Where does Niklas Zennström work?

Niklas Zennström is Founder & CEO of Skype and CEO & Founding Partner at Atomico.

What check size does Niklas Zennström write?

Niklas Zennström typically writes checks of $5M – $15M.

What companies did Niklas Zennström found?

Niklas Zennström founded Skype.

What companies has Niklas Zennström invested in?

Investments tracked here include DeepL, Klarna, Skype, Supercell.

Where did Niklas Zennström go to school?

Niklas Zennström studied at Uppsala University (MSc, BSc, Engineering Physics, Business Administration).

What awards has Niklas Zennström received?

Zennström was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006. He received the European Business Leaders Award for Entrepreneur of the Year, The Economist's Innovation Award, and Business Leader of the Year by European Voice in 2006. He was awarded the KTH Great Prize by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2009. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute in 2011. He was awarded H. M. The King's Medal by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in 2013. He was inducted into the Swedish Startup Hall of Fame in 2014.

What podcasts and interviews feature Niklas Zennström?

Tracked appearances include "Atomico Presents: Coffee with OpenFX’s Prabhakar Reddy & Atomico’s Niklas Zennström", "Europe’s future GDP growth needs tech: Niklas Zennström, CEO at Atomico", "Skype Founder Niklas Zennström on Founder Success Stories", and 9 more.

Niklas Zennström

InvestorFounder

CEO & Founding Partner at Atomico · Founder & CEO at Skype

London, UK

Writes $5M – $15M checks · typically $10M

FoundedSkype

Photo: TechCrunch, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

About

Niklas Zennström co-founded Skype and then built Atomico into one of Europe's largest venture firms, backing companies like Klarna, Supercell and Stripe from its London base. The Swedish entrepreneur remains Atomico's CEO and founding partner, and has spent two decades arguing that Europe can produce technology companies of global scale.

Contact· self-published, not guessed

n•••@atomico.comreveal

Invests in

AI & Machine LearningConsumerEnterprise SoftwareFintechHealthtech

Beyond investing

Founded: Zennström co-founded the file-sharing service Kazaa with Janus Friis. Zennström co-founded the internet telephony provider Skype with Janus Friis. Zennström founded and was CEO of Joltid, a software company that developed traffic optimization technologies.
Education: Studied at Uppsala University (BSc, Business Administration) Studied at Uppsala University (MSc, Engineering Physics) Studied at University of Michigan
Boards: Zennström sits on the international advisory board of the Stockholm Resilience Centre. Zennström is a member of the Human Rights Watch committee in Sweden.
Charities: In 2007 Zennström and his wife Catherine established Zennström Philanthropies, a foundation focused on climate change and human rights. Zennström founded Race for the Baltic, a non-profit focused on environmental restoration of the Baltic Sea. In 2013 Zennström funded a visiting professorship in climate change leadership at Uppsala University.
Awards: Zennström was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006. He received the European Business Leaders Award for Entrepreneur of the Year, The Economist's Innovation Award, and Business Leader of the Year by European Voice in 2006. He was awarded the KTH Great Prize by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2009. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute in 2011. He was awarded H. M. The King's Medal by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in 2013. He was inducted into the Swedish Startup Hall of Fame in 2014. He was named Alumnus of the Year by Uppsala University in 2015. He received the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 3rd Class.
Hobbies: Zennström is an avid sailor and owns the racing yacht Rán, with his team winning the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2009 and 2011 and TP52 class world championships.
Family: Zennström is married to Catherine Zennström.

Mentioned above: the Uppsala University mafia →

From published sources — common ground for a warm intro.

Founder & CEO at Skype

Intro paths

→

In turn, Niklas can intro founders to Skype's investors below.

Skype's investors · 10

Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks AtomicoLondon August CapitalSan Francisco Bay Area · $1M – $15M checks Bessemer Venture PartnersRedwood City · $5M – $100M checks Draper AssociatesSan Mateo · $500K – $5M checks Future VenturesLos Altos · $1M – $10M checks Horizons VenturesHong Kong · $1M – $110M checks Mangrove Capital PartnersLuxembourg · $540K – $5.4M checks Morpheus VenturesSherman Oaks · $1M – $10M checks Silver Lake PartnersMenlo Park

Co-founders at Skype

Janus FriisFounder

Experience

AtomicoCEO & Founding Partnercurrent2007 — presentLondon, United Kingdom
SkypeCEO and co-founder2002 — 2007
Joltid Ltdco-founder and CEO2001 — 2003
Tele2general manager positions1996 — 1999

Investments

Investor

DeepL Klarna Skype Supercell

Per curated public sources.

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Niklas Zennström

Atomico Presents: Coffee with OpenFX’s Prabhakar Reddy & Atomico’s Niklas Zennström

Atomico

Europe’s future GDP growth needs tech: Niklas Zennström, CEO at Atomico

Scaling-Europe

Skype Founder Niklas Zennström on Founder Success Stories

TorontoStarts

Tech Reset: A Stronger Europe - (Atomico) Niklas Zennström | Slush 2022

Slush

5 Niklas Zennström on Skype

Uppsala universitet

11 Niklas Zennström – creator of Skype – on super powers

Uppsala universitet

6 more appearances

Colleagues at Atomico

Ahmed Alriyami

Investor at Atomico

Alexander (Sasha) Vidiborskiy

Chief Marketing Officer at Asymmetric Capital Partners

Partner and COO at Atomico

Frequently asked questions

Who is Niklas Zennström?: Niklas Zennström co-founded Skype and then built Atomico into one of Europe's largest venture firms, backing companies like Klarna, Supercell and Stripe from its London base. The Swedish entrepreneur remains Atomico's CEO and founding partner, and has spent two decades arguing that Europe can produce technology companies of global scale.
Where does Niklas Zennström work?: Niklas Zennström is Founder & CEO of Skype and CEO & Founding Partner at Atomico.
What does Niklas Zennström invest in?: Niklas Zennström invests in AI & Machine Learning, Consumer, Enterprise Software, Fintech, Healthtech.
What check size does Niklas Zennström write?: Niklas Zennström typically writes checks of $5M – $15M.
What companies did Niklas Zennström found?: Niklas Zennström founded Skype.
What companies has Niklas Zennström invested in?: Investments tracked here include DeepL, Klarna, Skype, Supercell.
Where did Niklas Zennström go to school?: Niklas Zennström studied at Uppsala University (MSc, BSc, Engineering Physics, Business Administration).
What awards has Niklas Zennström received?: Zennström was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in 2006. He received the European Business Leaders Award for Entrepreneur of the Year, The Economist's Innovation Award, and Business Leader of the Year by European Voice in 2006. He was awarded the KTH Great Prize by the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2009. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oxford Internet Institute in 2011. He was awarded H. M. The King's Medal by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in 2013. He was inducted into the Swedish Startup Hall of Fame in 2014.
What podcasts and interviews feature Niklas Zennström?: Tracked appearances include "Atomico Presents: Coffee with OpenFX’s Prabhakar Reddy & Atomico’s Niklas Zennström", "Europe’s future GDP growth needs tech: Niklas Zennström, CEO at Atomico", "Skype Founder Niklas Zennström on Founder Success Stories", and 9 more.