Index Ventures

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Index Ventures
Company typePrivate Company
IndustryPrivate equity
Founded1996; 28 years ago (1996)
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
London, United Kingdom
ProductsVenture capital, growth capital
Total assets€11.7 billion
Number of employees
70+
Websitewww.indexventures.com

Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London,[1] investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming,[2] infrastructure/AI,[3] and security.[4] Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion.[1][5][6] Index Venture partners appear frequently on ForbesMidas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.[7]

History[edit]

Index Ventures has its origins in a Swiss bond-trading firm called Index Securities, founded by Gerald Rimer in 1976.[8][9] In 1992, Rimer recruited his son, Neil, to join the firm, and together they launched its technology investment arm, which would evolve into an independent entity, Index Ventures.[9][10][11]

Index Ventures was officially founded in 1996 by Neil Rimer, David Rimer and Giuseppe Zocco,[12] when they raised a pilot fund of $17 million, followed by a $180 million fund in 1998.[9] Index Ventures began investing in Israel in 2003. By 2005, Index's third fund raised 300 million euros; just two years later, it raised a further 350 million euros for its fourth found, which targeted to spend 15 to 20% on Israeli companies.[13] The sixth fund raised 350 million euros from investors in 2012 and was targeted for European, U.S., and Israeli tech startups.[14]

Index's seventh fund launched in 2017, raising 400 million from investors. It was aimed at new companies in Europe, the U.S., and Israel. In fact, by this time the company defined its focus as London, San Francisco, Berlin, New York, Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Paris.[15]

From early on, the firm launched a life sciences practice, which in 2016 it spun off as an independent venture capital firm, Medicxi Ventures.[16][17] Index Ventures' dual headquarters in San Francisco and London were opened in 2011 and 2002, respectively.[18][19]

Partners[edit]

The firm's eight investment partners are Mark Goldberg,[20][21] Jan Hammer,[22] Martin Mignot, Danny Rimer, Neil Rimer, Shardul Shah,[23] Dominique Vidal, and Mike Volpi.[24] The firm also has an operating partner, Bernard Dalle.[25]

Awards[edit]

Danny Rimer was named to Fortune's "40 under 40" list in 2009,[26] the Midas List of the top 25 deal makers in venture capital,[27] and the New York Times' list of the top 20 venture capitalists from 2016 to 2018.[28][29][30]

Neil Rimer was named the number one venture capitalist in Europe in Forbes' inaugural Midas List Europe 2017.[31]

The 2018 Forbes' Global Midas List of the world's top venture capitalists featured Neil Rimer and Jan Hammer,[32] and the 2018 New York Times list of the top venture capitalists worldwide featured four Index partners: Danny Rimer (number 17), Mike Volpi (number 34), Neil Rimer, and Jan Hammer.[30]

Investments[edit]

Index Ventures raised several venture funds, including Index Ventures I through VIII[33][34] and Index Growth 1, 2 and 3.[35][36][37] In 2018 the firm raised a total of $1.65 billion for an early-stage investment fund and a growth fund.[20][38]

Examples include:

Other investments include Adyen,[48] Abacus.AI, Aurora,[68] Citymapper,[69] Deliveroo,[48] Farfetch,[48] Funding Circle,[48] Gatsby,[70] Intercom,[71] Motorway,[72] Notion,[73] Patreon,[74] Personio,[75] Plaid,[76] Revolut,[77] Robinhood,[31] Roblox,[78] Ubiquity6,[79] Slack.,[80] and Weaviate.[81]

In November 2022, they launched their second seed fund Origin II, a $300M fund focus on early-stage investing. It is $100m larger than Origin I.[citation needed]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Europe's start-up backer – Neil Rimer, founder, Index Ventures". Financial Times. November 28, 2016.
  2. ^ "Game developer Supersolid raises $4M Series A round led by Index Ventures". TechCrunch. October 13, 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Index Ventures Has A New, $550 Million Fund, And A New Partner". TechCrunch. February 3, 2016.
  4. ^ "Index Ventures' Danny Rimer on how to spot tech trends". The Guardian. September 20, 2013.
  5. ^ "Index Ventures, a leading Euro VC, opens a Valley office". TechCrunch. January 14, 2011.
  6. ^ "Index Venture Update: New Partners Shardul Shah & Dick Costolo Added to Team & Eighth Venture Fund Closes". Crowdfund Insider. February 4, 2016.
  7. ^ "Veteran VC Neil Rimer Shares 3 Big Reasons Why European Tech is Growing up". Forbes.
  8. ^ "What They're Reading". The New York Times. September 5, 1995.
  9. ^ a b c "25 Rising Stars". Fortune. May 14, 2001.
  10. ^ "Wall Street Journal Fast Forward: Speakers and Guests".
  11. ^ "Levie, Damelin, Rimer, Onur, Klein, Khan To Speak at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe". TechCrunch. July 24, 2013.
  12. ^ "A venture capitalist's European mission". Financial Times. April 24, 2010.
  13. ^ "Index Ventures, Open for Business". Haaretz.
  14. ^ "Index Ventures raises €350 million for new fund | Fortune".
  15. ^ "Index Ventures Raises New $550M Early-Stage Fund for Europe, the US and Israel". June 10, 2014.
  16. ^ "How VC firm Index Ventures is hunting for the next Deliveroo". WIRED. October 17, 2017.
  17. ^ "Veni, vidi, V.C." (PDF). University of Geneva student magazine. November 6, 2009.
  18. ^ "Index Ventures forth, bridging Silicon Valley with Silicon Roundabout". November 30, 2011.
  19. ^ "Index Ventures Raises $700M Fund, Opens San Francisco Office (But Keeps Focus on Europe)". November 8, 2011.
  20. ^ a b "Index Ventures Has Been on a Run. Now It's Raising Funds to Keep It Up". The New York Times. July 9, 2018.
  21. ^ "A conversation with Sarah Cannon and Mark Goldberg, Index Ventures' new partners". TechCrunch. October 9, 2018.
  22. ^ "Europe's biggest venture capital fund told us what it looks for in a company". Business Insider. November 28, 2015.
  23. ^ "Index Ventures closes $550M fund, promotes Shardul Shah to partner". PitchBook. February 4, 2016.
  24. ^ "This tech investor had a killer week thanks to two big open-source deals". www.cnbc.com.
  25. ^ "Open source: The money is in the cloud". CNET. December 3, 2009.
  26. ^ "Gallery: 40 under 40". FORTUNE. September 10, 2009.
  27. ^ "The Midas List: Tech's Top Investors". Forbes. March 26, 2014.
  28. ^ "The Top 20 Venture Capital Investors Worldwide". The New York Times. March 13, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  29. ^ "The Top 20 Venture Capital Investors Worldwide". The New York Times. March 27, 2017.
  30. ^ a b "The Top 100 Venture Capitalists". March 31, 2019.
  31. ^ a b c "Forbes Announces First-Ever 2017 Midas List Europe". Forbes. November 6, 2017.
  32. ^ "The Midas List". Forbes. April 3, 2018.
  33. ^ "The Index Ventures hits €350m for latest tech-focused fund". AltAssets. June 18, 2012.
  34. ^ "Index Ventures Has a New, $550 Million Fund, and a New Partner". TechCrunch. February 3, 2016.
  35. ^ "Armed With New Fund, Index Ventures Hunts for the Next Billion-Dollar Tech Firm". Forbes. November 11, 2011.
  36. ^ "Index Ventures raises $706M for new growth fund". VentureBeat. April 1, 2015.
  37. ^ "Index Ventures Amasses $1.25 Billion to Back Tech Startups". Bloomberg. February 3, 2016.
  38. ^ "One investing firm is behind a string of this year's big money-making moments in Silicon Valley". recode. August 5, 2018.
  39. ^ "Index leads $5M Series A in Beamery's 'CRM for recruitment'". TechCrunch. April 12, 2017.
  40. ^ "Venture Firms Hit The Jackpot With Betfair". The Wall Street Journal. October 25, 2010.
  41. ^ "Paddy Power and Betfair merger agreed". The Guardian. Press Association. September 8, 2015. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  42. ^ Griswold, Alison (October 3, 2019). "Electric scooter company Bird raises $275 million, with a new focus on profitability". Quartz. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  43. ^ Moskvitch, Katia (October 15, 2018). "How Index Ventures became Europe's startup success factory". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  44. ^ "Nestlé Targets High-End Coffee by Taking Majority Stake in Blue Bottle". The New York Times. September 14, 2017.
  45. ^ "Nestle is Said to Pay $425 Million to Buy Blue Bottle Coffee". Bloomberg. September 14, 2017.
  46. ^ a b c d e "Index Ventures Raises New $550M Early-Stage Fund For Europe, The US And Israel". TechCrunch. June 10, 2014.
  47. ^ Huspeni, Andrea. "Codecademy Just Raised $10 Million From Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins And Richard Branson". Business Insider. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  48. ^ a b c d e "Index Ventures is coming in force to TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin this December". TechCrunch. September 5, 2017.
  49. ^ "Shares of Dropbox surge in first day of trading". ABC News. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  50. ^ a b "Sonos Confirms $25 Million Investment From Index Ventures". TechCrunch. March 12, 2010.
  51. ^ "Duo Security raises $70 million at a valuation north of $1 billion". TechCrunch. October 18, 2017.
  52. ^ "Index has raised an additional $550 million to invest in US, European, and Israeli tech startups". Business Insider. February 4, 2016.
  53. ^ Bosilkovski, Igor. "PayPal Makes Its Biggest Acquisition Ever By Buying Swedish Startup iZettle For $2.2 Billion". Forbes. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  54. ^ "Activision Blizzard Becomes 'Largest Game Network in the World' With Candy Crush Dev Buyout". GameSpot. February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  55. ^ "CBS Acquires Europe's Last.fm for $280 million". TechCrunch. May 30, 2007.
  56. ^ "Belgium's D'Ieteren agrees to buy 41 percent of Moleskine". Reuters. September 22, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  57. ^ "Former MySQL CEO Martin Mickos joins Index Ventures as EIR". TechCrunch. January 8, 2010.
  58. ^ "25 Rising Stars What will the world look like a decade or two from now? Who knows? But these young business leaders surely will have helped shape it". CNN Money. May 14, 2001. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  59. ^ "EBay Buys Skype for $2.6 Billion". PC World. September 12, 2005. Archived from the original on November 14, 2020. Retrieved November 16, 2017.
  60. ^ "Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion". GigaOM. May 9, 2011.
  61. ^ "Is This The Fastest-Growing Game Company Ever?". Forbes. May 6, 2013.
  62. ^ Osawa, Juro; Needleman, Sarah E. (June 21, 2016). "Tencent Seals Deal to Buy 'Clash of Clans' Developer Supercell for $8.6 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved August 1, 2016.
  63. ^ O'Hear, Steve (December 11, 2019). "Accel and Index back Tines, as the cybersecurity startup adds another $11M to its Series A". TechCrunch. TechCrunch. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  64. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (January 9, 2017). "Atlassian acquires Trello for $425M". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  65. ^ Jeans, David. "Zero To $100 Million In Nine Months: Index, Sequoia Back Cybersecurity Company Led By Former Microsoft Execs". Forbes. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  66. ^ Wiz. "Wiz Emerges from Stealth with $100 Million Series A Financing and a Mission to Reinvent Cloud Security". www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  67. ^ "Zuora IPO Pops 43% As Cloud Software Company Raises $154 Million". Investor's Business Daily. April 12, 2018.
  68. ^ "Self-Driving Car Startup Aurora Could Start a 'Renaissance in the Transportation Industry'". Fortune. February 28, 2018.
  69. ^ "Citymapper raises $40m with funding from Index Ventures and Benchmark Capital". CityAM. January 20, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2021.
  70. ^ "Gatsby, Website-Building Startup Backed By Index Ventures, Raises $28 Million". Forbes. May 27, 2020.
  71. ^ "The Daily Startup: Index Ventures Backs Intercom in $50 Million Series D". The Wall Street Journal. April 7, 2016.
  72. ^ Butcher, Mike (November 29, 2021). "Secondhand car auction platform Motorway hits unicorn status after $190M raise with Index, ICONIQ". TechCrunch. Retrieved November 24, 2022.
  73. ^ "Notion, Maker of Collaboration Software, Raises $50 Million". The New York Times. April 1, 2020.
  74. ^ "Crowdfunding firm Patreon turns to VCs for $15m funding round". The Guardian. June 23, 2014.
  75. ^ "Personio raises $125M on a $1.7B valuation for an HR platform targeting SMEs". TechCrunch. January 18, 2021.
  76. ^ "Fintech start-up Plaid raises $250 million at $2.7 billion valuation, adds Mary Meeker to board". CNBC. December 11, 2018.
  77. ^ "Revolut raises $66 million for its global banking alternative". TechCrunch. July 12, 2017.
  78. ^ "Roblox Secures $92 Million in Funding". Index Ventures. March 14, 2017.
  79. ^ "AR startup Ubiquity6 lands $27M Series B to build a more user-friendly augmented reality". August 14, 2018.
  80. ^ "Slack Raises $200 Million at $3.8 Billion Valuation". Fortune. April 1, 2016.
  81. ^ "Index Ventures Leads $50 Million Investment in AI Startup Weaviate". The Information. April 20, 2023.

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]