We’re looking for consequential missions that bring us to life – those that are so compelling we’d have considered joining full-time. We’ll only invest when your mission matters to one of us personally and we’re motivated to do everything in our power to further your mission.
Deep time
We will each take on a tiny number of projects each year – 2-3 typically – and we’ll work with you to determine how much time we should spend together. You can rely on us to be close enough to deeply understand what is happening with your business and proactively support you vs just turn up to board meetings. For each startup we back we draw up an SLA so we can hold ourselves accountable to being the best possible partner to you.
As a group we have worked with over 10% of the European start-ups valued at over $1B.
The unemployables
Carina Namih
Scar tissue
I co-founded HelixNano, in San Francisco in 2013 when I was 23. This was a unique moment in time, with massive advances in genetics and AI. We could see an opportunity to transform healthcare by applying AI to biological code, specifically RNA. But building at the frontier was tough and we had many near death moments. As CEO, I was pitching to investors that had barely heard of RNA, while also navigating a conservative industry that was sceptical about AI. Plus we had to invent a new way of building across disciplines that did not usually interact – computer science, chemistry and biology. In the early years we went through many business models before hitting our stride – from selling tools, to partnering – before finally building our own products. We eventually gathered backing from a broad base of visionary operators and investors, including Sam Altman and Eric Schmidt. And after a decade of building, we have quietly solved the bottlenecks that keep first generation RNA confined to vaccines. HelixNano is now turning the tide on treatment-resistant cancers in trials.
What sparks joy
I’ve always enjoyed exploring possible futures by reading science fiction. I find it super motivating that what we build today will determine whether we inhabit a better future. I’m drawn to founders that can see a big underlying shift happening, be it in technology or simply in behaviour change, and who harness that for a great outcome. To me a better future includes: a fairer, more truthful internet, healing our climate, upgrading human health and more widespread economic opportunities.
Ian Hogarth
Scar tissue
I co-founded Songkick in London when I was 25. Over my time I shifted from writing the first lines of code, to identifying our first scalable growth channels to negotiating global distribution deals with companies like YouTube and Spotify. I raised over $20m in venture capital and was lucky to be part of the second British team to be backed by Y Combinator. Songkick scaled to 12m monthly unique visitors but over time faced increasing challenges dealing with anticompetitive behavour from TicketMaster. Songkick was forced to sue TicketMaster for anticompetitive behaviour and the case was settled two weeks before trial for $130m. TicketMaster additionally agreed to pay a $10m criminal penalty to the US justice department to resolve 5 counts of computer intrusion and fraud offences against Songkick.
What sparks joy
I am particularly motivated by new general purpose technologies that can transform a wide range of industries. Machine Learning, Quantum Computing and Material Science are examples of sectors that I have been drawn to as a result. I also am motivated to support founders tackling some of the greatest challenges of our era, from climate change to making the internet safer for children.
Khaled Helioui
Scar tissue
I joined Bigpoint as Chief Games Officer in 2012, taking over a 450 strong department of a fast growing & profitable gaming leader whose titles were played by hundreds of millions of gamers. In a few months I had to step up as CEO to prevent what looked like the end of the group which wasn’t prepared to face the quick rise of social games & mobile games. With the support of devoted & driven colleagues we restarted from scratch, setting up a new vision, bringing new leadership, building a new board with world class operators & product leaders and rebuilding the trust of our teams & players eventually releasing award winning titles across multiple platforms. We faced death more times than I can count but the passion to keep pushing the boundaries of gaming and the impact we had on our gamers kept us all going. I only realised then what it meant to fight and give everything for something bigger than oneself.
What sparks joy
“It has become clear to me that every great philosophy up till now has consisted of the confession of its originator, and a species of involuntary and unconscious autobiography“ What drives me most is backing people who refuse to bend their will nor sacrifice their drive to see their vision through against all odds. Fighting for something bigger than oneself to correct an aspect of society that is fundamentally broken & prevents people from living a more meaningful life – lending my experience and reach to help founders, rarely fitting the mould, make their vision true is what keeps me going.
Sten Tamkivi
Scar tissue
I co-founded Teleport, led it as CEO through a series of seed stage experiments for remote working digital nomads and eventually shifted to a B2B business model which Topia acquired in 2017. I stayed with Topia as CPO for raising a $48m Series C, two more acquisitions at the other side of the table, scaling product, engineering and design teams up and down by 100+ people. In 3 years we launched a coherent platform Fortune100 companies now run their global mobility programs on.
Earlier I joined Skype about 18 months in at 50 people as an early executive. I stuck around for 8 years to the $8.5B exit to MSFT, through a rollercoaster of investors from VCs to US corporates to PE wooshing by at “3 CEOs in 4 months” level of crazy. I grew the the original Estonian R&D office to 450 people, and had many different jobs around global operations, product and engineering over the years. Most fun of which was running product engineering for Windows, Mac and Linux clients with 300M+ MAU. I learned tens of millions can get pissed when you turn their familiar small chat app into full screen to fit large video calls.
My first CEO title came at age of 18 founding the first digital media agency in Estonia in 1996, clearly without any clue what that job is. First we had the high of leading our market and selling into DDB Worldwide and eventually the low of crashing the company along the dotcom boom.
What sparks joy
I value a tolerant, open and creative society in the broadest sense. Teleport’s tag line was “free people move” and our mission to make governments compete for every citizen. This thinking captures both my company building, some public roles (like advising President Ilves of Estonia or sitting on the boards of Estonian E-Residency program and Vabamu, the Freedom Museum) and definitely many of my investments around future of work, collaboration, governance. I’m spending a lot of time thinking about Web3 as the stack for the future of more citizen owned internet. Sometimes I get giddy with far out scientific advances around synthetic biology, genetic engineering or physics where I don’t understand half of what the founder says, but it feels they might need some company building help. And sometimes there is just such a fantastic click with an absurdly brilliant founder… that I might even lead a vertical B2B SaaS or intermediary marketplaces investment.
Taavet Hinrikus
Scar Tissue
I started as the first employee of Skype in 2002. Little did I know about building companies then, however when I left 7 years later I had gone through a whirlwind tour of product and company building. Next up I cofounded TransferWise. It made no sense to us as founders that moving money around the world should be as expensive and slow as it was. Powered by a little bit of naivety and lots of entrepreneurial drive we started building in 2010 and then launched the first version in early 2011. Today Wise has more than 3000 employees and went public in the first ever direct listing in Europe in 2021. Scaling a company at this speed is inevitable a journey full of highs and lows that leaves you feeling a bit numb in the end. While Wise looks like a story that went always from strength to strength and up and to the right inside there are many dozens of episodes of failures that are less celebrated. The mistakes I made of hiring wrong people or being overly aggressive on marketing have been compensated by the right hires who’ve been given room to execute and decisions about expanding the product in multiple dimensions.
What sparks joy
In the end this comes down to people for me – I’m attracted to entrepreneurs that have the desire to change their industries and keep learning and iterating at a very high speed. People building products that are not 10% better, but 10x better in multiple dimensions. In order to make a dent we need to channel the best entrepreneurs to the biggest problems we’re facing. And there’s an opportunity in the cross section of the biggest problems and practical solutions that turn into huge viable businesses.
Platform scaling team
Callum Calvert
Founder help
As a research associate, I’m here to help the Unemployables validate their hunches and understand potential investment areas as deeply as possible. This hopefully enables them to support founders even more effectively. I came to Plural from the effective giving space (think venture for the nonprofit world), and prior to that did quantitative analysis at a hedge fund.
What sparks joy
I’m incredibly excited by Plural’s ambition and the scale and impact of the missions it supports. I’ve been struck by the optimism and motivation for impact in Plural’s approach, and how that concretely flows through into investment decisions. Day to day what brings joy is learning about the emergence of new technologies from people at their forefront, and getting to understand both the big vision and how it will play out in the details.
Daniel Tarver
Founder help
Fascinated by relationships and human behaviour, I have spent over a decade working with fund managers to help build their go-to-market strategy. At Plural, I focus on our Investor Relations and Fundraising. I also support our visionary founders with their own fundraises, and it’s awesome to think of this capital fuelling such impactful companies. Previously I ran the U.S. business for a fast-growing, capital advisory firm focused on VC & Growth fundraises.
What sparks joy
A reformed corporate lawyer (!), and now training as an Executive Coach, I am energised when partnering with ambitious, senior leaders to work through problems. I have been hugely impressed with how Plural’s Unemployable model works in practice and its potential to overdeliver for our founders and investors, and in doing so positively disrupt the venture capital status quo.
Elina Kriisk
Founder help
In my role as a Financial Controller, I ensure the accuracy of Plural’s financial data and accounting while offering support across diverse financial and operational activities. Before joining Plural, I dedicated over 7 years to financial auditing at PwC Estonia. Drawing on this experience, I can provide valuable assistance in optimizing financial processes for our portfolio companies. This enables the founders of these portfolio companies to concentrate on building and growing their businesses.
What sparks joy
Exploring the new and innovative technologies and solutions addressed by the Plural portfolio companies is incredibly captivating. Working alongside these companies expands my knowledge across various business sectors. This exposure not only enhances my understanding of diverse industries but also allows me to leverage a broad range of skills and insights.
Eliza Dabney
Scar tissue
In 2012, I co-founded Sepia to provide high-impact, strategic communications for companies radically transforming their industries on a global scale. The talent pool for what we were building in London didn’t exist at the time, so we had to train our team from scratch. It made growth painful at times but kept quality high and culture deep. After seven years of successive growth and building global leadership profiles for some of the most exciting companies on both sides of the Atlantic, Sepia was acquired by US firm Outcast (owned by Next15 / LSE: NFG) in 2019 to expand Outcast’s footprint into a new market. I continued to co-lead the London business, which rebranded to Outcast in 2020, for three years.
Founder help
As CMO, I lead all of Plural’s marketing and communications efforts, including supporting and advising our portfolio of founders. I have two decades of experience advising and building global profiles for high-growth startups through all company stages and have seen first-hand how strategic comms and marketing at an early stage can transform a company’s trajectory. In my role, I get to raise global awareness about Plural’s founders and companies making meaningful progress on some of the gnarliest and most important challenges of our time.
What sparks joy
Getting to partner with and support founders early on important missions that align with my values and speak to a new generation of companies that will be both world-class businesses and globally significant forces for good.
Ellie Horoz
Founder help
I have joined the Plural team as Executive Assistant to the London-based Unemployables. With over 7 years’ experience under my belt supporting a founder in my previous role, I know how important it is for me to ensure the team is organised as efficiently as possible, in order to maximise their time and headspace, and in turn their ability to support Plural’s portfolio companies and their founders.
What sparks joy
Working with brilliant people within Plural and our portfolio who not only have brilliant minds, but are using that to make a positive impact on the world.
Maddie Harriott
Founder help
As an executive assistant at Plural, I support two of our Unemployables based in London. With over 10 years of experience in this role, I have had the privilege of working at startups and unicorns across many industry sectors. This diverse background has aided me in driving organisational success, whilst supporting high-level executives to excel and achieve their strategic goals.
What sparks joy
I’m motivated by the excellent vision of our founders and partners. I thrive on collaborating with brilliant minds and contributing effectively to the growth and collective success of Plural and the missions we back.
Marit Martin
Founder help
As Portfolio Lead, I work alongside founders to help their businesses grow. I oversee the products and services we provide to our portfolio companies and ensure they have the right connections and resources to keep things moving forward.
What sparks joy
I’m curious by nature and drawn to adventure. I enjoy being in the thick of things, figuring out what works and seeing plans take shape in unexpected ways.
Sandra Värk
Founder help
I am a deal lawyer at Plural and help the founders and unemployables with getting the deals done. My aim is to leave them out of the legal maze of the deals as much as possible so that they could concentrate on what they do best – mentoring founders of our portfolio companies and looking into new exciting investment opportunities. And I also try to be there for the founders of our investee companies.
What sparks joy
It is so great to see how many smart people and amazing new ideas are out there and I am very grateful for having the chance to contribute my small help into bringing these ideas to life. Especially if these new solutions help to preserve our nature, improve access to health care services or reduce the opportunity gap.
Tamsin Ashworth Reeves
Founder help
In my role as General Counsel, I’m responsible for making sure the legal and compliance mechanics run smoothly behind the scenes at Plural to help the Unemployables focus on what matters most: founders and their companies. I’m a Funds and Deals lawyer by training but have spent the last nearly decade focusing on Venture Capital: at a San Francisco VC fund which ran global accelerator programs, and then as General Counsel at Entrepreneur First, working with hundreds of companies per year. I’m hoping my experience seeing some weird and wonderful things working with multi-jurisdictional companies over the years will come in handy to smooth processes for founders at Plural.
What sparks joy
Helping unlock legal bottlenecks (and paperwork!) and reducing friction to make legals the least problematic part of the process. I’m really inspired by Plural’s mission – diverging from the standard VC position and actively helping portfolio companies and transforming the startup ecosystem. I joined Plural because I believe we are doing something different and I’m really excited to see the impact of Plural, breaking the mould and creating new norms of standards. What drives me most though is the idea that Plural is working on transformational missions which will make the world a better place and I hope to assist with that.
Verner Uibo
Founder help
My role is Head of Finance, a dynamic role making sure that Plural’s finance processes run as smoothly as possible, finding innovative solutions and automating processes. With my previous experience as a financial auditor at PwC Estonia for over 16 years, I hope to provide valuable feedback to our portfolio companies as they scale up their finance processes.
What sparks joy
It gives me much joy when I see people doing what they’re really passionate about and thus maximising their potential. I am deeply aligned with Plural’s mission to partner with incredible founders to really make an impact on the future and on the most important issues humankind faces. Real progress on climate (our future) and the opportunity gap (maximising one’s potential) is needed.
Victoria Kennard
Founder help
I’m here to strive to make sure everything at Plural works as seamlessly as possible behind the scenes, making sure you get whatever you need when you need it! I’m a fund lawyer by background with broad ops experience across every aspect of VC from investments and portfolio management, fund structuring, fundraising and LP admission, investor relations, finance, strategy, people, venture education, legal and compliance and community but founders are always at the heart of everything I do. Prior to joining Plural I led the Strategic Ops team at 500 Global, working to support their 5,000 founders across 81 countries.
What sparks joy
I’m motivated every day by the potential for incredible founders to address some of the biggest challenges faced by humanity and am humbled to be able to help support that journey in whatever small way I can contribute. In particular, I’m really passionate about femtech and its potential to help solve some of the biggest womxn’s health issues which have woefully neglected and underserved by society to date. I’m excited to see and support more empowered womxn founders innovate, design and create solutions which directly address the physical and emotional challenges that they face on a daily basis.