European enterprise capital agency Atomico raises $1.1bn to defy tech slowdown

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European enterprise capital agency Atomico has raised $1.1bn value of latest funding to put money into start-ups, defying a broader slowdown within the tech business.

The London-based group has raised the recent cash throughout its new enterprise and development funds, in line with US regulatory filings, nearing its purpose of $1.35bn for each automobiles.

The brand new capital comes at a time when VCs have discovered it tougher to boost funding as greater rates of interest and falling public valuations for start-ups have led buyers to retrench.

European enterprise capital funding for start-ups slowed within the first half of this 12 months, with the full worth of such offers down greater than 60 per cent in contrast with the identical interval within the 12 months prior, in line with analysis from PitchBook.

Within the second quarter, the quantity invested by European VCs was down 40 per cent 12 months on 12 months to round $20bn. In North America, funding practically halved over the identical interval to $42bn.

Atomico was arrange in 2006 by Skype founder Niklas Zennström and has established itself as one in all Europe’s most prolific tech buyers, having backed greater than 130 start-ups.

It has invested in firms together with Klarna, the buy-now-pay-later monetary expertise group, and Lilium, an electrical flying automotive start-up. Atomico, which has $5bn beneath administration, beforehand raised $820mn for its fifth fund in 2020.

“I assumed there was such potential in Europe for extra firms like Skype to be created. Let’s break the [Silicon Valley] monopoly. We may construct the identical factor and even higher in Europe,” Zennström just lately stated in a Lunch with the FT interview.

Atomico’s new funding ranks among the many largest such hauls this 12 months in Europe. In January, the VC agency Highland Europe closed its new €1bn fund, whereas final month the London-based software program investor Daybreak Capital raised $700mn.

Enterprise capitalists have needed to navigate various challenges over the previous 18 months, together with rising inflation. Personal market valuations on a number of distinguished start-ups, comparable to Turkish supply firm Getir, have been dramatically marked right down to replicate robust macroeconomic situations.

Hampering the fundraising marketplace for enterprise capitalists has additionally been a dearth of preliminary public choices, that are a key route for such managers to exit their investments and generate returns for his or her institutional backers.

Uneven IPOs final month for a number of distinguished expertise firms within the US, together with the web grocery supply firm Instacart, have damped hopes for a rebound and led enterprise capitalists to advise start-ups to postpone listings till rates of interest within the US start to plateau.

Atomico declined to remark.