Klarna and Stripe investor Atomico launches fifth tech fund at $820m
London venture capital giant Atomico has today revealed the close of its fifth fund, aimed at young European tech startups, at $820m (£630.2m).
The investor has previously backed global companies such as Klarna, Stripe and Supercell, as well as British success stories such as Farmdrop, Habito and Graphcore.
The closure of Atomico V brings the firm’s total assets under management to $2.7bn.
The fund will predominantly invest in companies at series A stage, though its size will also permit Atomico to invest in series B and series C rounds for breakout stars.
“Venture capital has a critical part to play in a world with so many urgent challenges,” said Niklas 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.”
The firm has already begun making investments from Atomico V, backing the likes of buzzy Cambridge biotech startup Healx and childcare company Koru Kids.
“We’re guided by a simple belief: profit and purpose are mutually reinforcing, not mutually exclusive,” added Zennstrom, who is also a co-founder of Skype.
Atomico said both existing and new investors joined its fifth fund, including institutional investors, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, banks and government-backed entities to name a few. A number of founders from tech firms such as Transferwise, Spotify and Zoopla also joined in the funds as individual limited partners.
The firm recently launched a framework to help its portfolio companies scale consciously, and has made implementing a diversity and inclusion policy a mandatory part of its investment term sheets.
Atomico’s previous fund closed at $765m in 2017. The firm has now backed 11 companies past a $1bn valuation, also known as unicorn status.