PL2 SCSp

Khaled Helioui invests only after building a relationship with founders, leverages CEO turnaround experience rescuing Bigpoint to fix governance early, and was an early investor in Uber and Deliveroo.

Taavet Hinrikus is an Estonian technology entrepreneur and investor. After early internet work and unfinished computer-science study at Tallinn University of Technology, he joined the team that built Skype as its first employee, working across engineering management, product, partnerships and strategy before leaving in 2008. An INSEAD MBA followed. In London, his need to convert euro salary into pounds complemented Kristo Käärmann's opposite currency need; their direct exchange at the mid-market rate became TransferWise, incorporated in 2010 and launched in 2011. Hinrikus moved from early executive-chair and external/product responsibilities into the CEO role in 2015, handed day-to-day leadership back to Käärmann in 2017, served as chair, and left Wise's board in December 2021 after its LSE direct listing. He remained a significant shareholder through Skaala and in 2025 opposed bundling Wise's US-listing move with a ten-year extension of enhanced founder voting rights; shareholders and the High Court ultimately approved the scheme and Wise began Nasdaq trading in May 2026. Hinrikus made his first angel investment in 2008 and built a broad personal portfolio, then formalised evergreen personal-capital investing with Sten Tamkivi as Taavet+Sten, now Skaala. Separately, he co-founded the externally backed early-stage venture firm Plural, which launched a €250 million fund in 2022 and a €400 million second fund in 2024. His attributable Plural work includes CoMind, Teton, Relay, Starship Technologies and repeated backing of Proxima Fusion; firm-level holdings are not presented as his personal investments. His public thesis favors mission-led founders, 10x products, consequential technical problems, operator investors with 'scar tissue,' long time horizons and European companies capable of GDP-level impact. He also co-founded Certific and kood/Jõhvi, helped establish the Good Deed Education Fund, joined Founders Pledge with his wife Silvia Fantauzzi, and has served in European innovation and Estonian digital-advisory roles. The record distinguishes personal, Skaala and Plural capital; round totals from personal checks; portfolio-company controversies from his own conduct; and public company outcomes from solo attribution.