Wise Co-founder Taavet Hinrikus Partners on €250M Technology Fund

Taavet Hinrikus, the Co-founder of Fintech firm Wise, has launched Plural, a €250 million (appr. £216 million) investment platform aimed at supporting a new generation of technology startups and digital entrepreneurs.

Other founders of the Group reportedly include Songkick businessman Ian Hogarth, tech investor Khaled Heloui and co-founder of startup locations app Teleport, Sten Tamkivi.

The firm is primarily looking at early stage funding rounds (as much as €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.”

Hinrikus stated:

“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 remarked:

“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.”

Notably, Wise has reported pre-tax profits of £43.9 million for the financial year to 31 March, which is up from £41.1 million reported for the previous year.

The Group that had floated with an £8 billion London listing this past July noted that its client base increased 29% YoY to 4.6 million.

Following the release of its first financial results as a public firm, Wise’s management noted that it is “laser focused” on its goal to combat the £187B lost to hidden financial fees each year.

As covered last month, the team at Fintech Monzo notes that you can now send funds abroad from your Monzo Business account.

Monzo confirmed that they have partnered with global Fintech firm Wise (LSE:WISE) in order to give clients a simple, affordable way to send funds overseas.

The money is sent by always using the “real” exchange rate, with “no hidden fees.”

As explained in the update, Monzo says clients are able to clearly see what it’ll cost them, how much the recipient will receive, and how quickly the recipient will have the money in their accounts.

It will be typically lower cost when compared to providers like Western Union, MoneyGram and Xoom, as well as high street banks.

As noted in the announcement, you may do it all directly from the Monzo app.



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