Plural raises an additional €100M for its fund

Venture capital firm Plural, founded by Estonian entrepreneurs Sten Tamkivi and Taavet Hinrikus, has raised an additional €100M for its latest €400M fund, bringing the final total to €500M. The fund team had planned to raise €350M.

According to Taavet Hinrikus, "the extra money will not be used to invest in new companies, but will give the fund's team more capital to deploy in the best ones.”

In January 2024, Plural announced that it had raised a new €400M fund from the US and European institutions and family funds. The fund aims to invest in early-stage European startups focused on AI, frontier, consumer, climate, and energy.

Hinrikus commented that Plural has an interest in legal tech or insurance tech companies that provide effective solutions for these industries. For example, Plural has recently invested in RobinAI, which has developed a tool, that assists law companies in drafting and editing agreements. The investment firm also backs companies, that use technology to address major labor shortages in the economy, such as Teton AI (which uses hardware and software to help nurses monitor patients’ wellbeing) or Monumental (which uses robots to do bricklaying work).

Founded in 2022 by Sten Tamkivi, Taavet Hinrikus, Ian Hogarth, and Khaled Helioui, Plural focuses on leading early-stage rounds between €1M and €10M. In 2023, a new partner, AI-driven biotech HelixNano founder, and VC investor Carina Namih joined Plural. The fund has its own rule that requires all of Plural's partners to make personal co-investments in the deals they lead.

UPD: Estonian SmartCap Venture Capital Fund has invested €10M in Plural's Fund II. 

Established in Tallinn in 2021, SmartCap is an investment firm and a subsidiary of the Estonian Business and Innovation Agency. SmartCap manages two common closed-end alternative investment funds: SmartCap Venture Capital Fund (focuses on venture capital funds) and SmartCap Green Fund (focuses on startups developing green technologies).