LundXY

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LundXY - Global Ventures
Type Private Company
Industry Venture capital
Founder(s) Morten Lund
Headquarters Copenhagen, Denmark
Number of locations Hong Kong, London, Singapore, San Francisco
Key people Morten Lund (CEO), Anya Maxwell (Partner), Rasmus Boegh (Partner)
Website www.lundxy.com

LundXY - Global Ventures is an angel investment and startup catalyst headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, founded by serial entrepreneur Morten Lund in 2007. Lund is best known as the seed investor behind Skype,[1] sold to online auction company eBay for $2.6bn in December 2005,[2] and latterly ZYB, the Danish social networking site sold to Vodafone Europe BV for $49m in June 2008.[3]

Activity

The firm manages a portfolio of companies encompassing web and mobile telecommunications, content and media, financial services and clean technology.[4]

LundXY was a backer of the 2008 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer of the Year Nikolaj Nyholm and his startup Polar Rose,[5] as well as Nyholm's previous start-up Imity (acquired by social networking site ZYB for an undisclosed sum in April of that year).[6] Aresa A/S, WEF Technology Pioneer of the Year 2007, has also secured financial backing from LundXY.

LundXY is part of the Digital Life Design Community (DLD) and Lund, the architect and ideologist behind the company, was ranked as one of the most influential people in the tech industry.[7] The viewing figures for Lund's blog put it ahead of local newspapers in Denmark, with more than 40,000 monthly readers.

LundXY owned the now defunct free daily newspaper, Nyhedsavisen, in its time the most widely read newspaper in Denmark. Its stated goal was to transform the nature of printed press by merging the offline distribution with an attractive online presence. [8] In January 2008, LundXY acquired a 51 per cent majority stake in Dagsbrun Media, which owns Nyhedsavisen, from Baugur Group, the Icelandic investment firm. As part of the deal, Lund XY injected its own working capital into the newspaper. Lund's acquisition came 15 months after the paper's October 2006 launch, and three months after it officially took the position of most read daily newspaper in Denmark, outpacing established paid-for titles and rival free sheets with a circulation of 550,000. Despite this, finances continued to be an issue and the paper eventually closed in August 2008.

Lund is a member of Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative,[9] through which LundXY is committing its financial power to development cases around the globe.

Events

Lund represents the Venture Capital firm on events worldwide. Some recent events where he was speaking:

'WILD'

LundXY's investment vehicle 'WILD,' or Worldwide Investment and Involvement in Life Development, includes firms like AquaDania with its WaterStillar system for efficient water purification and Aresa A/S, a company that uses genetically modified plants to detect landmines.[14]

As special member of the Clinton Global Initiative Lund aims to use LundXY's global influence and economic clout to realise the founder's vision. On his blog, Lund says he has "an untamed lust to do stuff that makes a difference for the people in this world - especially if I can help to save a child’s life. I want to do it for profit - since thats the only way to attract world class talent."[15]

Portfolio

Other companies in the LundXY portfolio:

  • HelloGroup, the fastest growing advertising agency in Scandinavia
  • Zecco.com, free online stock trading.[16]
  • Maxthon, the most popular web browser in China, with 100m downloads to date
  • Polar Rose, award-winning facial recognition software[17]
  • Bullguard, award-winning anti-virus software [18]
  • Wamba, the social movement

References

  1. ↑ VentureBeat on Morten Lund and early Skype, November, 2007
  2. ↑ eBay buys Skype for £2.2bn, The Times, September, 2005
  3. ↑ Vodafone announces ZYB acquisition on its website, May, 2008
  4. ↑ Reuters on Lund's move into clean energy January, 2008
  5. ↑ World Economic Forum Announces Technology Pioneers 2008, February, 2008
  6. ↑ TechCrunch confirms ZYB's acquisition of Imity, April, 2008
  7. ↑ DLD 2008 survey names tech industry's most influential, 2008
  8. ↑ Lund interviewed by German business publication Taz.de, January, 2008
  9. ↑ Bill Clinton pictured with LundXY's CEO Morten Lund, May, 2005
  10. ↑ CGI on Annual Meeting, 2007
  11. ↑ DLD brings technology thinkers to Munich, January, 2008
  12. ↑ LeWeb3 2007, official programme
  13. ↑ Thomas Crampton blogs at SIME on Lund's profit generating ventures, 2007
  14. ↑ Aresa website
  15. ↑ Lund writes about his hopes for WILD on the LundXY blog, 2007
  16. ↑ GigaOM on LundXY's involvement in Zecco, March, 2008
  17. ↑ World Economic Forum commends Polar Rose, 2008
  18. ↑ Bullguard list of awards given, Bullguard website

External links


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