-present thought partner as we got it off the ground.

They are willing to roll their sleeves up and get into the details when they need to; we wouldn't be where we are without them.”
- Ingrid Mura
What we provide

At Black Jays, were recognize that capital is one of many ingredients necessary for success.

We go above and beyond capital investment and provide our founders with strategic guidance, operational expertise, and network access.

Explore our portfolio
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The fund in numbers

We're fortunate to build a lasting reputation in helping provide the right toolkit to our founders for growth. Our investment approach is robust, repeatable, and ready to scale.

30+

investments (Fund I)

$350M+

in follow on capital raised

$1B+

in equity value created

50%

Diverse Founders

Core Values

Our values underpin every Founder relationship we develop and investment decision we make.

Founder First,
Founder Fair

We are fortunate to back the incredible founders we've backed.

Intellectual Humility

We respect a continual willingness to learn and improve.

Commercial Sophistication

We invest in industries with knowledge and commercial advantage

Transparency and Honesty

We leave opacity at the door. Our values are built on trust, truth and transparency.

Diversity

We aim to bring a wide range of ideas, people and cultures into our investments and lives.

Building something? Let's chat.

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