Yahoo Finance Skype cofounder raises $820m to invest in tech
A London-based venture capital firm founded by the co-creator of Skype has raised $820m (£628m) to invest in tech startups.
Atomico said on Monday it had successfully raised the pot of money, its fifth fund. Yahoo Finance UK first reported in November 2018 that Atomico was raising its fifth fund. Partners initially targeted $750m for the fund.
Atomico is one of Europe’s best-known venture capital companies. It was founded in 2006 by Niklas Zennstrom, the cofounder of Skype, and it has backed over 100 companies, including Swedish payment unicorn Klarna, Angry Birds developer Rovio, and Clash of Clans games maker Supercell.
Contributors to Atomico’s new investment fund include pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds, and banks, although investors were not named.
Read more: Skype's cofounder is trying to raise a $750m tech fund
Hiro Tamura, a partner at Atomico, said several backers had invested in Atomico’s earlier funds.
“We’ve been very fortunate to have a lot of continued sponsorship over the years,” he told Yahoo Finance UK.
Tamura wouldn’t share data on the returns made by investors in Atomico’s previous funds, but said: “We’ve been doing well.”
“We’re finding companies that have enduring growth and more deeper and deeper success,” he said.
As well as institutions, founders of businesses like Adyen, Klarna, Transferwise, Spotify, Supercell, Skype and Zoopla have also invested in Atomico’s new fund.
Tamura said the new fund would invest in tech startups working in retail, supply chains, enterprise technology, and what he called “deep tech”, as well as backing promising entrepreneurs in any field.
“Part of what we do is clearly a bottom-up sourcing approach,” he said. “The other is a thesis-driven approach where we think about ideas.”
The new fund will invest while startups are still at an early-stage and then put in more cash as they grow.
High-profile, venture-backed startups like WeWork and Uber have struggled over the last 18 months, with increasing scrutiny over the profitability of fast-growing tech companies.
Tamura said Atomico’s focus on early stage startups meant this was less of an issue but added that it was “definitely food for thought”.