Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a European worldwide 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 Ventures
TypePrivate Company
IndustryPrivate equity
Founded1996 (1996)
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, United States
London, United Kingdom
ProductsVenture capital, growth capital
Total assets€2 billion
Number of employees
70+
Websitewww.indexventures.com

History

Index Ventures has its origins in a Swiss bond-trading firm called Index Securities, founded by Gerald Rimer in 1976.[7][8] 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.[8][9][10]

Index Ventures was officially founded in 1996 by Neil Rimer, David Rimer and Giuseppe Zocco,[11] when they raised a pilot fund of $17 million, followed by a $180 million fund in 1998.[8] That year the firm also launched its life sciences practice, which in 2016 launched as an independent venture capital firm, Medicxi Ventures.[12][13] Index Ventures' dual headquarters in San Francisco and London were opened in 2011 and 2002, respectively.[14][15]

Partners

The firm's nine investment partners are Sarah Cannon,[16][17] Mark Goldberg,[18][16] Jan Hammer,[19] Martin Mignot, Danny Rimer, Neil Rimer, Shardul Shah,[20] Dominique Vidal, and Mike Volpi. The firm also has an operating partner, Bernard Dalle.[21]

Awards

Danny Rimer has been named to Fortune's "40 under 40" list of the top rising stars in business,[22] Forbes' Midas List of the top 25 deal makers in venture capital,[23] and the New York Times' list of the top 20 venture capitalists worldwide each year since its inception (2016–2018).[24][25][26]

Neil Rimer was named the number one venture capitalist in Europe in Forbes' inaugural Midas List Europe 2017.[27]

The 2018 Forbes' Global Midas List of the world's top venture capitalists featured Neil Rimer and Jan Hammer,[28] 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.[26]

Investments and Exits

Index Ventures has raised a number of venture funds, including Index Ventures I through VIII[29][30] and Index Growth 1, 2 and 3.[31][32][33] In 2018 the firm raised a total of $1.65 billion for an early-stage investment fund and a growth fund.[18][34]

The firm's notable exits include:

Other notable investments include Adyen,[43] Aurora,[60] Deliveroo,[43] Farfetch,[43] Funding Circle,[43] Intercom,[61] Patreon,[62] Revolut,[63] Robinhood,[27] Roblox,[64] Ubiquity6,[65] Gatsby,[66] Notion [67] and Slack.[68]

Summer Fellowship Program

In 2018, Index launched the Index Ventures summer fellowship to support innovative student entrepreneurs. The program provided free office space, guest speakers, and mentorship with the partners at Index. Notable participants of the first batch include Akshay Ramaswamy and Chetan Rane, co-founders of Alma Campus, and Akbar Khan, co-founder of Dough.

References

  1. "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. "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.
  7. "What They're Reading". The New York Times. September 5, 1995.
  8. "25 Rising Stars". Fortune. May 14, 2001.
  9. "Wall Street Journal Fast Forward: Speakers and Guests".
  10. "Levie, Damelin, Rimer, Onur, Klein, Khan To Speak at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe". TechCrunch. July 24, 2013.
  11. "A venture capitalist's European mission". Financial Times. April 24, 2010.
  12. "How VC firm Index Ventures is hunting for the next Deliveroo". WIRED. October 17, 2017.
  13. "Veni, vidi, V.C." (PDF). University of Geneva student magazine. November 6, 2009.
  14. "Index Ventures forth, bridging Silicon Valley with Silicon Roundabout". November 30, 2011.
  15. "Index Ventures Raises $700M Fund, Opens San Francisco Office (But Keeps Focus on Europe)". November 8, 2011.
  16. "A conversation with Sarah Cannon and Mark Goldberg, Index Ventures' new partners". TechCrunch. October 9, 2018.
  17. "Index has hired CapitalG VC Sarah Cannon". recode. March 2, 2018.
  18. "Index Ventures Has Been on a Run. Now It's Raising Funds to Keep It Up". The New York Times. July 9, 2018.
  19. "Europe's biggest venture capital fund told us what it looks for in a company". Business Insider. November 28, 2015.
  20. "Index Ventures closes $550M fund, promotes Shardul Shah to partner". PitchBook. February 4, 2016.
  21. "Open source: The money is in the cloud". CNET. December 3, 2009.
  22. "Gallery: 40 under 40". FORTUNE. September 10, 2009.
  23. "The Midas List: Tech's Top Investors". Forbes. March 26, 2014.
  24. "The Top 20 Venture Capital Investors Worldwide". The New York Times. March 13, 2016. Retrieved April 1, 2016.
  25. "The Top 20 Venture Capital Investors Worldwide". The New York Times. March 27, 2017.
  26. "The Top 100 Venture Capitalists".
  27. "Forbes Announces First-Ever 2017 Midas List Europe". Forbes. November 6, 2017.
  28. "The Midas List". Forbes. April 3, 2018.
  29. "The Index Ventures hits €350m for latest tech-focused fund". AltAssets. June 18, 2012.
  30. "Index Ventures Has a New, $550 Million Fund, and a New Partner". TechCrunch. February 3, 2016.
  31. "Armed With New Fund, Index Ventures Hunts for the Next Billion-Dollar Tech Firm". Forbes. November 11, 2011.
  32. "Index Ventures raises $706M for new growth fund". VentureBeat. April 1, 2015.
  33. "Index Ventures Amasses $1.25 Billion to Back Tech Startups". Bloomberg. February 3, 2016.
  34. "One investing firm is behind a string of this year's big money-making moments in Silicon Valley". recode. August 5, 2018.
  35. "Venture Firms Hit The Jackpot With Betfair". The Wall Street Journal. October 25, 2010.
  36. Association, Press. "Paddy Power and Betfair merger agreed". The Guardian. Retrieved January 29, 2016.
  37. Griswold, Alison. "Electric scooter company Bird raises $275 million, with a new focus on profitability". Quartz. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  38. Moskvitch, Katia (October 15, 2018). "How Index Ventures became Europe's startup success factory". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  39. "Nestlé Targets High-End Coffee by Taking Majority Stake in Blue Bottle". The New York Times. September 14, 2017.
  40. "Nestle is Said to Pay $425 Million to Buy Blue Bottle Coffee". Bloomberg. September 14, 2017.
  41. "Index Ventures Raises New $550M Early-Stage Fund For Europe, The US And Israel". TechCrunch. June 10, 2014.
  42. Huspeni, Andrea. "Codecademy Just Raised $10 Million From Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins And Richard Branson". Business Insider. Retrieved October 28, 2019.
  43. "Index Ventures is coming in force to TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin this December". TechCrunch. September 5, 2017.
  44. News, ABC. "Shares of Dropbox surge in first day of trading". ABC News. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  45. "Sonos Confirms $25 Million Investment From Index Ventures". TechCrunch. March 12, 2010.
  46. "Duo Security raises $70 million at a valuation north of $1 billion". TechCrunch. October 18, 2017.
  47. "Index has raised an additional $550 million to invest in US, European, and Israeli tech startups". Business Insider. February 4, 2016.
  48. Bosilkovski, Igor. "PayPal Makes Its Biggest Acquisition Ever By Buying Swedish Startup iZettle For $2.2 Billion". Forbes. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  49. "Activision Blizzard Becomes 'Largest Game Network in the World' With Candy Crush Dev Buyout". GameSpot. February 23, 2016. Retrieved February 23, 2016.
  50. "CBS Acquires Europe's Last.fm for $280 million". TechCrunch. May 30, 2007.
  51. "Belgium's D'Ieteren agrees to buy 41 percent of Moleskine". Reuters. September 22, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
  52. "Former MySQL CEO Martin Mickos joins Index Ventures as EIR". TechCrunch. January 8, 2010.
  53. Rooney, Kate (January 13, 2020). "Visa to acquire Plaid, the fintech powering Venmo and other banking apps, in $5.3 billion deal". CNBC. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  54. "EBay Buys Skype for $2.6 Billion". PC World. September 12, 2005.
  55. "Why Microsoft Is Buying Skype for $8.5 Billion". GigaOM. May 9, 2011.
  56. "Is This The Fastest-Growing Game Company Ever?". Forbes. May 6, 2013.
  57. 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.
  58. Lardinois, Frederic (January 9, 2017). "Atlassian acquires Trello for $425M". TechCrunch. AOL. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  59. "Zuora IPO Pops 43% As Cloud Software Company Raises $154 Million". Investor's Business Daily. April 12, 2018.
  60. "Self-Driving Car Startup Aurora Could Start a 'Renaissance in the Transportation Industry'". Fortune. February 28, 2018.
  61. "The Daily Startup: Index Ventures Backs Intercom in $50 Million Series D". The Wall Street Journal. April 7, 2016.
  62. "Crowdfunding firm Patreon turns to VCs for $15m funding round". The Guardian. June 23, 2014.
  63. "Revolut raises $66 million for its global banking alternative". TechCrunch. July 12, 2017.
  64. "Roblox Secures $92 Million in Funding". Index Ventures. March 14, 2017.
  65. https://techcrunch.com/2018/08/14/ar-startup-ubiquity6-lands-27m-series-b-to-build-a-more-user-friendly-augmented-reality/
  66. "Gatsby, Website-Building Startup Backed By Index Ventures, Raises $28 Million". Forbes. May 27, 2020.
  67. "Notion, Maker of Collaboration Software, Raises $50 Million". The New York Times. April 1, 2020.
  68. "Slack Raises $200 Million at $3.8 Billion Valuation". Fortune. April 1, 2016.

Further reading

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