Niall Cairns

Niall Cairns is a Sydney-based technology growth investor with a career spanning more than 25 years of direct seed, venture capital, private equity and listed-company experience. He holds a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney and is an Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA) and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD). In 1993 he co-founded Nanyang Ventures, which he helped transform into Kestrel Capital, an executive-owned investment firm where he serves as a joint Managing Director and sits on the investment committees of its funds — Kestrel Structured Capital (KSC), Kestrel Growth Companies (KGC) and the KTT Partnership Fund.

Over his career, Cairns has raised multiple funds and led investments in — and taken director-level roles at — companies including Australian Helicopters, Gale Pacific (an AVCAL award winner), Intrapower (sold to TPG Telecom), Avand (sold to TechnologyOne), GMD (sold to SMS) and Tru-Test. He states he has invested in more than 30 unlisted companies and many more listed companies, and helped drive the growth of over 50 companies across sectors as diverse as digital media, agtech, medtech, consumer internet and SaaS.

Beyond Kestrel, Cairns is Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of CardieX Limited (ASX-listed cardiovascular health technology company), a role he took up in 2017. He is Chairman of Tambla Limited and has held board seats at Consolidated Financial Holdings (ASX: CWL), Chant West Holdings, Tru-Test Limited and DTS Limited, and was formerly Non-Executive Chairman of Enzumo Limited. He is also a co-owner of C2 Ventures and associated with the Carnethy group of companies/funds.

• Invests across the capital stack — seed and venture capital through to growth private equity and structured/listed positions — with Kestrel targeting "superior returns to investors across the economic cycle."
• Concentrates on technology growth companies, particularly SaaS, consumer internet, digital media, medtech and agtech businesses with global expansion potential.
• Brings hands-on operational and director-level involvement rather than purely passive capital, emphasizing "value creation and exits" and a track record of restructuring and scaling companies.
• Comfortable investing internationally — his portfolio spans Australia, New Zealand, the US, UK and China.