Dawn Capital promotes Dan Chaplin to Partner on the back of stellar fintech investment record

Dawn Capital (‘Dawn’), Europe’s leading specialist B2B software investor, is pleased to announce the promotion of Dan Chaplin to Partner. The move makes the fintech specialist one of Europe’s youngest VC Partners and comes on the back of a stellar investment record.

Dan joined the team in 2018 and has since led some of our most successful investments, including into open banking leader Tink, which was acquired by Visa for $2 billion in 2021. A Forbes 30 Under 30 for Finance in Europe alumnus, Dan has been promoted three times while deploying nearly $300 million of capital in early-stage software companies across the continent. He is now co-head of fintech and digital assets alongside General Partner Josh Bell, with a particular focus on payments, credit and infrastructure platforms.

The promotion of Dan to Partner is a testament to Dawn’s culture of nurturing and rewarding homegrown talent and demonstrates the firm’s commitment to supporting the next generation of Europe’s B2B investors. Half of Dawn’s General Partners and 70% of its Partners have been internally promoted, which both sets it apart and reflects the strength and depth of its team.

Dan is committed to driving the success and growth of some of Europe’s most notable fintech companies and supporting founders and management teams at every stage of the scale-up journey. To date, Dan’s portfolio of investments include:

• Open banking leader, Tink – acquired by Visa for $2 billion in June 2021, making it the joint second largest M&A exit in Europe to date
• Global embedded insurance platform, Cover Genius – recently leading its $70 million Series D
• The world’s leading digital asset custodian, Copper – co-leading its $50 million Series B
•  The institutional trading platform for digital assets, Elwood – co-leading its $70 million Series A
• The B2B payments and credit platform, Billie – leading its $100 million Series C
• The capital markets workflow and data platform, Access Fintech – leading its $20 million Series B, and most recently participating in its $60 million Series C
• Margin and collateral management platform, OpenGamma – leading its $10m growth round and most recently participating in its $20m strategic round with Allianz
• The Canva of 3D digital content production, Omi – leading its $6 million Seed round

Dan joined Dawn from J.P.Morgan where he was involved in M&A transactions for European financial institutions. An academic mind, Dan graduated with a starred first from Oxford University followed by an MSt with distinction in Modern History.

Josh Bell, General Partner at Dawn Capital said: “Dan is an invaluable member of the Dawn family. He has sourced some of our most exciting fintech investments, been a real thought partner to his founders, and delivered strong returns to our investors. Dan’s passion for every deal and company is infectious and his shrewd judgement is always welcomed. On behalf of the whole team, we couldn’t be happier to welcome Dan into the Dawn partnership, and it makes Dan our youngest promotion to the partnership to date – a very well-deserved success.”

Dan Chaplin, Partner at Dawn Capital said: “Joining the partnership could not be more exciting – I am hugely grateful to the team for their investment in me. It is fantastic to be part of a culture that promotes from within. I’ve been given the opportunity to move from Associate to Partner – a path remains open to anyone who joins the firm – and this promotion gives me just more drive to continue building the firm, our legacy and supporting our fantastic group of portfolio founders.”

James Stickland, CEO of Elwood said: “Dan is an excellent strategic thinker; engaging with founders and investment partners and willing to fight for deals and champion his convictions. Dan’s tough, pragmatic and fair approach to deals is a pleasure to witness and he is highly respected by all at Elwood.”