Picture the scene. It’s 2003 in Tallinn, Estonia. Taavet Hinrikus, a 20-year-old computer whiz, has just accepted an offer to become the first employee of a little-known video-call startup, Skype. Little did he know then, but it was the start of a multi-decade evolution that would make him one of Estonia’s first billionaires, spawn dozens of startups, and generate billions of dollars in venture funding across Europe. “The idea that you can start using this [video-chat technology] to have voice and video conversations was pretty crazy for a boy who was born in the Soviet Union. But it was also obvious to me that it was going to be an exciting journey,” Hinrikus tells Fortune.
Today, at age 43, Hinrikus can add cofounder of payment platform Wise and partner of founder-led venture capital fund Plural Platform to his résumé, having steered multiple companies through countless funding rounds. Hinrikus’s story—unique at the turn of the century—would make him a pioneer in a fascinating business trend: In Europe, a surprisingly high number of employees of unicorns like Skype would go on to launch still more unicorns.
