B2B Venture Investing with Evgenia Plotnikova, Partner at Dawn Capital

Ryan Zauk sits down with Evgenia Plotnikova, Partner and Investor at Dawn Capital in the wake of Dawn's $400M raise in September. Dawn Capital is one of the premier venture firms in Europe and is focused on B2B Software and FinTech, investing mostly in Series A and B rounds for high-growth companies across Europe. Evgenia is a seasoned investor in both venture and private equity. Prior to Dawn, she was a VC at Atomico, where she spearheaded the firm's entry into France and worked with a number of businesses, including Ontruck and Memphis Meats. Before VC, Evgenia was an investor at TPG Capital focused on telecommunications, retail, transportation, and mining. She started her career at J.P. Morgan in the London and Dubai offices, where she advised businesses on potential M&A transactions as well as equity and debt financings. Evgenia is fluent in French and Russian, has lived in 5 countries, and has traveled to 55 (though COVID may be slowing her march to 60). In 2017, Evgenia was named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” and became the judge for its prestigious Finance category in 2018. Ryan & Evgenia cover a great deal in today’s episode, with highlights broken out below: - How she describes Dawn and her general investing style (4:20) - Raising a $400M fund in COVID, a huge fund for venture capital (7:40) - How Dawn positions themselves to entrepreneurs and founders, and the incredible value they have offered founders (10:29) - Her general sourcing and diligence processes (12:30) - Her investment in Soldo and the bright future ahead for the company (18:35) - A special rapid-fire question round (27:08) …And much more. Enjoy the show!