European roots. Global from the start.
We use our hard-won experience to help visionary founders become global category leaders.
We’re not a traditional venture capital firm.
We are built by founders for founders. Every single aspect of Atomico, every part of our culture, and every decision we take, is designed with the ambition of helping founders succeed.
We exist for more than returns.
We believe entrepreneurs are the ultimate agents of positive, transformational change across every aspect of our society and economy.
Our mission is to spur this progress forward.
It’s why we partner with the world’s most ambitious founders. The rule-breakers who want to build the next leader in their category. The world-shapers creating companies that fundamentally shift the way we live today. The gamechangers using technology to rewire the world in favour of something better, for as many people as possible.
When we find these people, we invest much more than money. We work hand- in-glove with them, drawing on hard-won experience scaling some of the most successful technology companies in the world, while also providing guidance on how to scale consciously and contribute meaningfully to a better future.
Read on to find out more about how we operate, and the commitments we’re making to support our mission to develop the world’s most prosperous, sustainable, inclusive and mission-driven technology ecosystem right here in Europe.
100+
Partnerships
23
$B companies
5
Funds
$4.5B
Assets under management
Every VC on the planet talks about the concept of value-add. In the case of Atomico, this really is true.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Co-Founder & CEO of Klarna They are by far the most active and helpful investor that we have.
Ilkka Paananen, Co-Founder & CEO of Supercell The Atomico team believed in our ambitious vision of building radically better ways of moving from the very beginning. They played an essential role in turning Lilium from an idea into a global business: assisting us with recruitment, communications, and securing follow-on funding.
Daniel Wiegand, Co-Founder & CEO of Lilium I could tell, early on, that they were a founder-friendly organisation from the term sheet that they submitted We took Atomico’s money because we just felt that they were treating us with a lot of respect. That hasn’t changed by the way.
Daniel Perez, Co-Founder & CEO of Hinge Health
Why should you partner with us?
If you’re a founder asking yourself whether or not we are the right partner for you, here are the five principles that guide how we act as a team. Hold us to them when you meet us.
Greatness occurs when remarkable people with diverse perspectives work together as one. By empowering each other, sharing credit and encouraging each other to act as owners we make the whole stronger than the sum of its parts.
What does this mean for you? With egos left at the door, we can work together towards one common goal: helping you build a business that changes the world.
We achieve our best performance and results as a team through integrity. We get to the right decisions through frank discussions based on data and logic in an environment where diverse perspectives and independent thinking is encouraged. We identify biases and blind spots and we are always conscious of our impact on our wider environment as world citizens. We contribute to a diverse and inclusive culture, higher standards of professionalism, and a fair, safe and collaborative environment.
What does this mean for you? Our objective is to be the investor you are proud to have on your cap table.
We pride ourselves on being genuine partners to the entrepreneurs we work with. We build lasting relationships. Venture is a long term game, helping those who share our mission by sharing our experiences. By getting to know founders early on both we and you can better gauge if there is a good match.
What does this mean for you? Our aim is to always have a positive reference from founders we have worked with. Feel free to ask any of our founders, whether they succeeded or not, which investor they would recommend and why? Life is too short to not be decent to each other.
We are calculated risk-takers with strong judgement and conviction. We are not afraid of bold action to lead our industry, rather than follow. We have a growth mindset and use data and feedback in pursuit of continuous learning and improvement.
What does this mean for you? We challenge ourselves to think big and long-term. Expect us to do the same to you.
We are honest, authentic, and transparent. We are not afraid to make mistakes, and when we do, we admit when we are wrong and learn from it. We are honest about our own limitations and recognise the skills, knowledge and strengths of our colleagues so that we can achieve our desired outcomes collaboratively as a team. We seek guidance and feedback from others, and we remain teachable, always.
What does this mean for you? We are not perfect, but we’ve all got your back and you will always have someone you can to talk to. No matter the time of day or night.
How we invest
What should founders expect?
The truth is no two founders, products or business models are the same, and so there is no ‘one size-fits-all’ approach to investing. However, as a founder, these are some general things you should expect if we are lucky enough to be invited into your fundraising process.
Our goal is to align on vision and shared ambition
For us, this is the most important thing. Like you, we are not here to make incremental progress. We want to accelerate those who want to move the world forward. Trust us, but also take a look at our portfolio, no vision is too ambitious.
Get to know us, not just other way round
We will want you to meet our team, not just one of us. We want you to have a clear understanding of what we can do for you over the coming decade and who you’ll be working with. Talk to some of our existing founders about working with us through good times and bad, and talk to your peers and network about us. We want you to make an informed decision that is in the best interest of your business.
We know firsthand how valuable your time is, so we move at your speed.
It’s why we take a thematic and relationship-led approach to investing. It means we can build conviction fast, move at your speed, and align with you from our first conversation.
We listen, more than we talk.
Don’t worry, that’s because we focus on the things that matter and we do our work upfront. But we will have questions.
It’s never too early to speak to us
We back you from the earliest stages through to IPO. While there are always exceptions to the rule, we typically focus on European founders at the early stages, and founders whose global vision includes winning in Europe at the growth stage.
Commitments We’re Making To Build a Better Ecosystem in Europe
Our mission at Atomico is to develop the world’s most prosperous, sustainable, inclusive and mission-driven technology ecosystem right here in Europe.
Since 2006 we have been building a different kind of venture capital firm. At Atomico, we seek to partner with the world’s most ambitious and mission driven founders: those using technology to rewire the world in favour of something better. When we enter into those partnerships we work together to help them build enduring, category defining businesses that are also conscious about their impact. We recognise, given the wide-reaching impact that some of our portfolio companies can have, the privileged hand we have as a VC in helping build a sustainable future, and the responsibility we carry of ensuring the companies we partner with commit to that.
Our initiatives continue to evolve, and whilst there is always so much more to do, here are just some of the initiatives that we’ve committed to so far:
Our annual State of European Tech Report is the industry barometer and largest free data repository on our ecosystem today, highlighting progress but also where we must improve.
Conscious Scaling - here are all our sustainability efforts, initiatives and resources, including our latest sustainability report, Conscious Scaling 2.0.
The Atomico Angel Programme has been active since 2018 and was launched to activate a new generation of angel investors including tech clusters that have been underrepresented in the past. You can see our various cohorts of angels, and their investments to date, here: Cohort 1, Cohort 2, Cohort 3, and Cohort 4. Since we launched we have had the opportunity to partner with 65 angels, committing almost $10m into ~400 potentially gamechanging startups. We have also made a number of LP commitments to first time fund managers focusing on underrepresented founders.
