Industry Venture capital Headquarters Copenhagen, Denmark Type of business Private Company | Website www.lundxy.com Founder Morten Lund | |
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Number of locations Hong Kong, London, Singapore, San Francisco Key people Morten Lund (CEO), Anya Maxwell (original Partner), Rasmus Boegh (original Partner) Locations Hong Kong, London, Singapore, San Francisco | ||
LundXY Global Ventures is an angel investment and startup catalyst headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, founded by serial entrepreneur Morten Lund in 2007. Lund is the seed investor behind Skype, sold to online auction company eBay for US$2.6bn in September 2005, and latterly ZYB, the Danish social networking site sold to Vodafone Europe BV for $49m in June 2008. By 2013 parts of the operation had been superseded by Lund's new OnlyXO network.
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From 2007 the firm managed a portfolio of companies encompassing web and mobile telecommunications, content and media, financial services and clean technology.
It backed 2008 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer of the Year Nikolaj Nyholm and his startup Polar Rose, as well as Nyholm's previous start-up Imity (acquired by social networking site ZYB for an undisclosed sum in April of that year). Another company to secure financial backing from LundXY was Aresa, a landmine detection startup named WEF Technology Pioneer of the Year in 2007. After a promising start, advanced field testing in Serbia in late 2008 failed to produce the desired results, with the value of the patents falling into question. Untypically for a LundXY project, Aresa had to be shut down. The third quarter results of 2008 were its last as a biotechnology company.
LundXY was 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. The viewing figures for Lund's blog put it ahead of local newspapers in Denmark, with more than 40,000 monthly readers.
The LundXY catalyst 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. 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.
In 2005 Lund was reported to be a special member of Bill Clinton's Clinton Global Initiative, through which LundXY later committed its financial power to development cases around the globe.
Events
Lund has represented the venture capital firm at events worldwide. Here are some events where he made appearances as a speaker:
'WILD'
LundXY's investment vehicle 'WILD,' or Worldwide Investment and Involvement in Life Development, included firms like AquaDania with its WaterStillar system for efficient water purification and Aresa A/S, a company that used genetically modified plants to detect landmines.
The Dane hoped to use LundXY's global influence and economic clout to realise Bill Clinton'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 that's the only way to attract world class talent."
Portfolio
Other companies that have appeared in the LundXY portfolio:
OnlyXO
Lund was declared bankrupt in January 2009 in the aftermath of stalled free newspaper venture Nyhedsavisen, but he announced that he was out of bankruptcy in April 2010. He has since spoken at length to international media about his personal struggle to battle through the business cycle and re-establish his reputation.
LundXY was out of the spotlight during the term of Lund's personal bankruptcy. However, in 2013 he revealed that he was working on a new business network known as OnlyXO, through which he would chair a number of early stage companies, including Capital Aid, Itembase and AirHelp, and several startups that he personally co-founded. The present focus is on financial technology companies that can be integrated with the systems of digital invoicing specialist Tradeshift. Capital Aid is described as "the star project." Additionally, as part of the OnlyXO network, Lund has helped to launch initiatives that match his own needs as a serial entrepreneur, including pitchXO, Tofte & Company and Sharkboard.
His investment in Tradeshift was followed later by online payments service PayPal, which acquired a stake for around €12 to €15 million. In late February 2014, Tradeshift received a further $75m from Singapore’s Scentan Ventures, which the company said it would use to expand its business in Japan and China, where many of its customers have suppliers.
Morten Lund continues to maintain a blog on the LundXY website.