New seed fund Firstminute Capital has raised $60m to back early-stage European technology entrepreneurs.
The London-based fund was created by Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman, and Spencer Crawley, formerly of AppDirect and Goldman Sachs.
Firstminute Capital is backed by VC Atomico plus 23 founders of billion-dollar tech businesses, and will look to invest between $250,000 and $750,000 in early-stage technology businesses across Europe.
The backers include the co-founders of tech firms such as Skype, Zoopla, King.com, Skyscanner, BlaBlaCar and Net-a-Porter. A number of strategic global family offices have also invested in the fund.
Hoberman, who is also executive chairman at the fund,said: “We believe that emerging European technology startups will continue to excite, and build on the momentum that has seen 47 unicorn companies built in Europe in the last 10 years.”
He went on to say Firstminute Capital hopes to provide help to the next generation of top entrepreneurs, “both with our reach and by giving them credibility and support”.
Niklas Zennström, partner and CEO at Atomico, said: “We share a firm belief in the future of Europe’s technology ecosystem so we’re excited to be part of this new fund as it backs Europe’s most promising early stage founders.”