Houston, we have liftoff: Mattias Ljungman launches data-driven $60 million early-stage fund Moonfire

Houston, we have liftoff: Mattias Ljungman launches data-driven $60 million early-stage fund Moonfire

Moonfire Ventures founder and former Atomico co-founder Mattias Ljungman has launched a new $60 million fund with the goal of becoming the most data-driven VC firm in Europe.

Moonfire Ventures’ LPs include the standard non-disclosure of institutional investors and high-profile entrepreneurs and VCs, with US-based seed fund investment firm Cendana Capital serving as the anchor investor.

“We’ve been watching the European start-up ecosystem mature and grow in the past year and we’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with the team at Moonfire as they look to expand their portfolio,” comments Cendana Capital partner Graham Pingree.

Building on his 20 experience with Atomico, Ljungman believes that the old school venture model of personal relationships and gut instincts fail when applied at scale.

“Venture will always be a relationship business, but it should be powered by data, software and machine learning to hone and optimise everything we do from discovery, screening and evaluation to delivering better insights for our founders,” says Ljungman. “We are able to enhance traditional thesis-driven investing and make decision-making quicker and more effective.” 

Moonfire Ventures was founded in 2020 and focuses on health, work and knowledge, gaming, community, leisure, and capital & finance investments, and has already backed a number of European startups including Humaans, Electric Noir Studios, Skunkworks, Pento, Awell Health, Mindstone, Business Score, Homerun, HiPeople, LoveShark, WillaPay, Oliva, and Equify.

“Moonfire is audacious, ambitious and able to move fast. Mattias's vision is bold, which aligns with courageous founders dreaming big. It helped us access a network of incredible operators and entrepreneurs that we can learn from, and provided sound advice to scale our business,” adds Humaans co-founder Giovanni Luperti.

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