Venture capital firm Plural has moved its parent company from the UK to Estonia, as talk of a tech exodus from the country picks up pace ahead of expected tax rises in the Autumn Budget.
Founded in 2022, Plural was launched by Estonian Wise cofounder Taavet Hinrikus and serial entrepreneur Ian Hogarth and is currently investing out of a €500m fund.
The fund’s parent company had previously been UK-based, with a subsidiary in Estonia, but that is now switching over.
Recent Companies House filings show that shareholdings in the fund have been transferred to an Estonian company. The restructuring happened in February, according to Plural’s company accounts.
Plural told Sifted it was not leaving the UK and its team and investments in the country will continue to grow.
“Our restructure at the start of this year was about regulatory and operational efficiencies,” the company said. “This is purely operational, and none of Plural's partners have changed their location or plan to.”
Plural added that given its growing portfolio of European investments, it made sense from a regulatory perspective to have an EU domiciled parent company.
The firm hired its first France-based partner, former Uber exec Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, in October, who told Sifted he would be focused on Europe-wide investments.
UK finance minister Rachel Reeves is reportedly considering charging shareholders leaving the country a 20% levy on British assets in the upcoming Autumn Budget.
The reports have prompted tech leaders in the UK to urge Reeves to rule out an exit tax on founders
Plural’s has made more than 50 investments and raised a total of €800m across two funds.
The VC has backed the likes of fusion startup Proxima, spacetech The Exploration Company and quantum computing outfit Phasecraft, among others.
The fund also backed beleaguered legaltech Robin AI, which recently made layoffs and last week was issued a winding up petition by HMRC.
