Taavet Hinrikus
Co-Founder & Partner, Plural at plural
Reviewed Updated Jun 4, 2026This profile is AI-generated. If you spot an error, please help us fix it by sharing a URL to the correct information.
Background
Taavet Hinrikus is an Estonian operator-turned-investor. He joined Skype as its first employee in 2002 and stayed through 2008, ultimately serving as Director of Strategy 11. In 2010 he co-founded TransferWise (later Wise) with Kristo Käärmann to make cross-border payments transparent and low-cost; he served as CEO and later Chairman, and the company went public via Europe’s first direct listing on the London Stock Exchange in July 2021 112.
Hinrikus has been an active angel investor since his Skype days, with a portfolio that grew to roughly 100+ personal investments by 2021 3. In March 2021 he formalised a partnership with Teleport co-founder Sten Tamkivi as “Taavet+Sten,” deploying their own capital across early-stage European, Southeast Asian, and U.S. startups 4. In June 2022 the same circle of operators — Hinrikus, Tamkivi, Songkick co-founder Ian Hogarth, and former Bigpoint CEO Khaled Helioui — launched Plural with a €250M debut fund “for founders, by founders” 56. Plural closed a second fund in January 2024, originally targeting €350M and ultimately oversubscribed at €400M+ (with a further top-up bringing the total to €500M) 67.
Stated Thesis
On the Plural team page, Hinrikus says he is drawn to “entrepreneurs that have the desire to change their industries and keep learning and iterating at a very high speed,” summarising his philosophy as “Quick iterations and speed win everything” 1. Plural’s collective stated focus is on European founders tackling industry-defining problems at 10x scale, with leadership in early-stage rounds typically sized between €1M and €10M 67. Hinrikus has publicly emphasised four sector clusters: (i) reinventing broken legacy industries — “Insurance is just such an amazing example of something humongous that is just utterly broken” 7; (ii) deep tech and frontier science; (iii) AI; and (iv) climate and energy 67.
For his personal/angel activity, Hinrikus has framed himself as a long-horizon backer: “I’m very patient in that sense, and happy to invest with a 10-year horizon to build something great” 3. He has also said he generally avoids categories he finds undifferentiated — “I’m sure there are tons of exciting ‘buy now, pay later’ companies … but you know, it just doesn’t get me that excited” — while gravitating toward novel science: “If I look at a company that’s working on synthetic biology … that’s really exciting and I’d love to learn more about it” 3.
Inferred Thesis
Sample size note: this analysis is based on 14 verified investments (across Plural’s second-fund disclosed portfolio, the Taavet+Sten partnership, and angel rounds with cited sources). Hinrikus has personally claimed 100+ angel investments and ~150 across the Taavet+Sten partnership 34, but only a fraction are publicly cited with both a date and an investor confirmation; this analysis is therefore directional rather than statistically robust.
- Stage: Predominantly seed and Series A. Plural’s stated lead-check range is €1M–€10M 6; Taavet+Sten writes first cheques of €500K–€2M 4. Hinrikus has publicly said he does not do pre-seed personally and instead backs early-stage funds for that allocation 4.
- Sector mix (Plural Fund II disclosed allocation): ~33% AI, ~16% frontier tech, ~14% climate and energy, with the remainder split across health, fintech, and other deeptech 6. His personal angel book skews more heavily fintech (Wise, Lightyear, Bolt, Zego, Cleo, Pipedrive) 38910.
- Geography: Europe-first, with notable Estonian density. By Hinrikus’s own count, Estonian companies make up “around 10%” of his personal venture portfolio 3; the remainder is spread across the UK, Germany, the Nordics, plus selective Southeast Asia and U.S. positions (e.g., Carta, XanPool, BukuKas) 34.
- Check sizing: Personal/Taavet+Sten checks span “a few hundred thousand [dollars] to maybe $10 million” 3. Plural leads or co-leads at €1M–€10M 6.
- Founder profile patterns: Heavy bias toward operators from his own networks — former Wise and Skype employees (Lightyear’s founders are ex-Wise 10) and repeat Estonian founders (Veriff, Starship, Ampler) 111. Comfortable backing technical/deeptech teams (Helsing, Proxima Fusion, OLIX, CoMind, Teton) 16.
- Hands-on style: For Taavet+Sten, Hinrikus and Tamkivi have stated they typically do not take board seats and instead provide “WhatsApp access, capital, network” 4; Hinrikus does, however, sit on the boards of several portfolio companies including Veriff 12.
- Notable delta vs. stated thesis: While Plural’s public messaging emphasises deeptech and “GDP-level impact,” Hinrikus’s personal portfolio retains heavy fintech and consumer fintech exposure (Bolt, Cleo, Lightyear, Pipedrive, Wise itself) — i.e., the personal book is more fintech-weighted than Plural’s institutional pitch suggests 389.
Portfolio
This table covers verified personal angel investments and Plural-led rounds where Hinrikus is publicly named. It is a small subset of his self-reported 100+ angel investments 3.
| Company | Year | Stage | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pipedrive | ~2012 | Seed | 13 |
| Veriff | 2018 | Series A (joined board) | 12 |
| Bolt | ~2018 | Growth (angel) | 38 |
| Cleo | ~2018 | Early stage (angel) | 38 |
| Zego | ~2018 | Early stage (angel, board) | 38 |
| Improbable | ~2017 | Growth (angel) | 38 |
| Lightyear | 2021 | Pre-seed ($1.5M) | 10 |
| Ampler Bikes | 2021 | Equity (€7.4M) | 3 |
| XanPool | 2021 | Series A ($27M) | 3 |
| Chaldal | 2021 | Series C ($10M) | 3 |
| BukuKas | ~2021 | Early stage | 3 |
| Robin AI | 2024 | Series ($26M, Plural participant) | 6 |
| Isometric | 2024 | Series ($25M, Plural participant) | 6 |
| Proxima Fusion | 2024 | Seed/Series A (Plural participant) | 6 |
| Lightyear (follow-on) | 2025-07-24 | Series B ($23M) | 14 |
Plural Fund II additional named investments (Hinrikus is a co-founding partner of Plural but specific deal lead is not always disclosed): Helsing, Monumental, Hypersonica, TEC, Teton, OLIX, CoMind, Starship Technologies, Unitary AI 115.
In Their Own Words
“Quick iterations and speed win everything.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Plural team page 1
“I’m very patient in that sense, and happy to invest with a 10-year horizon to build something great.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Fortune, November 24, 2021 3
“I’m sure there are tons of exciting ‘buy now, pay later’ companies … but you know, it just doesn’t get me that excited.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Fortune, November 24, 2021 3
“Insurance is just such an amazing example of something humongous that is just utterly broken. … In a way it’s very similar to Wise. 15 years ago you had to go to a bank branch and stand in line to make a foreign payment.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Sifted, May 16, 2024 7
“We are in general, huge believers in having skin in the game. We think there’s something good in your mind, about thinking: ‘I’m actually going to have to wire from my own account as well.’”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Sifted, May 16, 2024 7
“It’s not the valuation, but the impact you’re having that matters. … A 10x better product changes the way an industry works and thus makes possible what was not before.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Invest in Estonia, December 2020 11
“I think what’s different now is that they have a lot more choice. We are still relative newcomers in this game — in the sense of having Plural around — but we’re helping to push Europe forward.”
— Taavet Hinrikus, Sifted, May 16, 2024 7
What Founders Say
No independently sourced founder testimonials found that meet Seedlist’s quote standards (verbatim, attributable, describing the working relationship). Plural’s website includes general founder-facing positioning (“Serious founders deserve investors with company-building experience to match their ambition” 15) but no specific portfolio-founder quotes about Hinrikus personally that could be verified.
Sources
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Plural Platform, “Taavet Hinrikus,” accessed June 2026. https://www.pluralplatform.com/team/taavet-hinrikus↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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Wise blog author page, “Taavet Hinrikus,” accessed June 2026. https://wise.com/gb/blog/author/taavet-hinrikus/↩
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Polina Marinova Pompliano, “Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus on his next act as a venture capitalist,” Fortune, November 24, 2021, accessed June 2026. https://fortune.com/2021/11/24/wise-taavet-hinrikus-venture-capital-tech-startup-investing/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Inside Taavet+Sten: not your typical startup investor,” Sifted, accessed June 2026. https://sifted.eu/articles/taavet-sten-startup-fund↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Plural, A New European Fund ‘For Founders To Back Founders,’ Launches With 250M Euros,” Crunchbase News, accessed June 2026. https://news.crunchbase.com/venture/founders-europe-fund-plural/↩
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Mike Butcher, “Plural, the VC led by founders, pulls together a new $432M fund to back European startups,” TechCrunch, January 22, 2024, accessed June 2026. https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/22/plural-the-vc-led-by-founders-pulls-together-a-new-432m-fund-to-back-european-startups/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Wise founder and Plural partner Taavet Hinrikus on scaling European deeptech,” Sifted, May 16, 2024, accessed June 2026. https://sifted.eu/articles/wise-founder-europe-deeptech-interview↩↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Taavet Hinrikus,” Investor’s Globe, accessed June 2026. https://www.investorsglobe.com/investors/europe/taavet-hinrikus/↩↩↩↩↩↩
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“Top Angel Investors in Estonia,” AngelMatch, accessed June 2026. https://angelmatch.io/publication/top-angel-investors-in-estonia↩↩
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“Estonian FinTech startup Lightyear raises $23M,” Invest in Estonia, accessed June 2026. https://investinestonia.com/estonian-fintech-startup-lightyear-raises-23m/↩↩↩
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“Unicorn prediction by Taavet Hinrikus: Getting robots on the road and verifying real people online,” Invest in Estonia, December 2020, accessed June 2026. https://investinestonia.com/unicorn-prediction-by-taavet-hinrikus-getting-robots-on-the-road-and-verifying-real-people-online/↩↩
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“Veriff adds Simon Levene and Taavet Hinrikus to Board along with raising $7.7m Series A financing led by Mosaic Ventures,” Talent4Boards, accessed June 2026. https://talent4boards.com/veriff-adds-simon-levene-and-taavet-hinrikus-to-board-along-with-raising-7-7m-series-a-financing-led-by-mosaic-ventures/↩↩
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“Venture Capital News: Pipedrive Lands $2.4M,” VCNewsDaily, accessed June 2026. https://www.vcnewsdaily.com/access/getarticle.php?aid=ppcqymrmtx↩
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“European Robinhood rival Lightyear raises $23 million in funding,” CNBC, July 24, 2025, accessed June 2026. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/24/european-robinhood-rival-lightyear-raises-23-million.html↩
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Plural Platform homepage, accessed June 2026. https://www.pluralplatform.com/↩↩