Index Ventures bolstered with $1.25bn VC fund and former Twitter CEO

Index closed a $700m fund in 2015 to invest in later stage companies, while it has been bolstered even further with a $550m fund to deliver seed and venture capital to startups.

The additional pot coincides with the companies fifth year of operation in San Francisco and 20th in Europe, thus Index will support emerging enterprises across the US, Europe, and startup hotspot Israel.

Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, who left last year to make room for founder Jack Dorsey to return as the social network’s head, has joined Index as venture partner.

Elsewhere, the firm has also promoted Shardul Shah to partner. Shah joined Index in 2008 as an associate. He worked across the firm’s European offices with a focus on security and software companies before moving to San Francisco in 2013.

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He said: “The need for speed requires enterprises to transform their tooling and how they enable teams to make decisions. In that context, I look forward to working with some exciting entrepreneurs to build great companies.”

Index boasts a portfolio of businesses across 24 countries and the firms generated combined revenues of $9.2bn in 2015 alone. Collectively the companies have 35,000 staff members and are recruiting for 2,700 additional team members.

“Over the past 20 years, we’ve been fortunate to have partnered with some of the most visionary entrepreneurs,” said partner Danny Rimer, who opened Index’s London office in 2002 and its San Francisco base in 2011.

“With three new partners and two new funds added in less than a year, we’re eager to work with the next generation of founders and welcome their companies to the Index family.”

By Zen Terrelonge

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