Wise co-founder Hinrikus partners for €250 million tech fund
Co-founder of fintech business Wise Taavet Hinrikus has founded Plural a new €250 million (£216 million) investment platform aimed at backing a new generation of tech start-ups and digital entrepreneurs.
Other founders of the group include Songkick businessman Ian Hogarth, tech investor Khaled Heloui and co-founder of start-up locations app Teleport, Sten Tamkivi.
The company is looking at early stage funding rounds up to €10 million and was set up as across Europe “investors lacked experience of building tech businesses” and that “scar tissue from building tech companies is invaluable”, according to the company.
Hinrikus said: “We’re the investors we would have liked to have when we were building our own companies. Founding a company is a craft and the best way to learn that craft is to work alongside those who have done it before.”
Helioui added: “So much opportunity is left untapped today as exceptional founders often fail to meet standard investors’ pattern recognition criteria.
“Sadly investors lack the risk appetite needed to fulfil founders’ ambitions and consequently the full impact founders seek cannot be realised. By changing the funding mechanisms that act as conservative gatekeepers today we can unlock so much potential.”
This morning, Wise reported pre-tax profits of £43.9 million for the year to 31 March, up from £41.1 million the previous year.
The group that floated with an £8 billion London listing last July said its customer base grew 29% year on year to 4.6 million.
On the release of its first financial results as a public company. Wise said it remained “laser focused” on its mission continue to fight against the £187 billion lost to hidden financial fees every year.
