Stockholm (NordSIP) Skype founder Niklas Zennström is betting on a convergence of the future of the tech industry with the preservation of the environment in opting to back “sustainability start-ups.” He is doing this via Atomico, his $1 billion Venture Capital fund.
“We’re in a very fragile situation where we’re using too much of the planet’s resources. We have all sorts of problems. We continue to do what we do and politicians are not really showing leadership,” Mr Zennström told the publication Business Insider.
Mr Zennström is a famed angel investor in the start-up community, many of who continue to wish to catch his eye and that of Atomico. Concentrating on sustainability may be a way to do so, as Zennström thinks these kinds of founders might create the next Google or Facebook:
“I think that real change is happening from innovation, from entrepreneurs who see something and go after something and say: ‘This is the way we should do it. I’m a blank sheet of paper but I have this idea, this drive inside me to go out and make this happen,’” he continued. Ergo, he is looking for founders driven by the vision of the world as a more sustainable place. “Those are the entrepreneurs that I get inspired by. Those are the ones I want to back.”
Mr Zennström gave Atomico-backed Lilium Aviation, an electric flying car start-up that could revolutionise sustainable transportation, as an example. “They’re a company made up of technical founders from Munich who have a vision and idea.”
