It's Ok For Founders To Cash In, But There Shouldn't Be Any Reason To Hide It
Yesterday we revealed how Rovio's $42 million investment last year actually went to one or more of its founders, by the look of their financial statement that was filed with the Finnish authorities. We received a lot of feedback regarding that article through e-mail, but also in comments through other channels. The overall attitude seems to one of caution, that we should be careful for digging up information and discussing it in public.
This publication is all for growth entrepreneurship and we feel that the more discussion around these topics we have, with the right attitude and manner of course, the better off the Northern European startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem will be.
Rovio is not a taboo that should not be discussed. It's one of the best things that has happened to the Finnish startup ecosystem in a long time. The execution of its vision will become a case study for future MBAs on how to go about global growth. Believing that if we gave successful companies peace and quiet as media, and thus avoiding studying them in detail, in the fear of damaging the company's future potential is at best superstition.
#8 - Wrapp With Two P's
In our eighth episode we dive into discuss the new rising star of Sweden - Wrapp. We've reported on the company in the past, especially in them raising two rounds of financing worth more than $10 million. The rounds were raised from Atomico Ventures as well as Greylock Partners, both highly acclaimed investors. The first round invested into the company was by Creandum, the acclaimed Swedish investment house that has stakes also in companies such as Spotify. We talk to Carl Fritjofsson, the COO of Wrapp on how exactly the company got setup and what they are really after. Believe us, there is so much more to the company than simply gift cards. After listening to the show, you're going to understand exactly why the $10+ million makes a lot of sense.
This week we are supported by Gapps.fi - a Helsinki-based company that brings the Google productivity tools to your workplace. They've got a special offer for all those who ping them and say they came from ArcticStartup. Also, they are looking for talented people to work with them in the area of sales and technical implementation. Big thanks to Gapps for supporting the show.
Rovio Ownership Structure Revealed
The Finnish Arvopaperi magazine has announced the ownership structure of Rovio, the creators of Angry Birds. The information has not come up in any IPO filing, but through public information in the Finnish governmental registry. The biggest chunk of the Rovio is owned by Trema Holdings International BV, the holding company of Kaj Hed. Kaj Hed is Mikael's father and Mikael is Niklas' cousin. It seems that Accel and Atomico, who together invested $42 million into the company last year, own around 20% of the company.
Rovio Raises $42 Million Round
TechCrunch just released the story that creators of Angry Birds, Rovio, has raised an astonishing $42 million round in funding. The funding has been raised from Accel Partners, Atomico Ventures as well as Felicis Ventures. The round was co-led by Accel Partners as well as Atomico Ventures. Niklas Zennström, the co-founder of Skype will be joining Rovio's board.
Niklas Zennström Invests In Fashiolista, He Is No Alien To Fashion
Too much of call or video oriented ventures associated to Niklas Zennström. You can watch our recent video interviews with him here and here. The Skype co-founder recently revealed his passion for fashion as his investment firm, Atomico Ventures made a $500,000 seed investment in Fashiolista.
Rdio: Music Start-Up From Skype Founders
Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström recently created Rdio (pronounced ar-dee-oh) - an unlimited, on-demand social music service in US and Canada. The service is very similar to Spotify, though there is no way to use it for free (apart from a short trial period). Rdio offers a vast music library (> 7 million songs) from all major labels (EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group) as well as top indie labels and distributors. It's got social features akin to Twitter: users can see what is currently popular among other users and create and listen to collaborative playlists. The company promises to 'take the work out of deciding what to play next'. All that for $9.99 a month for unlimited web and mobile access (including the offline mode) and $4.99 a month for Web-only access. Rings a bell?
Video Interview Of Niklas Zennström - Part 2
This is the second part of the video interview with Niklas Zennström of Atomico. In this part we continue discussion on how Atomico sees certain industries regarding their investments as well as at what stage startups should contact Atomico and how. Zennström also goes on to tell that entrepreneurs in the Nordics and Baltics should be braver - we are by nature perhaps a little too timid.
Video Interview Of Niklas Zennström - Part 1
Last week Niklas Zennström, together with Atomico visited Helsinki to talk to startups and promote their early stage investment company. I had the chance to sit down with Zennström and talk about the Nordic and Baltic investment environment, Atomico as well as some of their investments. Below is the first part of the video interview in a little over 7 minute clip.
