The founders of the companies Wise, Skype and Songkick have raised 400 million euros (9.9 billion crowns) and will invest it in a new fund to support the creation of European technology start-ups. The founders’ company, called Plural II, will seek to find innovative names that have not yet been discovered by major venture capital funds such as Atomico.
The co-founders include the co-founder of the fintech company Wise Taavet Hinrikus, the co-founder of the concert discovery service Songkick Ian Hogarth, the co-founder of the communication platform Skype Sten Tamkivi and the former CEO of the video game development company Bigpoint Games Khaled Helioui. Plural II is their second fund, launched 18 months after raising €250 million for their first fund.
Hinrikus said that the new fund differs from the competition in that it was founded by investors — entrepreneurs who previously founded companies themselves, and therefore could be a better partner for start-up entrepreneurs. According to him, only eight percent of venture capital investors in Europe are those who previously founded a company themselves. In the United States it is sixty percent.
Plural’s new fund comes at a time of growing startup activity in Europe over the last ten years or so.
