Program · Incubator
Blackbird Giants Program
Blackbird Giants Program is Blackbird Ventures' scout program offering free mentoring for early-stage founders in Australia and New Zealand.
- Application state
- Accepting
Overview
What Blackbird Giants Program offers
What Blackbird Giants Program is
Giants is Blackbird Ventures' flagship free mentoring program for early-stage founders across Australia and New Zealand. Since its launch in 2021, the program has conducted over 6,300 mentoring sessions with 420 mentors serving 1,871 founders, making it one of the largest early-stage founder support programs in the ANZ region.
Operational profile
Program status and context
Program status describes the program itself. Application availability and deadlines remain separate.
- Operational status
- Active
- Program type
- Incubator
- Host organization
- Blackbird
- Last reviewed
- June 12, 2026
What Incubator means
An incubator is a support environment for turning a nascent idea or early company into a startup that is more ready for customers, funding, or an accelerator.
Open the glossary entryTerms and economics
Published program terms
- Price
- Free
- Compensation
- No Compensation
Compensation and economics
The program is free and explicitly designed for founders with ideas that may still lack a website, prototype, cofounding team, or settled direction.
Focus and fit
Who the program is for
Program thesis
Giants targets the earliest founder stage: aspiring founders and teams validating startup ideas before, or around, first institutional funding. The official page is sector-agnostic and cites examples from predictive world models, food waste, digital classrooms, and ecommerce.
Eligibility
Founders must be actively working on a startup idea (not agencies, services, charities, or lifestyle businesses), have at least one team member with connection to Australia or New Zealand, have worked on the idea for less than two years, and commit to attending in-person weekly events (or virtual for remote cohort).
Selection approach
Founders apply through the Blackbird Giants page for city-specific cohorts. LaunchVic listed an AMA info session on February 17 and a Giants C11 application deadline of March 8, tied to the current program cycle.
- Stages
- Pre-seed
- Sectors
- Artificial IntelligenceE-CommerceFrontier & Deep TechRobotics & Autonomous SystemsSaaS & Cloud Software
- Regions
- ANZ
- Audience
- Founders
- Geographic eligibility
- Anz
- Career stage
- Early Career · Mid Career · Senior
Format and cadence
How participation works
- Presence
- Hybrid
- Main location
- Sydney, Australia
- Duration
- 4 weeks
- Engagement
- Part Time
Availability and engagement
Application timing and route
- Application state
- Accepting
- Admissions
- Application Only
- Application materials
- Written Statement
Value and support
What participation may provide
Publicly described support is context, not a guarantee of current delivery or future benefit.
What participants may receive
The program is completely free with no equity requested from participants. Founders receive personalized 30-minute 1-on-1 mentoring sessions with experienced mentors, weekly in-person community events and networking, accountability frameworks to keep ideas on track, access to mentor directory featuring founders, operators, and ecosystem experts, and exposure to multiple mentoring perspectives from leading companies and investors.
Outcomes and track record
What the public record shows
Historical activity and reported outcomes provide context, not a guarantee of future results.
- Last recorded cohort
- May 4, 2026
Common questions
Program details at a glance
Blackbird Giants Program is published in Upseed as a incubator program hosted by Blackbird. Upseed treats the Program and its host Organization as separate records so each can have its own status and sources.
Source and update disclosure
Know what this page is based on
Source basis
Public organization and program material, official websites, and structured Upseed records.
Last reviewed
June 12, 2026
Known limits
Terms, deadlines, and application states can change. Confirm current details at the published destination before acting. Upseed does not yet classify every Program destination as official.
Upseed is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or the official representative of this program or its host.