Amadeus partner departs to run new London office for Northzone

Northzone – best known for being a Series A investor in Spotify, but also inside hot companies like BraveNewTalent, Videoplaza and VisualDNA among others – has until now confined itself (mostly) to regional investing in its Nordic stamping ground from its bases in Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen. But that all changes with the opening this month of a brand new London office and the simultaneous appointment of Jeppe Zink as a General Partner to spear-head the operation. Zink (37) is better known as 14 year partner at Amadeus Capital Partners, but I’m told the move was entirely amicable between both firms. Amadeus has stayed in the traditional VC role in recent years, with big rounds for companies with revenues, such as its the $25 million round it lead in Shoreditch-based Unruly Media last December. Zink joins Lea Bajc who, as Northzone’s investment director, has been holding the fort in London till now.

By contrast Northzone is investing at a slightly earlier stage and London is a big hub from which do do it across Europe. Northzone has raised six funds (€500 million), and invested in some 75 companies. Notable investments include Lastminute.com, Pricerunner, Spotify, Nextgentel, Funcom, Stepstone, Nimsoft, EPiServer, Avito and Mamut.

Tellef Thorleifsson, co-founder and General Partner says a “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.”

Danish-born Zink Jeppe has lived and worked in Denmark, Germany and England, but is fluent in both Danish and English and speaks German. Gotta love Europeans…