Index Ventures is offering the ‘next wave of founders’ $3.1bn in funds

23 Jul 2021

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The VC firm has added two new funds worth $900m and $2bn to its previously announced seed fund worth $200m.

Index Ventures has raised $3.1bn in funds to support new and growing businesses emerging from the pandemic.

The VC firm, which has headquarters in London and San Francisco, said it wants to invest in the “next wave of founders, across all stages and geographical locations”, helping companies build and scale from seed to IPO stages.

The $3.1bn figure includes a new early-stage fund, Index Ventures XI, which is worth $900m, and a new $2bn growth fund Index Ventures Growth VI. It also includes the previously announced seed fund Index Origin, which is worth $200m.

“At Index, we believe in partnering with founders from the beginning of their journey through their IPOs,” said Index partner Mike Volpi.

“These funds will support new ventures through all of the stages of growth, from ideation to maturity. We’ll be investing in companies across sectors, particularly in consumer, enterprise, software infrastructure, gaming and fintech, where we’ve established leadership and expertise.”

In a Q&A on the Index Ventures website, Volpi and fellow Index partner Jan Hammer both said the pandemic had provided a springboard for more innovative entrepreneurs to emerge.

“We’re going to see innovation happening in unexpected places, in terms of both sectors and geographies,” Volpi commented.

“At the same time, what used to be venture capital’s primary product — capital — is no longer its main selling point. The next generation of entrepreneurs is looking for expertise and personal relationships with their investors, where we become partners, advisers, mentors and coaches. Capital is a commodity, but the relationships it comes with can’t be commoditised.”

Hammer added that the pandemic had a forced digitisation on a lot of businesses, which separated the innovators from the technophobes and created new opportunities.

“It’s also accelerated the trend of technology underpinning every sector,” he said. “The essence of entrepreneurship is positivity — trying to overcome obstacles and turning them into opportunities. We’ve seen that across the board, both within our own portfolio as well as externally in newly born companies, and those that have started scaling during the pandemic.”

Blathnaid O’Dea is Careers reporter at Silicon Republic

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