Why long-term
We invest in deep tech that benefits humanity in the long run. We also make grants to fund projects that don’t fit the venture model.
Distant future, deep change
Here, long-term means decades and centuries. Our portfolio reflects this. Most funding has gone to deep tech that promises lasting positive impact. An ideal investment enables that on societal and civilizational scale.
We also love projects that reduce existential risks from AI and other advanced technologies. We tend to skip well-known immediate risks and remedies that get ample attention and investment.
To be clear, lab leaks, bioweapons, and zoonotic diseases pose a great danger. But even with uneven political will, a lot of good people and funds are deployed to counter them.
This lets us focus on risks outside a normally-relatable timeframe. Such risks may bide their time, but can escalate overnight, before humanity can respond.
Philanthropy
Some projects in our mission aren’t growth companies. We make grants to fund them. This riveting page by Metaplanet’s founder explains the method.
Since our endowment is topped up by successful exits, founders take pride in knowing that their success helps amplify worthy missions beyond their own legacy.
Combining investment and philanthropy puts us in a unique position as a bridge between founders and the world’s top minds in academia. This helps validate both public and commercial research and amplify findings.
Our people are also available to educate policymakers. If a risk sounds distant and hypothetical, chances are we know five teams working on it already.
Team
Jaan Tallinn
Founder
Jaan is an investor, philanthropist, coder, co-founder of the Future of Life Institute, and the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. In a previous life, he was one of Skype’s founding engineers. He launched Metaplanet in 2011.
Trained as a physicist, he’s now focused on AI, synthetic biology, unknown unknowns, and what's needed for mitigating existential risk in the 21st century. He believes humanity is not spending enough resources on long-term planning and puncturing threats that could wipe us out as a species.
Jaan isn’t involved in Metaplanet’s day-to-day operations. Still, he loves backing founders whose work nudges humanity toward its long-term success and survival. This mission also drives Jaan’s philanthropic activity.
Rauno Miljand
Managing Partner
In 2016, Rauno’s journey as an entrepreneur and operations executive landed him at Metaplanet, a global investment vehicle for positive deep technologies — long-term innovation that benefits humanity.
Rauno backs missionaries in AI, climate, crypto, and beyond. This means making seed-to-Series-A investments and supporting portfolio companies. He works with founders to crack the toughest nuts in fundraising, business strategy and corporate governance, as well as in pricing and product roadmaps.
Alexey Morgunov
Partner
Alexey is a biotech authority with a background that spans academia, startups and venture capital. A Cambridge-trained scientist, he’s at home in synthetic, systems and computational biology, and in applying machine learning to molecular biology.
At Metaplanet, Alexey invests in and helps build great biotech companies. If your work involves the confluence of computational and biological worlds, you’ll want him on your side. He’s also interested in environmental science and climate technology to tackle climate change and loss of biodiversity.
Sven Böttcher
General Counsel
Sven is Metaplanet’s General Counsel. Leveraging his prior experience in venture capital, M&A, debt financing, fintech, data protection and equity incentives, Sven acts as a sounding board for Metaplanet’s investment managers and founders and takes their deals from term sheet to exit. Before joining Metaplanet, Sven held specialist counsel and senior legal counsel positions in Bolt, Cobalt and Ellex.
Udit Jain
Partner
Udit is a Partner at Metaplanet based in the SF Bay Area. As an investor, he’s backed and supported companies like Cursor, Varda, and Backbone. As an entrepreneur, Udit grew Snackpass as CTO, raising from YC, First Round, and a16z. He holds a double-major in Computer Science & Statistics from Yale.