Lakestar

Lakestar is a Zurich-based venture capital firm founded by Klaus Hommels, one of Europe's most celebrated technology investors who first gained recognition for early investments in Skype, Facebook, and Spotify before formally structuring Lakestar as an institutional fund in 2012. The firm manages more than $2 billion in assets under management and invests across seed through growth stages with initial checks from $3 million to $15 million in European and global consumer technology and enterprise software companies. Spotify, the Swedish music streaming platform, was among Hommels' landmark early investments; it completed a NYSE direct listing in 2018. Airbnb received Lakestar investment. Revolut was backed by Lakestar. Klarna is a portfolio company. Note: Facebook appears in the source portfolio, which reflects early investments made by Hommels personally or pre-Lakestar rather than through the Lakestar institutional fund. Note: the following row (Lakestar Switzerland) is a duplicate of this entry and should be consolidated. Beyond its original investments, the portfolio includes Klarna, Skype, and additional European technology companies.