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☆ European tech funding declines for third consecutive year — but the sector is finally stabilizing
▼ + stars: | 2024-11-19 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Still, Atomico said this shows that European tech funding levels have finally "stabilized" despite worsening global macroeconomic conditions leading to three consecutive years of declines. In the period spanning 2015 to 2024, European startups have bagged $426 billion, dwarfing the sum of investment deployed into tech firms the decade prior. Europe's first $1 trillion tech firm? Atomico said it's optimistic about the next decade in European tech. The VC firm, which was established by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, is predicting the entire European tech ecosystem combined could be valued at $8 trillion by 2034, up from around $3 trillion currently.

Persons: Reeves, Oli Scarff, Atomico, Tom Wehmeier, Wehmeier, Europe's, Rachel Reeves, techUK, Niklas Zennström Organizations: Startup Coalition, Getty Images Venture, European Tech, CNBC, VC, Skype, Spotify, Google, Apple, Facebook, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla Locations: British, State, Europe, U.S, China, Atomico, United States

☆ Skype founder's VC firm raises $1.24 billion to back European tech startups
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-09 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

LONDON — Atomico, an early investor in top European technology firms from Stripe to Klarna, announced Monday the launch of two new funds worth $1.24 billion to back emerging and growth-stage startups in the sector. Venture funding for European tech startups nearly halved to $45 billion in 2023, compared to $82 billion in the previous year, according to a report penned last year by Atomico. This decline was a reversal to pre-pandemic years which saw a wild rise in tech valuations, Atomico said at the time. In 2022, Europe's tech sector saw $400 billion wiped off its overall market capitalization amid a sharp slide in tech valuations. The size of Atomico's new funds marks more than a 50% increase on the $820 million it raised for its last round of funds, Fund V, in 2020.

Persons: Atomico, Niklas Zennström Organizations: Venture, Atomico, Microsoft Locations: Europe, Europe's

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailWhat happened to Skype? At its height, Skype – a telecommunications app founded by Scandinavian entrepreneurs Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, and Estonian engineers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn and Toivo Annus – had 560 million registered users. In 2005, just two years after its launch, the app was acquired by eBay. Microsoft then acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Now that Microsoft has rival Teams, the future of Skype is uncertain.

Persons: Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis, Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu, Jaan Tallinn, Toivo Annus –, what's Organizations: Skype, eBay, Microsoft, CNBC Locations: Toivo, Silver

☆ Europe is producing more startup 'mafias' than ever despite tech rout
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-24 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The average time taken for a startup to hit unicorn status in Europe is now just seven years, according to Accel. Of the 353 "unicorn" companies in the region, 221 have spun out 1,171 new tech-enabled startup companies as employees at these firms left to start up their own ventures, Accel said, citing Dealroom data. Startup mafias have existed for decades. These "mafias," which are firms started by employees of other tech firms, have historically led to the creation of some of the largest tech companies known today. The largest cohort of newly established startup mafias comes from fintech, with almost 20% of European startups spun out of unicorns operating in the sector.

Persons: Accel, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Niklas Zennstrom, Taavet Hinrikus, I'd, Harry Nelis, Klarna, Wise Organizations: Accel, Spotify, PayPal, Elon, Ventures, Fund, Shell, Unilever, CNBC, Startup Locations: Europe, Israel, American, Silicon Valley, West Coast, Palo Alto, Netherlands, fintech

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