Playfair Capital
| ISIN | 🆔 |
|---|---|
| Industry | Venture Capital |
| Founded 📆 | 2013; 13 years ago |
| Founder 👔 | |
| Headquarters 🏙️ | London, UK |
Area served 🗺️ | |
Key people | Federico Pirzo-Biroli, Chris Smith, Henrik Wetter Sanchez |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 10 |
| 🌐 Website | https://playfair.vc/ |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
Playfair Capital is a venture capital firm based in the United Kingdom, focused exclusively on pre-seed investing. The headquarters are located in London.
Their high-conviction, low-volume approach leads Playfair to invest in 6 startups per year across all sectors and verticals, as long as there is a technology element. Their geographical focus is on the UK and Europe.
History
Playfair Capital was founded in 2013 by Federico Pirzo-Biroli. It was born out of the angel investing career of Pirzo-Biroli which began two years prior in 2011. He had made 21 investments during that time while serving as an ‘angel-in-residence’ in White Bear Yard[1].
Playfair Capital has invested in three unicorns - Stripe, Andela and Thought Machine - and had eight exits. 78% of Playfair Capital portfolio companies graduate from pre-seed to raise Series A funding and founders backed by Playfair have gone on to raise more than $3bn of follow-on capital.
The fund has made over 120 investments, in companies including Ravelin, Thought Machine[2], ProtexAI[3], Nory, Orca AI, AeroCloud Systems and StackOne.
Team
Playfair Capital’s leadership includes Managing Partner, Chris Smith, and General Partner, Henrik Wetter Sanchez[4].
Funding and Investments
Playfair Capital’s original funding came from its founder Federico Pirzo-Biroli and his previous activities. In March 2019, Playfair Capital raised a new $32 million fund[5] to continue investing in promising early-stage tech startups. In March 2023, Playfair closed $70m for its pre-seed fund[6], doubling its total raised to $102m.
Exits (in bullet points)
- Trouva (acquired by MADE.com)
- Mapillary (acquired by Meta Platforms, Inc.)
- CryptoFacilities (acquired by Kraken)
- Acasa (acquired by Goodlord)
- Jukedeck (acquired by Bytedance)
- Hassle.com (acquired by Helpling)
- Gluru (acquired by Dialpad)
- Ravelin (acquired by Worldpay)
References
This article "Playfair Capital" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Playfair Capital. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
- ↑ Fellows, Kauffman. "Federico Pirzio-Biroli". Kauffman Fellows.
- ↑ Press Office, Thought Machine (2020-03-02). "Thought Machine raises $83m in Series B funding". Thought Machine.
- ↑ Wetter Sanchez, Henrik (2022-08-30). "Why we invested in Protex AI". Playfair Capital. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ↑ VC, Playfair Capital. "Playfair Capital Team". Playfair Capital. Retrieved 2025-10-02.
- ↑ O'Hear, Steve (March 7, 2019). "Playfair Capital, the UK-based seed firm, announces $32M second fund". TechCrunch.
- ↑ Sawers, Paul (March 27, 2023). "'High conviction, low volume': Playfair launches $70M pre-seed fund for European startups". TechCrunch.
