The firm’s fundraise comes at a pivotal moment for the global startup ecosystem. The rise of transformative technologies such as AI, the emergence of tried-and-tested playbooks for hyper-growth companies, and the critical mass of experienced global talent are feeding into and accelerating one another. The result is that entrepreneurs stand at a historical tipping point in which they have unprecedented opportunities to create new, category-defining businesses.
AI opens up entirely new industries for VC investment
“Even though technology has transformed our daily lives, the reality is that it has so much further to go,” said Shardul Shah, partner at Index Ventures. “AI alone will revolutionize virtually every sector of the economy and open up whole industries to venture that have remained virtually untouched. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of people have worked in hypergrowth startups globally and can transfer those lessons to the next generation of companies. We’re energized by the unique opportunities that this historical moment presents and excited to partner with founders to solve the world’s trickiest and most consequential problems.”
One global team: from SF to NY, London to Tel Aviv
With its new $800 million venture fund and $1.5 billion growth fund, Index is positioned to be the best long-term partner for entrepreneurs building upon this new foundation wherever they are in the world. Index has a meaningful presence from San Francisco in the West to Tel Aviv in the East – spanning ten time zones and 24 of the world’s 30 most vibrant ecosystems. Established on the West Coast with a portfolio that includes Figma, Discord, Notion, and Roblox, Index has stepped up its US presence with a new New York office. This means it can partner closely with category leaders like Datadog, as well as startups such as Wiz and DataSnipper, using New York as a bridge to help them expand from Europe and Israel across the US. Index has continued strengthening its US leadership by welcoming former Airbnb executive Vlad Loktev to the San Francisco office, who was instrumental in driving Airbnb’s growth and product strategy for over a decade at the company.
Three decades of investing: 108 unicorns, 57 IPOs, 200,000 jobs
Index has a nearly three-decade history of identifying, nurturing, and partnering with visionary founders. Most of these partnerships begin early in a company’s life, at Seed and Series A. Index has invested in 109 companies that reached a $1 billion valuation, 23 that exceeded a $10 billion valuation, and 57 that became publicly traded. The businesses in the Index portfolio have created 200,000 jobs so far and are on track to hire 20,000 more in the next 12 months. Recent highlights from the Index portfolio include:
- Wiz, the cloud security company in which Index was an early investor, grew to 100x its value within 18 months – becoming the fastest-ever company to hit $100m ARR in that time. Wiz has now reached over $350m in ARR and serves over 40% of the Fortune 100;
- Scale AI recently raised $1bn and doubled its valuation to $14 billion, and its data foundry powers nearly every leading large language model;
- DeepL, the language AI company, is transforming the language industry, which is projected to grow to $95.3 billion by 2028. Index led DeepL’s $300M raise at a $2 billion valuation earlier this year;
- Revolut, the all-in-one finance platform, announced revenues exceeding $2.2 billion for 2023, with record pre-tax profits of $545 million and 45 million customers globally
When Index’s founders succeed, they generate outsized returns for the firm’s limited partners, which include non-profit foundations, educational endowments, healthcare and research institutions, and other impact-oriented organizations.
About Index Ventures
Index Ventures is a global venture capital firm that backs exceptional entrepreneurs. We help founders turn their bold ideas into global businesses and, through the companies they build, have a long-lasting and positive impact on the world around us. Index-backed businesses are supported by an experienced team of investors, strategists, and an extensive global network built over three decades of startup investing. Working side-by-side through the scale-up journey, we forge deep and long-lasting relationships with founders and their teams across many industries and geographies.