Taavet Hinrikus

Taavet likes things that are simple, reliable, and cost no more than they should. As Skype's first employee, he helped build a company that has changed hundreds of millions of lives. He’s since helped various companies as an angel investor and advisor. At TransferWise, Taavet looks after marketing, product development, PR, and investor relations.

Taavet co-founded TransferWise and served as CEO until until 2017 when he transitioned to becoming Executive Chairman. Prior to starting Wise, Taavet was Skype's director of strategy until 2008, starting as its first employee. He's also an active angel investor in Europe with 100+ early stage investments including Bolt, Zego, Veriff, Meatable, Farewill and many others. More recently he co-founded Jõhvi Coding School to provide greater access to coding skills and Certific to accelerate distributed medical testing.