(London, 17/01/2012) – Northzone, the leading technology investment firm, announced today that the company is expanding its international presence with the opening of a new London office and the appointment of Jeppe Zink as a General Partner to spear-head the operation.
The opening of a London office is a natural move for the prolific Scandinavian technology investment fund. Over the past 15 years, Northzone has served as a springboard for global expansion to a number of Scandinavian household names such as Spotify, Stepstone, Nimsoft, and Videoplaza. Northzone’s official expansion beyond its Nordic stronghold is an important move for its existing portfolio as well as future investments.
Tellef Thorleifsson, co-founder and General Partner comments: “By setting up an office in the UK, Northzone will further strengthen its position as a leading European investment firm. Permanent presence in London will enable us to better support our existing UK based investments, as well as assist Nordic and other European companies in their internationalisation. London is an important European hub for media and technology companies, and a number of our Limited Partners and specialized service providers are London-based”.
Jeppe (37) has been a technology investor for over 13 years, with an excellent track record in expansion stage investments. Prior to joining Northzone, Jeppe was a Partner at Amadeus Capital, where he led the firm’s later stage investment strategy. During his eight year tenure with Amadeus, Jeppe rose from Associate to Partner level, and led a number of investments including End2End, Agillic, Nomad, Tobii, EpiServer and NYX – the latter three being co-investments with Northzone. Prior to Amadeus, Jeppe spent five years at Deutsche Bank, working in their Principal Investments and M&A teams. A native of Denmark, Jeppe holds an MA in Economics/Politics from Durham University. At Northzone Jeppe will continue his focus on expansion stage investment opportunities. He will also take co-responsibility for deal sourcing in Denmark.
Jeppe Zink comments: “Northzone has built a strong franchise as a renowned technology investor and I am thrilled to be joining this exceptionally talented team in their continued quest to build market leading companies.”
Northzone was established in 1996 and has offices in Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm. Since its inception Northzone has raised six funds (?500 million), invested in some 75 companies. Notable investments include Lastminute.com, Pricerunner, Spotify, Nextgentel, Funcom, Stepstone, Nimsoft, EPiServer, Avito and Mamut.