VC buys $14.5m house in cash as Canva makes investors rich overnight

Design software giant Canva made some of its staff and early investors rich overnight when it finalised a share sale recently worth $3.6 billion. So what did they do with the money? Turns out,a lot of them bought property.

TakeRick Baker,the co-founder of Australia’s largest venture capital firm,Blackbird,and the largest investor shareholder in Canva,and former Inside Out magazine editorVictoria Bakerwho are trading in Artarmon for Kurraba Point.

Waterfront Kurraba Point,no less,for which they have paid $14.5 million – cash – for a Mediterranean-inspired house with a swimming pool,slipway and private jetty.

The home was owned for the past decade by former 2UE helicopter pilotDavid Jones and his wifeCharlotte Harvey-Jones,until sold by Ray White Lower North Shore’s Geoff Smith and Richard Harding.

Baker’s purchase emerged on title records this week asThe Australian Financial Review was reporting thatmore than half of 119 former and current Canva staff were ploughing the proceeds of the share sale into property.

Baker,who co-founded Blackbird with Vaucluse-basedNiki Scevak,sold the couple’s former Artarmon home late last year for $5.85 million following a major redesign.

Baker isn’t alone among venture capitalists making a notable impression on Sydney’s high-end market. Airtree co-founderCraig Blair and his partnerMelanie Caffrey set aBronte price record of $29.25 million last year,and Square Peg Capital’sPaul Bassat paid $10.25 million in 2022 for a North Bondi house.

Surfection founder hits the beach

Mosman’s rumour mill went into overdrive this week that Surfection founderChris Athas and his wifeAmanda had spent well more than $20 million for a house on Balmoral Beach.

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There are not many such houses,but having ruled out the house of racing scionTom Waterhouse,it turns out it was the 1920s digs next door owned byKristine Healy,widow of the late Healy Optical’sDavid Healy.

The four-bedroom house is not quite beachfront,but is set alongside the viewing platform Carroll’s Lookout,so named for the house’s former owner and 1930s Mosman mayorDalton “Jack” Carroll.

Raine&Horne Mosman’s Brendan Warner was tipped to have sold the house given he sold it to the Healys,but declined to confirm such talk. No guesses who might be first in line to list the Athas home around the corner.

Still in Mosman,the waterfront apartment in the Watermarque block owned byDiana andMichael Briggs,co-founder of private equity outfit Anchorage Capital Partners,is up for $13 million to $14 million through The Agency’s Claudia Portale.

The whole-floor spread is in the Allen Jack + Cottier-designed block in which a previous apartment record was set in 2018 when RAMS Home Loan founderJohn Kinghorn boughtdownstairs for $10.22 million,and again in 2022 when Vittoria Coffee’s former part ownerClelia Cantarella sold for $14.1 million to gold mining bossCraig Williams.

Mosman’s Luxe purchase

Paul Franklin,who heads up the production company behind reality television hits likeByron Baes andLuxe Listings,and his partnerRachael Smith have made a suitably glamorous home upgrade,buying an $18 million house in Mosman in cash.

It was an off-market purchase through Atlas’s Michael Coombs on behalf ofJacqueline andRiaan De Jager,co-founder of i-gaming intelligence platform DeepCI.

Franklin,who co-founded Eureka Productions,is coming from Northbridge,where he and Smith are preparing for a May 11 auction.

The five-bedroom house is listed with Ray White’s Stewart Gordon with a $5.9 million guide.

Bondi Sands to Byron

Bondi Sands co-founderShaun Wilson and his fiancee,modelTess Shanahan went to Byron Bay in August and got engaged. Eight months later they’ve paid more than $8 million for a six-bedroom house in the heart of town.

Oliver Berger,of Bespoke Buyers Agency,is said to have represented the couple to buy the house ofAndrea andCraig Maber,of New Zealand’s Rich List family behind the Power Farming Group.

The purchase – through McGrath’s Nick Dunn – follows the sale of the Bondi Sands self-tanning product company to Japanese skincare giant Kao for more than $450 million.

Banker lands in Haberfield

The inner west isn’t bursting at the seams with senior executives from the “millionaire’s factory”,but if one were to get lost en route from Mosman to Bellevue Hill then Haberfield is where you might find them.

TakeMark Cruikshank,co-head of finance at Macquarie Group,and his wifeAmanda,who have set a high of $7.3 million for the historic garden suburb.

Unlike most of the local heritage houses,it is a newly built house that forced the Cruikshanks to dig deep.

Marine electronics expertGuy Currenti built the Queen Anne Federation-style house with pool,home cinema and gym,and promptly listed with CobdenHayson’s Matt Hayson and Ben Southwell.