{"id":457399,"date":"2010-03-22T16:23:52","date_gmt":"2010-03-22T20:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"tag:contentnext.com,2010-03-22:article\/419-skype-co-founders-raise-165-million-for-new-fund-short-of-initial-goal"},"modified":"2010-03-22T16:23:52","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T20:23:52","slug":"skype-co-founders-raise-165-million-for-new-fund%e2%80%94short-of-initial-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/457399","title":{"rendered":"Skype Co-Founders Raise $165 Million For New Fund\u2014Short Of Initial Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Niklas
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Skype co-founders Niklas Zennstr\u00f6m and Janus Friis have raised $165 million for their second venture fund which will mainly back European high growth tech startups. Zennstr\u00f6m and Friis—who also started Kazaa and Joost—had initially aimed<\/a> to raise $266 million for the fund a year ago but downplay the shortfall telling<\/a> the Financial Times<\/em>, “when we started we had a flexible number” and “we think we have exactly the right amount of money.”\n<\/p>\n

Zennstr\u00f6m and Friis started their investment company—Atomico<\/a>—four years ago. Over the last year, it has backed several startups, including mobile gaming firm Zattikka<\/a>, music service Rdio<\/a>, and social games site Playfire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In its announcement<\/a>, Atomico loosely lays out the criteria for how it will use the new cash. Zennstr\u00f6m: “We will seek to invest in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building exceptional businesses. We will target companies that we believe have the potential to generate significant growth, transform their industries, and deliver strong returns.”\n<\/p>\n

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