This article was published on February 18, 2020

Skype co-founder raises €757M fund to back European tech startups


Skype co-founder raises €757M fund to back European tech startups

Atomico, the venture capital firm set up by Skype‘s co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, has raised an additional €757 million ($820 million) to back “mission-driven” European tech startups, targetting Series A and beyond.

The firm raised the funds from several institutional investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks, family offices, insurance companies, and government-backed entities from all over the world.

[Read: What’s venture capital and why does it matter to startups]

It also drew support from several founders and early team members from some of Europe’s most well-known tech companies including Adyen, Transferwise, Klarna, Spotify, and Zoopla.

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The new raise brings Atomico’s total assets under management to a staggering €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion).

Big boon for European tech

The fund is now believed to be one of Europe’s biggest tech venture fund and its closure comes after Atomico raised a €706 million ($765 million fund) in February 2017.

Venture capital has a critical part to play in a world with so many urgent challenges,” said Zennstrom, founding partner and chief executive of Atomico.

“We’re looking for the ambitious, mission-driven founders behind the companies with visionary solutions to seemingly intractable problems,” he added.

Atomico was set up by Skype billionaire Zennstrom in 2006 and it was an early investor in popular mobile gaming companies Supercell and Rovio Entertainment, the creators of ultra-successful Angry Birds.

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