Press

Uudised

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  ABBA-st Kristiine keskuseni. Eesti miljardifirma võtab investeerimisel eeskujuks USA ülikoolid

  Delfi Ärileht

  

  ABBA-st Kristiine keskuseni. Eesti miljardifirma võtab investeerimisel eeskujuks USA ülikoolid

  Delfi Ärileht

  Eesti ühe suurima investeerimisfirma juht rõhutab, et investeerimise puhul on ideest tihti tähtsamgi meeskond, kes seda ellu viib.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  detsember 05, 2024
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  Building the Future: Krulli Quarter’s Journey from Industrial Past to Green City District

  Annika Ljaš Eilat

  

  Building the Future: Krulli Quarter’s Journey from Industrial Past to Green City District

  Annika Ljaš Eilat

  Krulli Quarter, which spans 10 hectares, has a 10-year plan to transform into a lively neighborhood with a dense network of public spaces—both indoor and outdoor—where locals and visitors can enjoy spending time.

  Read the article here.
  

  detsember 03, 2024
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  EPL ülevaade Eesti kaitsetööstuse buumist

  Eesti Päevaleht

  

  EPL ülevaade Eesti kaitsetööstuse buumist

  Eesti Päevaleht

  On ajastu märk, et Mõjukate edetabelist leiab selgi korral hulga inimesi, kes ühel või teisel moel tegelevad julgeolekuga. Suurim ootusärevus saadab aga kõike seda, mida suudavad uut liiki õhutõrjerakettide arendamisel korda saata Kusti Salm, Martin Herem ja Veiko-Vello Palm Taavi Madiberki ettevõttes Frankenburg Technologies.
  
  Loe artiklit siit.

  november 29, 2024
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  Tallinna kvartal saab uue näo. Arhitektid: lollidest kaubanduskeskustest on tegelikult õppida

  Eesti Ekspress

  

  Tallinna kvartal saab uue näo. Arhitektid: lollidest kaubanduskeskustest on tegelikult õppida

  Eesti Ekspress

  Koplisse Krulli tehase alale kerkiv Krulli kvartal on võrdlemisi kadestamisväärne kaasaegne töökeskkond – pargid, väljakud, rattateed ja palju õhku. Alale tuleb üle 600 korteri ja üle 3000 töökoha. Kokku peaks kogu ehitus toimuma etappide kaupa, millest esimene toimub aastatel 2025 – 2027.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  oktoober 19, 2024
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  Taavet Hinrikuse intervjuu Eesti Ekspressis

  Eesti Ekspress

  

  Taavet Hinrikuse intervjuu Eesti Ekspressis

  Eesti Ekspress

  Loe artiklit siit.

  oktoober 19, 2024
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  RAHUTU RAHA | Ootamatu hüpe kinnisvaramaailma. Multimiljonär Taavet Hinrikus avab oma uue teekonna tagamaid

  Delfi Ärileht

  

  RAHUTU RAHA | Ootamatu hüpe kinnisvaramaailma. Multimiljonär Taavet Hinrikus avab oma uue teekonna tagamaid

  Delfi Ärileht

  Delfi Ärilehe uue vestlussaate „Rahutu raha“ esimeses osas räägib Wise’i loojana tuntud ettevõtja Taavet Hinrikus oma värsketest investeeringutest ning analüüsib tänast majanduskeskkonda.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  oktoober 11, 2024
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  Nimekad ettevõtjad peaministrile saadetud kirjas: me ei saa lämmatada tulekahju veel suurema tulekahju tekitamisega

  Delfi Ärileht

  

  Nimekad ettevõtjad peaministrile saadetud kirjas: me ei saa lämmatada tulekahju veel suurema tulekahju tekitamisega

  Delfi Ärileht

  Tuntud Eesti ettevõtjad teatavad valitsusele saadetud pöördumises, et on nõus riigikaitsesse panustamisega.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  september 16, 2024
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  Postimehe ülevaade Skaala 2023 majandusaastast

  Postimees

  

  Postimehe ülevaade Skaala 2023 majandusaastast

  Postimees

  Loe artiklit siit.

  august 18, 2024
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  “Our mission with Plural is to have GDP-level impact on Europe” – Sten Tamkivi

  Latitude59

  

  “Our mission with Plural is to have GDP-level impact on Europe” – Sten Tamkivi

  Latitude59

  Sten Tamkivi has been on the Latitude59 stage more times than we can count – as a founder, as an investor, as a community builder. One of the earliest members of the Estonian startup community, he served at Skype for over 8 years, he co-founded Teleport (which was acquired by Topia in 2017), and now – together with Taavet Hinrikus – he invests in the next legendary tech companies from Europe via Plural.

  As Latitude59 is just around the corner, we asked Sten about his earliest memories of Latitude59, how our startup scene has changed over the years, and what will he be up to at this year’s conference!

  Read the article here.

  mai 03, 2024
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  Estonian-British investment fund pledges €400 million to Europe’s tech startups

  Estonian World

  

  Estonian-British investment fund pledges €400 million to Europe’s tech startups

  Estonian World

  The Tallinn, Estonia, and London, UK-based early-stage investment fund, Plural, announced on 23 January a new €400 million fund to support European tech entrepreneurs.

  Plural, which launched in June 2022, aims to match European startup entrepreneurs with investors who have also been founders.

  “Only 8% of European VCs have ever built a company, yet founders building tough businesses are better served by investors with first-hand experience,” Plural said in a statement.

  Plural’s team of investors includes Estonians Taavet Hinrikus, a co-founder of Wise, and Sten Tamkivi, a serial entrepreneur. The team also includes Carina Namih, Ian Hogarth and Khaled Helioui. The 15-people Plural team is based in Tallinn, Estonia, and London, the UK.

  Significant technology built across Europe

  Since inception, Plural has invested in 26 companies across six countries – Denmark, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. Its largest sectors in terms of investments are AI (31%), frontier tech (16%) and climate and energy (14%).

  Plural said its latest fund “exceeded its target and attracted participation from some of the world’s most prestigious university endowments, foundations and family offices”.

  Carina Namih, a partner at Plural, said the fund wanted to take its investment model “deeper into the European ecosystem, where startup creation continues to outpace the US”.

  Taavet Hinrikus said founders who are tackling the world’s biggest problems through technology are the type of companies Plural backs. “By supporting the most ambitious founders with our hard-won experience, we’re determined to build enduring global companies that have GDP-level impact and transform economies and societies,” he said in a statement.

  He added that “significant technology” is being built across Europe; more than 40% of European tech investment last year went into frontier and deep tech, according to Hinrikus. Frontier technologies are emerging at the intersection of radical scientific breakthroughs and real-world implementation – in artificial intelligence, big data, the metaverse and bioprinting. 

  Silver Tambur

  jaanuar 23, 2024
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  Sten Tamkivi: õudselt palju on nuttu ja hala, aga mina olen väga-väga optimistlik ja siiralt elevil

  Eesti Ekspress

  

  Sten Tamkivi: õudselt palju on nuttu ja hala, aga mina olen väga-väga optimistlik ja siiralt elevil

  Eesti Ekspress

  “Krüptos lained tulevad ja lähevad, mina investorina oma krüptopositsioone vähendanud ei ole, pigem olen häid hindu kasutades kasvatanud. Ja pikas plaanis olen ma väga optimistlik, et neid tehnoloogiaid on vaja! Just selles suures võimumängus riikide, hiidfirmade, meedia ja sotsiaalmeedia vahel,” ütleb Sten Tamkivi.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  oktoober 08, 2023
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  Why It’s the Age of the Investor-Entrepreneur

  Wired

  

  Why It’s the Age of the Investor-Entrepreneur

  Wired

  Plural’s Taavet Hinrikus says early-stage VC funds need to set a founder to catch a founder.

  Read the article here.

  oktoober 09, 2022
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  Rikaste TOP: tagaplaanil kangelane väetab idusid

  Äripäev

  

  Rikaste TOP: tagaplaanil kangelane väetab idusid

  Äripäev

  Taavet Hinrikus majandab Eesti idufirmade põllul aktiivselt, pakkudes nii nõu kui ka raha, ent üritab samal ajal säilitada oma privaatsust.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  september 28, 2022
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  Hinrikus ja Tamkivi uuest investeerimisplatvormist: tõmbame laserkiire teravaks

  Äripäev

  

  Hinrikus ja Tamkivi uuest investeerimisplatvormist: tõmbame laserkiire teravaks

  Äripäev

  Uut investeerimisplatvormi ehitavad tehnoloogiaettevõtjad ja ingelinvestorid Taavet Hinrikus ja Sten Tamkivi võtsid InvesteerimisFestivalil lahti, kuhu, kuidas ja miks nad investeerivad, mis on tark raha ning kuidas saada jõukaks.

  Loe artiklit siit.

  juuli 02, 2022
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  Taavet Hinrikus and Ian Hogarth launch €250m VC fund

  Sifted

  

  Taavet Hinrikus and Ian Hogarth launch €250m VC fund

  Sifted

  It’s finally happened: a gaggle of Europe’s most active angel investors (and successful former founders) — including Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus and Songkick’s Ian Hogarth — are getting into the VC game.

  They’ve raised a €250m fund, called Plural, to invest in early-stage startups and bring serious operator “scar tissue” to Europe’s investment landscape. 

  To begin with, they’re joined by Hinrikus’s long-term investment buddy and fellow Estonian Sten Tamkivi and Khaled Helioui, former CEO of German game developer Bigpoint — but more former founders and operators will be joining as partners in the coming months, including at least two women. The idea is to build an investment platform that can scale — reaching 10 partners by next year and perhaps as many as 50 eventually.

  “We’re building the kind of investment platform we all wished we’d had when we were building our companies,” says Hinrikus. 

  They’re not the only former founders interested in backing the next generation of startups. The OG European founder-turned-VC is Skype’s Niklas Zennström, who founded VC firm Atomico way back in 2006. More recently, Spotify founder Daniel Ek pledged to invest €1bn in moonshot projects, and Sifted knows of another set of former founders launching a VC firm next week.

  “We’ve already proven we can have GDP-level impact in Estonia,” says Hinrikus. “If this works, we’ll have GDP-level impact on Europe.” 

  It could also give traditional VCs a real run for their money.

  Operational experience

  The big idea behind Plural is that operators make good investors — and that Europe doesn’t have enough investors who’ve been there and done it themselves. 

  “Only 8% of these people actually know what a startup is,” says Hinrikus. “The other 92% are well aware of what banks and consulting firms are… The most value they add is money, although sometimes they add negative value.”

  Hinrikus’s fintech, Wise, is considered one of Europe’s top startup success stories. Its listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021 was a big moment for European fintech — although shares have since tanked, like most tech stocks. (“I’ve stopped checking them,” jokes Hinrikus.) Hogarth’s startup, Songkick, sold to Warner Music Group. 

  There are seven lead investors already lined up to join Plural, but not all are ready to announce their involvement just yet. All will have equal “economic rights”, says Hogarth: “We’re all peers in this structure.” 

  “There’s a craft to building companies that’s under-discussed, and VCs don’t talk about it very much,” says Hogarth. “Iconic tech companies like Spotify, DeepMind, Adyen and Stripe are all companies founded by repeat founders. They’ve developed that craft. So, if you take a first-time founder with, say, a scientific breakthrough, and pair them up with Sten, they’ll develop that craft faster.” 

  Turning fund manager

  Plural’s founding partners are hardly new to the investing game — Hinrikus has done 150 angel deals in Europe, while Hogarth’s angel portfolio is in the hundreds. Helioui’s angel portfolio includes big names like Deliveroo, Onfido and Remote.com. 

  But actually managing a fund with other people’s money in it will be a whole other ball game. 

  Plural’s LPs are a mix of institutional investors, such as university endowments, and startup founders. Will managing external capital change the way these long-time angels invest? 

  “They’re expecting a return in a sufficiently long horizon. They said take some money and run with it,” says Hinrikus, sounding confident that these LPs won’t push Plural to exit from portfolio companies early or encourage them to grow faster than they believe is wise.

  “I’m fully aware that I might be innocent and naive about it — I’m a first-time fund manager, and I’m fully conscious of that,” he adds. 

  Areas of interest

  Plural is interested in four general areas, which it’s calling: 

  • Opportunity gap reduction — ie, expanding access to healthcare and education;
  • Mitigating climate change;
  • Future of governance;
  • Improving health.

  Plural has already backed 14 businesses, including NFT infrastructure startup NFTPort, German insurtech Feather and 3D avatar startup Ready Player Me. Most companies have been sourced from other founders the team has worked with — and “that’s the absolute best source for us”, says Hogarth. 

  Hogarth says the goal for Plural is to build a portfolio that “reflects the population”. 29% of the 14 companies backed by Plural so far have female founders and 26% have non-white founders; they didn’t give a breakdown for their individual angel portfolios. 

  “It should represent all the ethnic, gender, geographic and economic backgrounds of Europe,” he says — and the team will be tracking that data.

  Plural is primarily focused on startups in Europe, although it will occasionally invest elsewhere. It wants to lead rounds but isn’t bothered about board seats.

  There won’t be an investment committee as such. “We don’t think the consensus-based approach is necessarily the best,” says Hinrikus; instead, the team will discuss investments to check that the partner really believes in the startup. “A lot of the best companies look really weird in the beginning — you need a leap of faith.”

  We’ve Marie Kondo-d our professional lives down to focus on this

  The idea is that each Plural partner will invest in around four to five startups per year, so they can get pretty hands-on. Hogarth says they expect to be working with portfolio companies on a weekly basis — and will all be full-time on Plural. (Hinrikus and Tamkivi’s investment firm Taavet+Sten will continue backing social initiatives, other VC funds and non-tech assets under the leadership of a new COO.)

  “We’ve Marie Kondo’d our professional lives down to focus on this,” says Hogarth. Hinrikus adds: “This is what we’ll be doing for the next decade.”

  Founder support

  Exactly what that support will look like will depend on each startup’s needs, Hogarth says. 

  In the case of portfolio company Field Energy, a climate tech startup founded by the former Bulb cofounder Amit Gudka, Hogarth helped Gudka interview early team members, structure a round of funding and work through branding. Hinrikus says they speak frequently about all sorts of company-building topics — like how to prepare for the next phases of growth.

  Are they worried that their operational experience will go out of date? 

  We don’t know what the statute of limitations is on advice from former founders

  “We don’t know what the statute of limitations is on advice from former founders,” says Hogarth. “But the way we’re working with them is quite operationally intensive and very in the weeds, which keeps you young.”

  One company he’s been working with made a big IP breakthrough, Hogarth says, to give an example of how he’s keeping up with the kids. He helped the team spin that IP out of their university, learning a lot about IP licensing in the process. 

  He reckons that other aspects of being a founder — like hiring execs or thinking about strategy and financing — are “pretty easy” skills to maintain. 

  Plural will be hiring a non-investment team too. Already onboard are Victoria Kennard, head of ops, and lawyer Sandra Värk — but the focus, for now, is on scaling up the lead investor model, says Hogarth. “Finding those first 10 people will be the most important decisions we’ll make this year.”

  Amy Lewin

  juuni 28, 2022
• 

  Estonia’s at work on the next-generation of the Internet

  e-Estonia

  

  Estonia’s at work on the next-generation of the Internet

  e-Estonia

  The world needs a new internet, according to tech entrepreneur Sten Tamkivi, and Estonia is ready to help build it. We are not destined to live in a world where the internet is run by governments and companies, Tamkivi believes. And the transition to this new generation of the internet, dubbed Web3, is underway, a shift that could end the era of the company-owned internet, of Amazon and Meta, in time.

  Read the article here.

  juuni 22, 2022
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  Inside Taavet+Sten: not your typical startup investor

  Sifted

  

  Inside Taavet+Sten: not your typical startup investor

  Sifted

  Taavet Hinrikus and Sten Tamkivi have backed many of Europe’s most interesting startups — and seems like they’re only just getting started

  Read the article here.

  aprill 28, 2022
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  Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus launch new investment firm

  ArcticStartup

  

  Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus launch new investment firm

  ArcticStartup

  Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of (Transfer)Wise and Teleport founder Sten Tamkivi have joined forces to launch a new investment firm.

  Hinrikus and Tamkivi intend their new firm to have a strong mission-driven influence on the European tech scene for decades to come. The firm invests the partners’ own evergreen capital with analytical diligence and long-term patience.

  Read the article here.

  märts 11, 2021
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  Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus and Teleport’s Sten Tamkivi partner in new investment firm — just don’t call it a VC fund

  TechCrunch

  

  Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus and Teleport’s Sten Tamkivi partner in new investment firm — just don’t call it a VC fund

  TechCrunch

  Taavet Hinrikus, the first employee of Skype and co-founder of fintech giant Wise (formerly TransferWise), is teaming up with Teleport co-founder and current Topia CPO Sten Tamkivi to create a new investment vehicle.

  Both are already seasoned investors — Hinrikus is one of Europe’s bona fide super angels, with over 100 investments to his name — and have already done a number of tickets together. The new as yet unnamed venture will see the pair’s investment activities formalised as an equal partnership and be supported by a team of six people based in Estonia, including an investment analyst.
  Just don’t call it a VC fund.
  
  “I’m still not setting up a fund, but am partnering to help do more of the same on the investing side,” Hinrikus told me last week in a text message.

  For the last few years — perhaps prompted by swapping the role of CEO of Wise for chairperson — there’s been speculation within London’s increasingly chatty venture capital scene that he might raise a fund of his own or join an A-list VC firm as a partner. The Wise founder actually spent about a year as a venture partner at Mosaic Ventures, which ended last summer and went unreported.
  
  “When you say fund, this means other people’s money and a specific mandate (i.e. invest in seed or late, in biotech or fintech, promise to return the money in a certain time, etc.),” Hinrikus said in an email earlier this week. He also explained that the new firm will not be seeking outside LPs and will be “evergreen”, enabling it to make considerably longer-term bets than many VC funds. Instead, Hinrikus and Tamkivi are happy to hold investments for 10-20 years.

  “This structure is both liberating and differentiating, because without strict external mandates we can go after the missions we feel passionate about and be really patient about how long we stay involved in our companies,” said Tamkivi in an email.
  
  “[We] will not be the one pushing a founder to sell,” underlines Hinrikus. “Will always stay on the founder’s side as we’ve been in that position ourselves”.

  The pair’s combined portfolios focus mostly on Europe but also further afield, including the U.S., Japan and Singapore. Mutual investments (or shareholdings) include Wise, Bolt, Veriff, LHV, Xolo, Oyster HR, Pactum, Starship, Curve, Sunrise and Acapela.
  
  Hinrikus and Tamkivi have also jointly contributed to several “mission-driven” nonprofit endeavors such as Jõhvi School of Technology, Good Deed Education Fund or Vabamu Museum of Freedom and Occupations, which they, and the new firm’s back office, will continue to support. Most recently, Hinrikus co-founded Certific, which is building the rails for home health testing.

  Certific, a health tech startup from the founder of TransferWise, aims to be the rails for certified home testing

  Hinrikus and Tamkivi say their new investment firm will back tech companies with a €250,000 to €1 million seed investment, but also has the freedom to follow on right up to an IPO. In most instances, it doesn’t expect to lead rounds but hopes to be seen as more collaborative than competitive.
  “In short, we will be doing more of the same: give founder-backing to more upcoming founders,” said Hinrikus. “What excites us most is the future ahead and finding positive missions that improve our future. So far it’s been lots of future of work, future of finance, but in the future we’d love to think more about future of health and climate as well”.

  “It will take a bit more conscious effort to figure out what our theses and strategy will be for completely new areas,” adds Tamkivi. “As humans, we both care about longevity, health, education, democracy — if we find ways how to move these huge problem spaces along with capital, we are very eager to learn”.
  
  The pair are also willing to take positions in crypto tokens, real assets or any alternative financial instruments.

  “On a high level you can think of DeFi as just a natural extension of our broader ‘future of money’ financial freedom thesis,” said Tamkivi. “When it comes to technical execution, we’ve benefited a lot from the freedom to invest not just in equity of established companies, but to also take token positions, use on-chain yield strategies or work with specialized venture funds. Whatever helps our founders”.

  To that end, the new investment fund is breaking cover with very little fanfare — and, as mentioned, it doesn’t even have a name yet. “’Have you talked to Taavet and Sten yet?’ should work fine for now,” quipped Hinrikus, in his own deadpan style of humor I’ve become accustomed to over the years.
  
  “More seriously, we are just getting started together,” clarified Tamkivi. “[We’re] still figuring out what kind of structure, processes, new talent and other things, such as additional branding, we’ll need as we scale up the activities from our lives as individual angels to date”.

  Steve O'Hear

  märts 11, 2021