Founders of Wise and Skype raise $436 million to build tech giants in Europe

It seeks to compete with established funds like Atomico, Balderton Capital and Creandum with its founder-led focus. Hinrikus told CNBC that Plural could serve as a better partner to startups in Europe than most venture capital funds, given that it was started by people with the "scar tissue" of proven entrepreneurs. Plural raised the funds from a mix of limited partners, including British and American university endowments, U.S. foundations and insurers, strategic family offices in Europe and the United States. "The fact that, in a difficult fundraising environment, weve been able to raise a fund of this scale, with a huge amount of appetite from LPs, just shows you that some of the most sophisticated investors in the world are really recognising the opportunity in Europe, and really want to see a fund the shape of Plural," Carina Namih, partner at Plural, told CNBC in an interview. "I think its a real testament against the sort of macro backdrop that weve raised a fund of this size and scale so quickly," she added.