Index Raises €350m Tech Fund

European venture firm Index Ventures has raised an early stage 350 million euros ($442 million) fund to invest in tech companies. The fund is part of 1 billion euros raised over the last 12 months, with separate funds for the growth and life science sectors. The focus of the new fund will be on seed and early stage venture and will concentrate on the same geographies: Berlin, London, New York City, San Francisco, Stockholm and Tel Aviv.

PRESS RELEASE

1. Index raises an early stage €350m fund to invest in tech companies

1. The fund is part of €1bn raised over the last 12 months, with separate funds for the Growth and Life Science sectors.

2. Our focus with this new fund will be on seed and early-stage venture, and will concentrate on the same geographies: Berlin, London, New York City, San Francisco, Stockholm, Tel Aviv.

2. An international team and platform makes Index unique

1. Index is a genuine partnership, made up of people who have known each other and worked together for more than 15 years.

2. The partners have deep international roots with a strong base in Europe, as well as deep experience, understanding and network in the Valley.

3. This perspective and locations in Geneva, London and San Francisco uniquely positions Index to add value to internationally focussed companies, especially those with tremendous growth opportunities.

3. So what companies does Index look to invest in?

1. At our core we look for outstanding European (& Israeli) born companies looking to build global category leaders(e.g. Boku, Criteo, Farfetch, Housetrip, King.com, Mind Candy, Moo.com,Oanda, OpenX, Soundcloud, Viagogo).

· Track record includes: Lastfm, MySQL, Playfish, Skype

2. Given our long history in the U.S., we are also looking to support innovative US companies with breakout international potential (e.g. Climate.com, etsy, Factual, Flipboard, Lookout, Path, Right Scale, Trialpay).

· Track record includes: Assistly, Cloud.com, Facebook, Gluster, RPX

3. We also look to invest in companies capable of dominating large national and regional markets (e.g. Funding Circle, Just Eat,Ozon, Photobox, Viagogo)

· Track recordincludes: Betfair, Lovefilm

4. What are some of the current areas which are most exciting to you for investment?

1. Commerce, especially fashion, including EDITD, Farfetch, Just Eat, Moo, Nasty Gal, Not on the High Street, Photobox and Stylistpick.

2. Marketplaces, including etsy, Funding Circle, Housetrip, PeoplePerHour, TransferWise and Viagogo

3. Cloud and Big Data, including Alertme, Chartbeat, Climate, Cloud.com, Criteo, Dropbox, Factual, Kaggle, Hortonworks, Mimecast, OpenX, Pentaho, Right Scale, Soluto and Zuora.

4. Mobile and Social, including Flipboard, Fon, King.com, Lookout, Moshi Monsters, MyHeritage, Path and Rebtel.

5. Financial Services, including Adyen, Boku, Erply, Funding Circle, iZettle, TransferWise, and Trialpay.

5. In times like these why does financing early stage innovation matter?

1. Financing early stage innovation helps to create economic growth.

2. Providing the building blocks for startups, in the form of mentorship and financing, inevitably leads to job creation. In our portfolio alone, there are currently over 1,000 open positions.

6. Can Europe ever produce any standalone tech champions?

1. In our portfolio alone, there are at least 20European born companies who are building significant businesses. Last year these companies had combined 2011 revenues of €1.3b and y/y growth of around 75%. These companies have created more than 5,000 new jobs in the last 10 years.

2. For Europe’s growth to keep up with other markets, Europe — and primarily London — needs to create a viable IPO market for technology companies so that these companies don’t end up listing in New York, or end up as trade sales (see Neil Rimer’s blog – http://blog.indexventures.com/who-will-open-the-london-ipo-window).