Morten Lund, (born April 3, 1972) is an entrepreneur from Copenhagen, Denmark. Along with Soren Kenner, Lund is founder and managing partner of LundKenner, a venture capital firm focusing on technology ventures.[1] From 2007 he has also fronted the startup catalyst LundXY.
Morten Lund
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| Born | April 3rd, 1972
Roskilde, Denmark
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| Education | Odense University |
| Occupation | Serial Entrepreneur |
| Spouse | Hlin Schow Mogensdottir |
| Children | Four |
Described variously as an 'archangel investor', startup 'ideologist' and 'visionary', Lund has founded or co-invested in more than 40 high-tech start ups in the last decade, most famously Skype, the VoIP star snapped up by eBay for $2.6 billion in 2005. [2]In May 2008 Lund made headlines again with the sale of Danish social networking and mobile backup site ZYB to operator Vodafone Europe BV for a sum believed to be in the region of $49m. [3] He had co-founded the business with entrepreneur Tommy Ahlers three years previously. [4]
At 36 years of age he is one of the most active seed investors in Europe, with an eye for turning existing business models and distribution methods on their head. His portfolio features over 80 companies spanning the Internet, telecoms, health and alternative energy.[5]
Lund has established a category of investments in his portfolio entitled 'WILD' - Worldwide Investments and Involvement in Life Development - through which he is investing in water purification, marine energy systems, landmine detection and solutions to hunger and obesity. Lund is a special member of Clinton’s Global Initiative, a professor at Reykjavik University [6] and frequent speaker at international conferences. With more than 40,000 monthly visitors, his blog has more readers than the local newspaper. [7]
Venture capitalist Tim Draper, the investor behind [Hotmail], calls him “brilliant,” and fellow VC Bill Tai describes him as “a cross between Wile E. Coyote and Yosemite Sam.” Lund was described in a US investors' journal as “what you’d get if you took Ron Conway’s Web 2.0 savvy, mixed in the European sensibilities of Index Ventures, added a dollop of Tim Draper’s pioneering wackiness and marinated it all in RedBull.” [8]
Lund is known for his signature "psycho-aggressive" investment style.[9] His investment model combines angel and venture capital with incubator support, providing early stage businesses with the resources and know-how they need to catapult them to a head start in their industry. He believes that startups “need help from smart people – not takeovers from smart asses.” Lund says being an investor is all about adding value. He says he doesn’t over-think or allow himself to get bogged down by institutional processes.
Tenacious, instinctive and viciously self-promoting, one of Lund’s secrets to success lies in his networking activity that has ranged from honing the raw brilliance of young programmers to masterminding a sit-down with former U.S. President Bill Clinton. He is not afraid to take risks and dedicates funds for high-risk early stage investments. He is known for acting on the spur of the moment, focusing on people, networks and being in the right place at the right time - hence the title of his blog, ‘Its all about Luck’.
Lund has started three funds, encompassing Chinese property, Indian technology ventures and a private equity vehicle for Middle Eastern green technology.
Within his 'WILD' investment portfolio, he is currently involved with AquaDania, a company that has developed an efficient new water purification system under the brand name of WaterStillar; IJoule, a startup working to fight obesity and Aresa A/S, a company that uses genetically modified plants to detect landmines.
In October 2006 he co-founded (with a minority stake) Denmark’s now largest daily newspaper, Nyhedsavisen, a free newspaper, with the goal of transforming the nature of printed press by merging the offline distribution with an attractive online presence. Later, in January 2008, Icelandic investment firm Baugur Group announced that it had sold Lund a 51% share of Dagsbrun Media, their holding company for the newspaper.[10] It is rumoured that Lund and his business partner, Morten Wagner of Freeway - owner of social networking sites dating.dk and arto.dk - picked up the stake for just one Danish crown.
Critics have pointed out that Nyhedsavisen suffered with funding issues from the outset; at launch, analysts were concerned that Baugur's £4.5m investment was too small to keep it afloat.[11] It was also reported in the Danish press that the newspaper lost 20m Danish crowns (€56m) over the course of 2007, before Lund's takeover. [12] However, under his stewardship it has officially claimed the position of most widely read newspaper in Denmark, with a daily circulation of 551,000.
Lund established the international communications agency HelloGroup in 2006 and the company now employs 65 people in downtown Copenhagen, making it the fastest growing advertising and media agencyinScandinavia. It is this online marketing capability, coupled with the fact that Nyhedsavisen is the only free newspaper delivered to every doorstep daily, giving it added potential for the delivery of targeted advertising, that leads some observers to believe that Lund may be able to transform the newspaper's fortunes.
VoIP giant Skype; anti-virus consumer brand Bullguard; web agency NeoIdeo, sold to US advertising firm Leo Burnett; Jeff Chen's Chinese web browser Maxthon, which boasts 100 million downloads to date[13]; Orolix, the fastest growing online company in Brazil; commission free stock trading platform Zecco.com, which gained 75,000 clients in its first 12 months; PokerOffice, the world leader in poker training.