Re昀氀ecting on Skype’s 20th anniversary A single success story can have an outsized impact on the tech ecosystem. This is exempli昀椀ed by Skype, co-founded 20 years ago by the CEO of Atomico, Niklas Zennström. Skype’s workforce absorbed a culture of innovation and subsequently went on to start Europe’s next gener- ation of leading tech companies. In total, the 昀椀rst- and second-generation entrepreneurs to have emerged from the Skype alumni network have gone on to start more than 900 companies across 50 countries all around the world. This alumni network has already produced additional billion-dollar companies and, today, Skype alumni com- panies employ more than 65,000 people worldwide. It’s astonishing to witness the ecosystem-level effect that a single game-changing company can have over time. Cumulative number of founding roles across the Skype ecosystem, 2004 to 2023YTD 1st Generation (Post-Skype) Next Generations 1000 800 s e l o r g n i 600 d n u o f f o # e v i 400 t a l u m u C 200 0 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 11 2 3 4 5 6 17 8 9 0 1 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 Sources: Powered by Notes: Data is as of 20 September 2023. | 60