Skype co-founders seek $266M for venture fund

Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, cofounders of Skype, Kazaa and Joost, reportedly are seeking limited partners to help raise $266 million by year's end for Atomico Ventures, their new fund that seeds disruptive, consumer-facing technology start-ups in Europe. The amount of money they are attempting to raise has sparked discussions that the fund could be a vehicle for Friis and Zennstrom to take another shot at reclaiming Skype from eBay.

But to do so, they'll likely have to put together an offer worth more than $2 billion, which eBay CEO John Donahoe said was "a low valuation" for the VoIP service. Atomico also seems like an odd way for the two to attempt another privatization of Skype, since the fund is focused on early-stage companies.

While Atomico Ventures has made 19 investments already in a wide range of companies, WiFi access sharing company FON is the closest to a telephony play, and it's tangential at best. But given Zennstrom and Friis' success with Skype, any future Atomico Ventures investment in or around the IP communications space should be watched closely. 

For more:
- see the VentureBeat article here
- see the New York Time article discussing the potential Skype buyback here 

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