Atomico closes $765m fourth fund

Mikkel Stern-Peltz
17 February 2017

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London-based venture firm Atomico has held a final close on $765m for its fourth fund, raising nearly $300m more than its predecessor.

The fund follows the VC's 2012-vintage Atomico III, which raised $476.6m by final close in November 2013. Led by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, the VC said its new fund would go some way towards addressing the funding gap in European tech investing, where post series-A funding rounds lag behind seed and series-A numbers.

According to unquote" data, Atomico IV is the largest dedicated venture fund raised in Europe for more than a decade, surpassing the €650m raised by the 2015-vintage Index Ventures Growth II.

The fund is domiciled in the Cayman Islands, according to documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which also show First Avenue Capital Placement acted as the vehicle's placement agent.

Investors
Backers in the Atomico's previous fund included LPs from Europe, Asia and the US. The European Investment Fund committed €20m to that vehicle.

The Thirds Swedish National Pension Fund (AP3) committed $30m to Atomico IV, while the European Fund for Strategic Investments invested an undisclosed amount.

Investments
Atomico IV will invest in European tech startups from series-A funding rounds and throughout the later stages.

The VC's previous investments include Finnish mobile games developer Supercell, sold to Japan's Softbank and later Tencent for $10.2bn; The Climate Corporation, a digital agriculture company sold to Monsanto for $1.1bn; and Swedish payments company Klarna.

People
Atomico – Niklas Zennström (founder, CEO); Mattias Ljungman (partner).