Ariadne Capital was founded in December 2000 by Julie Meyer whose vision was to build a leading investment firm out of Europe.
Julie has sought investment from leading entrepreneurs in Europe who share her vision of an investment firm for the 21st century. These investors have created significant wealth for themselves
and Europe and are a source of deals, advice and credibility.
Here are some of the highlights of the first four years:
July 2000 – First Tuesday is sold to Yazam for $50 million in cash and shares. Julie decides to pursue same vision with new platform to build what she comes to
call “Europe.net”.
December 2000 – Julie founds Ariadne Capital and the Industry Standard profiles firm for its launch on its cover, December 8 th , 2000, calling Ariadne Capital – “The
Net's Next Business Model.”
February 2001 – Ariadne Capital makes its first investment in lifestyle management company tenUK, which attracts further investment by Germany RWE and Henkel.
May 2001 – Ariadne Capital Investor and serial Communications entrepreneur Candace Johnson keynotes at the first Private Investor Evening on May 10th 2001. Bundeep Singh
Rangar joins Ariadne Capital as Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder. One of his first achievements is to architect the company's Knowledge Management System. He will do some of Ariadne’s
biggest deals and bring in some of its most important clients: Sage, Skype, Nanomuscle.
June 2001 – Ariadne Capital selected by The Red Herring to host its first ever Angel Investor Conference in Europe . Twelve portfolio companies are showcased to the 300 investors
in attendance.
July 2001 – Deal flow at Ariadne Capital exceeds 50 companies per month seeking capital, talent or sales assistance.
September 2001 – The Ariadne Capital Journal is launched – distribution at more than 12,000.
November 2001 – Ariadne Capital takes an equity stake in the world's first peer-to-peer casino software firm, BeTheDealer.
November 14th, 2001 – Ariadne Capital Investor Martin Velasco, one of Europe's top entrepreneurs, keynotes at the First Year Anniversary evening, and more than 100 people crowd
into the Etruscan Room at Home House to hear him speak about ‘Rules for Successful Start-ups'.
March 2002 – The Financial Times newspaper positions Ariadne Capital as leading a new breed of venture capital firms.
April 2002 – Ariadne Capital is a finalist in the Eurotech Forum's Awards night, chosen as Advisor of the Year alongside Broadview, Regent Associates and West LB Panmure.
April 18th, 2002 – Ariadne Capital hosts Ariadne Capital Investor Roman Stanek, CEO and Founder, Systinet; John Noakes of Microsoft; and Andrew Tsai, Global Name Registry, at a
private event on Digital Identity.
June 2002 -- Ariadne Capital's first charity event raises £50,000 for London's Trinity Hospice.
August 2002 – Consignia Plc, Britain's 367-year-old post office company, selects Ariadne Capital as its Corporate Venture Partner.
August 2002 – NanoMuscle Inc., an Antioch-California-based RedHerring 100 company that designs linear actuators based on nanotechnology, chooses Ariadne Capital to be its business
advisor in Europe.
September 2002 – Ariadne Capital team grows to 12 people and eight Executives in Residence. T-Mobile (U.K.) signs Ariadne Capital as its wireless Strategic Sales Partner.
October 2002 - Ariadne Capital signs agreement with Wolfsburg AG, a public-private partnership between City of Wolfsburg and Volkswagen, to develop its innovations campus and identify
strategic acquisitions targets for Volkwagen's corporate venturing unit.
November 18th, 2002 – Ariadne Capital celebrates its 2nd Year Anniversary at Scotts on Mount Street in London , UK with Lausanne , Switzerland IMD Professor and Ariadne Capital
Investor Benoit Leleux presents.
July 2003 – Ariadne Capital is asked by the Always On Conference and Tony Perkins to select six European companies as the Ones to Watch for the first Always On Conference at Stanford.
August 2003 – Nanomuscle secures $16 m in funding from Vision Capital, Schneider Electric, Ariadne Capital, Net Partner, Vision Capital and First Hand Capital.
August 2003 – Navio secures its Series A Funding from Ariadne Capital's network and Add Partners.
December 1st, 2003 – Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild is Guest of Honour at Ariadne Capital's Third Year Anniversary Evening.
January 2004 - Niklas Zennstrom selects Ariadne Capital to be their Strategic Advisor while they build SKYPE. SKYPE becomes a global telecom phenomenon in 2004. Ariadne Capital helps
SKYPE do several of its early business development deals in 2004.
March 2004 - Lloyds TSB chooses Ariadne Capital to work with their Strategic Ventures Group to build new revenue streams and businesses.
April 2004 – Ariadne Capital Investors invest in Intamac, a UK “Digital Home” managed service provider.
April 2004 - Sage, www.sage.com, selects Ariadne Capital to be their advisor in India on acquisitions and investments; Bundeep Rangar takes the lead.
July 2004 - Tata Consultancy Services signs Ariadne Capita as a Strategic Advisor in Europe , and renews in December 2004.
October 2004 - Ariadne Capital secures capital for the lifestyle management company, London-based Ten UK.
November 23, 2004 – Ariadne Capital hosts “An Update on the Digital Home” with Intamac MD and Founder, Kevin Meagher, as Guest of Honour, and leading executives from
CISCO, BT, and Intel in attendance.
December 2004 - British Telecoms Wholesale selects Ariadne Capital to advise them on new revenue streams and businesses.
December 2004 - Morse signs Ariadne Capital as Advisor for Mobile ATM, the global mobile P2P platform, and other strategic initiatives.
December 2004 - Translution, an email translation software firm, engages Ariadne Capital to raise capital which happens within 60 days.
January 18th, 2005 - Ariadne Capital celebrates 4 Years into a 5 Year Build.
April 4th, 2005 - Linksys and Intamac [Ariadne Capital portfolio-company] Deliver Camera Monitoring Service Bundle for the Digital Home
Summer 2005 – Ariadne raises angel funding for OTODIO, the “Eyes-Free” Document Delivery service.
Summer 2005 – Richard Duvall, the founder and CEO of ZOPA, mandates Ariadne Capital to advise him on their US expansion and other strategic projects.
July 14th, 2005 – Ariadne Capital hosts the “Reinventing Publishing Dinner” with OTODIO CEO Peter Bond as the Evening’s Speaker and leading media firms in attendance.
July 24th, 2005 – Ariadne Capital hosts a dinner in honour of founding CEO of Chartered Semiconductor, Barry Waite,
August 2005 – Ariadne completes €13.5 m transaction to acquire Gandi.net.
September 2005 – Jo Wood Goodson, the co-founder of MediaGold UK, and Ariadne Capital investor, joins Ariadne Capital as COO.
September 2005 – SKYPE is sold to Ebay.
November 2005 – Ariadne Capital hosts a private dinner for Dr. Irwin Jacobs and twenty leading entrepreneurs and investors in London .
December 8th, 2005 – Ariadne Capital celebrates its 5th Year Anniversary.
December 14th, 2005 – Ariadne Capital hosts a CIO Dinner with 20 European CIOs in attendance.
December 2005 – Paul Barry-Walsh, Chmn of Netstore; Jalal Bagherli, CEO of Dialog Semiconductor; and Michael Jackson, Chmn of Sage and Elderstreet Investments invest in Ariadne
Capital.