Taavet Hinrikus

In 2002 Hinrikus joined Skype as its first employee; he later served as director of strategy until 2008, gaining experience in product and company building.⁠[1][2]

In 2010 Hinrikus co-founded the money transfer company TransferWise, later renamed Wise; the team began building in 2010 and launched the first version in early 2011. He served as CEO of TransferWise and later as chairman of Wise.⁠[1][2]

He studied for an MBA at INSEAD as part of the December 2010 class (MBA’10D).⁠[2]

On January 29, 2016, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) released the episode “a16z Podcast: When Banking Works Like My Smartphone,” in which Hinrikus, as CEO and co-founder of TransferWise, spoke with Angela StrangeAngela StrangeAngela Strange is a Canadian venture capitalist and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), focused on AI applications, fintech and insurance. She proposed that “every company will be a fintech company.” Before joining a16z, she was a Google product manager who launched Chrome for Android and iOS.Open the full entry, an a16z general partner focused on financial services.⁠[3]

The episode discussed how more areas of life, from music to travel to rides, have become extensions of the smartphone, and why and how banking and finance, from paying back a friend to refinancing a mortgage, are set to catch up. It was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[3][4]

In 2021 Wise went public in London through a direct listing, the first in Europe; the company has since grown to more than 3,000 employees.⁠[1][5]

On June 27, 2022, Hinrikus, Ian Hogarth, Sten Tamkivi, and Khaled Helioui announced Plural, an early-stage venture firm with a €250 million fund that planned to lead early rounds of up to €10 million, focusing on climate, health, the future of governance (such as DAOs), and reducing opportunity gaps. By the announcement it had invested in 14 companies, including Feather, NFTPort, Field, Ready Player Me, and MOS.⁠[5]

Hinrikus said: “We're the investors we would have liked to have when we were building our own companies.”⁠[5]

On Plural’s team page, his listed investments include OLIX, CoMind, Teton, and Starship Technologies.⁠[1]

Hinrikus has made more than 100 angel investments, including Bolt, Zego, Veriff, Gideon Brothers, Meatable, and Farewill, some of them under the “Taavet+Sten” angel brand he shares with Sten Tamkivi.⁠[2][5]

X: Public account: https://x.com/taavet (opens in a new window).⁠[1]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taavethinrikus/ (opens in a new window).⁠[1]