OnlyXO
 | |
| Industry | Venture capital, Finance, Legal, Fashion, Travel, Software, Advisory |
|---|---|
| Founded | November 2013 |
| Founder | Morten Lund |
| Headquarters | London, Berlin, Copenhagen, San Francisco, Bangkok |
Area served | Worldwide |
Number of employees | 6 |
| Website |
http: |
OnlyXO is an investment vehicle and startup incubator run by Danish serial entrepreneur Morten Lund, best known for his early stage role in Skype, ZYB, Bullguard, Maxthon and Polar Rose (facial recognition). Launched in 2013, it is the third such vehicle operated by the Dane, following Lundxy and LundKenner (the latter in partnership with then HelloWeb owner, advertising executive and musician Søren Kenner). OnlyXO marks Lund’s comeback from personal bankruptcy after his collapsed free newspaper venture Nyhedsavisen.[1][2] Lund followed in the footsteps of his father, investor and engineer Niels Nielsen, who founded electronic components company Conelec AS, which he sold for €10 million to Deltron in 1997.[3] At the age of 26, Lund had netted $3 million from the sale of web design agency Neo Ideo to US advertising giant Leo Burnett.[4]
This was the beginning of Lund’s adventures as a business angel, a role he has described as “Santa Claus to entrepreneurs,” that would eventually lead to his involvement in the funding of 110 startups. In 2002 Lund followed Howard Hartenbaum and venture capitalist Tim Draper of Draper Fisher Jurvetson in acquiring a tiny stake in Voice over IP startup Skyper, later renamed Skype, because “the guys [founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis] were falling behind on their rent and they needed a little help.” That move later earned Lund around $30 million when the company was sold to eBay in September 2005.[5]
In April 2007 it was rumoured that Google had purchased a stake in Jeff Chen's Chinese web browser Maxthon for approximately £1 million, following Lund and WI Harper’s seed investment in March 2005. Charles River Ventures injected $5 million in the company in March 2006. High profile exits include those of ZYB to Vodafone Europe BV in May 2008 for $50 million[6] and Polar Rose to Apple in September 2010 for a mooted $22 million.[7] The OnlyXO portfolio company Tradeshift raised $75 million from Scentan in March 2014, to enable expansion into the Far East. This deal values the e-invoicing platform at $300 million.[8]
Portfolio
OnlyXO has Lund serving in a variety of roles across the portfolio, as an advisor, Chairman, seed investor, spokesperson and evangelist. There are 16 companies in the OnlyXO network:
Capital Aid
PayXO
FundXO
StefanXO
PitchXO
Tofte and Company
Bonum Law
Sunny Rentals
Sharkboard
Panachio
MakersXO
OpenXO
References
- ↑ Butcher, Mike. "As raw as it gets - Skype legend Morten Lund made bankrupt", Tech Crunch. London, 13 January 2009.
- ↑ Day, Peter (producer). "Entrepreneuring through boom and bust", Global Business, BBC World Service, London, 17 August 2010.
- ↑ Mansfield, Barry. "Web Slinger". CNBC European Business. Ink Publishing. London, 2 April 2008
- ↑ Toft, Dorte. “Reklamegigant gør Neo Ideo til e-spydsspids”, Computerworld.dk, Copenhagen, 3 February 2000
- ↑ Oates, John. "eBay buys Skype", The Register. London, 12 September 2005
- ↑ McCarthy, Caroline. "Vodafone acquires contact management service ZYB", CNET. San Francisco, 16 May 2008
- ↑ Butcher, Mike. "Apple buys Polar Rose for a rumoured $22 million", Tech Crunch, London, 20 September 2010
- ↑ Davies, Sally. "Digital invoicer Tradeshift valued at over $300m in fundraising", The Financial Times. London, 25 February 2014