Niklas Zennstrom (pictured), famous for having co-founded Skype, has expressed scepticism about the current crop of free messaging apps – at least when it comes to his own money, according to an interview in Financial Times.

Zennstrom’s Atomico venture firm has launched a new $476 million fund but is unlikely to invest in the likes of Snapchat, WhatsApp, WeChat or LINE.

He aims to invest in start-ups with a proven business model rather than firms who look to generate traffic first and worry about how to make money later.

Examples of Zennstrom’s previous investments include online payments firm Klarna or mobile games company Supercell.

“Investments we focus on are not the ones building a big user base and then hope something will happen with a business model,” according to Zennstrom. “It doubles the risk.”

Skype, he said, had a built-in business model from the start. While Skype-to-Skype calls were free, users had to pay a fee for calls to fixed and mobile numbers.

Zennstrom’s view fits with a report earlier this year by Strategy Analytics which pointed to the failure of free messaging apps to find monetisation models, and how the apps had succeeded tin undermining existing business models without replacing the lost revenue.