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Atomico

Atomico is a London-based multi-stage European VC founded 2006 by Niklas Zennström (Skype co-founder). $1.24B AUM across Venture VI ($485M, 2022) and Growth I & II, investing Series A through growth…

Stage Seed → Growth
Ticket $5.0M - $75.0M
Quantum focus Quantum Computing · Hardware
Geography Europe

Investment thesis

Atomico is a London-based multi-stage European VC founded 2006 by Niklas Zennström (Skype co-founder). $1.24B AUM across Venture VI ($485M, 2022) and Growth I & II, investing Series A through growth across deep tech, consumer, enterprise SaaS, climate and fintech. Cheques $5-25M Series A, up to $75M+ growth. 170+ portfolio companies, 40+ exits.

Quantum bet is single but structurally significant: early backer of PsiQuantum (silicon-photonic, fault-tolerant million-qubit architecture) — one of the highest-conviction bets in global quantum, now valued $7B+ with $1B+ raised from BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, Microsoft M12, Temasek, Founders Fund, Playground Global, and the Australian/Queensland governments ($617M). PsiQuantum launched the Omega photonic chipset in Feb 2025, manufactured at GlobalFoundries Malta fab.

Value-add: operator-heavy team with European-to-global scaling expertise, strong institutional LP networks, and a proactive Growth fund that can lead Series B-D from within Atomico's portfolio.

Differentiated as the European VC with the most exposure to the photonic fault-tolerant quantum thesis — the architecture with the clearest industrial-fab integration path.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. We don't lead seed or pre-product rounds in quantum: we want Series B+ with a real product, real revenue or contracted pilots, and category-defining ambition
  2. We avoid single-region plays: if the company can't credibly scale across Europe and into the US within 24 months, the growth math doesn't work
  3. We pass on hardware-only stories without a software or platform layer that compounds gross margin: 'we sell qubits' is not a growth-stage thesis
  4. We don't back deeptech where the founding team lacks at least one operator with prior commercial scaling experience (not just academic credentials)
  5. We're cautious on heavily government-dependent revenue mixes: a quantum company that is 80% public grants and sovereign contracts looks like a national champion, not a venture outcome

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio →
PsiQuantumClassiq TechnologiesQuantum Machines

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