We’re not a traditional venture capital firm. We exist for more than returns, even though it is our lifeblood. Since we began our work in 2006, we’ve always set our sights much higher. At our core, we believe entrepreneurs are the ultimate agents of positive, transformational change across every aspect of our society and economy.
To us, our work is our mission. When you spend time with us, you’ll see that our firm is built by, and for, founders. It’s why we invest from Series A onwards, because we want to help founders take a product that works and make it a global success. And it’s why we’ve built the most experienced team possible, with a clear and systematic approach, to help founders turn their vision into something that changes the world for the better.
While we invest globally, our focus is Europe. The strength and depth of European founders is increasing all the time, and we strive to help them succeed globally. We believe many of the next truly transformative companies will come from Europe.
We look for the most ambitious founders, the people who want to build the next leader in their category or the company that changes a fundamental component of our economy and society. The founders who want to use technology to rewire the world in favour of something better for as many people as possible.
How do we do this? We have four principles that guide every decision we make. We call it our Manifesto.
1. Now is the Age of the Entrepreneur
In the past, governments made the biggest changes to how we lived our lives. Now it’s entrepreneurs and innovators who use disruptive technologies to drive behavioural change at both mass scale and lightening speed. Their combination of ambition, talent and single-minded determination is transforming every sector of the economy in a way that was almost unimaginable even a few years ago.
The last decade has seen the most profound changes to how we communicate, keep in touch with friends, entertain ourselves, even start businesses - all driven by technological innovation. The next will see change at a far more ambitious and meaningful scale. How we learn, keep healthy, move from one town to another, use increasingly scarce natural resources, access food and water, build a more sustainable planet and even extend our own lives. We believe with deep conviction that in our lifetime, entrepreneurs will solve some of humanity’s greatest and deepest challenges.
This is why we say it’s the most exciting time to be investing and supporting technology founders. It’s their time, their moment in history, the ‘Age of the Entrepreneur’. And it’s why every single aspect of our firm, every part of our culture and way of working, and every decision we make is designed with the sole ambition of helping them succeed.
2. Great companies can now come from anywhere
Ten years ago, when we said we would focus our investing on Europe, people were surprised. When we said there would soon be multiple billion-dollar companies founded in the UK, France, Germany, the Nordics and so on, they laughed. But we were undaunted.
Now, there’s no doubt that Europe is producing some of the greatest technology companies in the world.
But this is just the start. Take artificial intelligence. Every study now shows that the deepest research and the most interesting advances are now happening in Europe. Or mobile gaming. It’s taken for granted that some of the most innovative and successful games are made in Europe. Or FinTech. Founders across the continent are pioneering new technologies which ensure better, easier and more efficient financial services.
We’ve not been passive spectators as Europe has built its own vibrant technology ecosystem. We’re proud to have been relentless advocates for its growing strength and depth. And we’ll continue doing so because it’s critical to the future of not only the companies in which we invest but Europe’s future too.
3. Scaling companies is in our DNA
We know that scaling a company is hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it. So, when we built Atomico, we set out to create the best team possible of people who’ve done it before (and have the scars to prove it).
They work alongside founders to help them scale their companies. We never just wanted to invest and watch the founder do all the hard work by themselves.
Every member of this team has hard-won experience founding or scaling some of the most successful companies in the world - Facebook, Uber, Skype, Supercell, Spotify, Virgin and Google. And they work across the world, with experienced people in Europe, China, Japan, South America and the US.
Everyday they’re working hand-in-glove with founders on the hardest aspects of scaling: hiring and retaining the best talent, market-entry and partnerships, user growth, marketing and communications. We deeply respect the drive and vision of our founders, but where necessary, we challenge them, have the hard conversations about focusing on the things that really move the needle.
Of course, this team evolves all the time, as we find new people who can bring added experience and expertise to our founders. And they work as a real team, systematically with founders, not as a collection of names on our website. They work closely with each other so that our founders can focus on their companies.
4. Ready to scale: Series A and beyond
We’re super focused on when and where we can add the most value to the founders with whom we partner. We invest across technology sectors, but given we have deep expertise in scaling companies, we only look for opportunities where a founder has achieved product market fit, is ready to scale and is in a position to become the category leader.
In practice, this means we invest from Series A onwards. Sometimes it’s during Series A, sometimes it’s later. The key for us where we can add the most value to super-charge a company’s ability to scale successfully.
We know how hard this moment is for a founder and their team. It’s their make-or-break time. Their product has a strong market fit but how do they scale their business fast enough so people around the world can enjoy it? With our deep operational experience, this is where we feel we can add the most value.
It’s also why we work closely with some of Europe’s most successful founders, as part of our extended team. They help us find the most exciting next-generation founders and then invest their own time with them as they scale their companies. It’s a unique team who are motivated by helping people tread the same path they once did so successfully.
As you can see, we take our work seriously. We do so because we believe with the deepest conviction that entrepreneurs will bring unparalleled benefits to the world, through a combination of technology innovation and the human spirit of continued and unending progress. This is our mission, to help spur this forward in every way we can. We look forward to doing so with you.