Current Ventures
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 soon-to-be largest daily newspaper, Nyhedsavisen, a free newspaper, with the goal of "merging the offline distribution with an 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. 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 one Danish crown.
Critics have pointed out that Nyhedsavisen suffered funding issues from the outset; at launch, analysts were concerned that Baugur's £4.5m investment was too small to keep it afloat. It was revealed to have posted total losses of DKK 426m ($89.7m) on its accounts for 2007, before Lund's takeover. However, under his stewardship it became the most widely read newspaper in Denmark, with a daily circulation of 551,000. On July 30, 2008, American venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) invested a significant but undisclosed sum in the newspaper, enabling Lund to increase his stake in Nyhedsavisen from 51 to 85 per cent, but it was eventually closed down in late August 2008 due to financial problems.
Lund also 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 agency in Scandinavia.
Post Nyhedsavisen: One of Lund's recent investments, LiveStub was considered the next wave of his disruptive investment strategy. LiveStub was a no fee secondary ticket marketplace.
After Lund's bankruptcy, and due to other problems including the economy, Livestub ceased operations for the foreseeable future.
In 2009, Morten Lund co-founded travel technology start-up Everbread becoming CEO of the company. As of 2010 he is also Chief Visionary Officer in Tradeshift e-invoicing company.
Read more about this topic: Morten Lund (investor)
Famous quotes containing the words current and/or ventures:
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Eliphaz, one of Job’s “comforters,” to Job.