Exceptional people lie at the heart of every business’s success. It’s why we have always strived to attract and retain the best talent, both within our team and for the companies we partner with.
Today, we are a group of 22 investors, entrepreneurs, strategists and operational specialists, drawn together by a shared passion for growing B2B software companies globally. We are also a family, the Dawn family, who champion each other’s success, constantly learning and growing together.
As a team we are incredibly proud of our diversity and the benefits this brings. We are also committed to developing our internal talent to shape the future success of our business and best serve our founders, investors, partners and wider community.
These are some of the reasons why we are all thrilled to share two well-deserved promotions within our family: Mina Mutafchieva to Partner and Dan Chaplin to Principal.
Since the first day Mina entered our Soho office in September 2019, her rare combination of vision, formidable determination and warm thoughtfulness have stood out. Having brought with her 10 years’ experience in growth capital and strategy consultancy, a wealth of international perspectives — from living in five countries (Bulgaria, Belgium, Poland, the US and UK) and working in many more — as well as an MBA from Harvard, she is incredibly well placed to support the companies she works with and in turn has become a trusted advisor to their founding teams.
“Mina has provided an unmatched level of challenge and support to Eigen, we have a superb working relationship with her and she has had a huge impact on our journey. With Mina, Dawn is unique in the market in the breadth of perspectives it brings to the table to support management teams to scale effectively and deliver significant outcomes.” Lewis Liu, co-founder and CEO at Eigen Technologies
It’s a sentiment we as a team share, as do our valued investors. She was instrumental in helping us raise our fourth flagship fund, Dawn IV, which also marked Europe’s largest dedicated to early-stage B2B software when it launched last summer. Mina cares deeply about the people, investors and companies she works with. She is driven by passion and succeeds because of her growth mindset and boundless energy.
“Mina brings ambition, experience and a human touch. We are not making decisions and reporting to Mina; we make decisions side by side with her and this is due to the approach she has — it works. Mina has brought CluedIn access to a network we did not have before and it has opened a priceless channel for growth and partnerships.” Tim Ward, co-founder and CEO at CluedIn.
Mina has made lasting relationships to enhance our VC and founder network, especially across the Nordics, and leads our fintech and future of work deals across Europe. Alongside this she has refined our investment processes and upgraded our team development tools, helping to take us to the next level as a team, business and partner for our founders.
Mina’s personality and professionalism have also enabled her to win and lead our investments in some of Europe’s most exciting B2B companies, including Eigen Technologies, AccessFintech, LeanIX and CluedIn, as well as playing a role in our longer standing investments in Templafy and Showpad. As a result, we’re not at all surprised by her success — she’s helped us raise the bar across every area and we can’t wait to see where she goes from here.
Since Dan joined the Dawn family in 2018, he has consistently stood out for his ability, drive, attention to detail and thesis-driven approach to investing. After a distinguished academic life at Oxford University, he spent time with J.P.Morgan advising Europe’s leading financial institutions on M&A and corporate finance strategy. And since joining Dawn, he has been instrumental in building out our fintech portfolio as well as a consistent support to our companies where his knowledge, empathy and humour are unquestionably appreciated by every colleague and founder.
“Our series B was very oversubscribed, but we were drawn to Dawn owing to their team and experience. Dan was great to work with during the fundraise, focused on points that would help him and the team build conviction with his communication second to none. In a short timeframe he has turned into a trusted and valuable partner connecting us into Dawn’s excellent network. He is making a big difference already.” Dmitry Tokarev, Founder & CEO at Copper
Dan’s passion for finding and supporting the next generation of B2B fintech leaders across Europe has seen him build out an extensive portfolio of investments at Dawn, including European open banking leader Tink — which recently signed a $2.2 billion agreement to be acquired by Visa — as well as investments in Copper, Harbr, Element and OpenGamma. In addition he’s worked alongside Mina to lead our investments into Eigen Technologies, AccessFintech and CluedIn. These achievements have seen him rapidly promoted within our team progressing from Associate to VP and now to Principal in just three and a half years.
“We have been working with Dan since Dawn led our investment round in March 2020, and he has helped us to carefully navigate the challenges of scaling a fintech SaaS business. The perspective Dan offers, and his wealth of knowledge in the space, have proven extremely valuable for all of us at OpenGamma — we’re lucky to have him on-board.” Peter Rippon, co-founder and CEO at OpenGamma
As deeply valued members of our Dawn family, Mina and Dan have played instrumental roles in our journey and success to date. We are thrilled to recognise the significant contributions and impact they have made to our business, and look forward to continuing to work together as we support more incredible founders to build global B2B software titans!
