• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Index Ventures Closes Euro 350 Million Early Stage Fund

Posted on: Monday, 2 March 2009, 23:00 CST

Ben Holmes Named Partner

LONDON, March 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Index Ventures today announced the closing of a euro 350 million early stage fund, Index Ventures V. The fund is dedicated to early stage and seed investments in the technology, biotechnology and clean technology sectors across Europe, the United States and Israel. It is the fifth early stage fund Index has raised in the past ten years and reinforces the firm's commitment to investing in innovative and disruptive companies, from the very earliest stages. The fund was raised almost entirely from the firm's existing base of limited partners.

"Over the past twelve years, we have been fortunate enough to work with some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world who have started game-changing companies such as Betfair, Skype, MySQL and GenMab," said partner Bernard Dalle. "There are certainly challenges facing many industries right now but, thanks to the ongoing commitment of our limited partners, we can continue to focus on our core strength, that of finding and supporting ambitious, dedicated entrepreneurs."

Operating from offices in Geneva, London and Jersey, Index invests in companies across multiple geographies. Investments made during the last twelve months include: Criteo (France), DimDim (India), Lehigh Technologies (US), MyHeritage (Israel), NormOxys (France), OpTier (Israel), Playfish (UK), RightScale (US), and WooMe (UK/US).

Francesco De Rubertis, Index partner, added, "On the biotech side, Index is focused on finding the best companies with the strongest pipelines. We are equally interested in very early stage ventures and more mature companies with established proof-of-concept. In terms of therapeutic areas, our priorities are oncology, CNS, immunology and inflammation. We continue to see tremendous innovation and development within these areas, driven in part by the ever growing pharmaceutical pipeline deficit."

Index also announced today that Ben Holmes, a London-based member of the technology team since 2002, has been named a partner of the firm. Ben focuses on investments in consumer and internet infrastructure companies and currently sits on a number of boards including Mind Candy, Netlog, Playfish, Rebtel and Stardoll.

"Since joining our London office in 2002, Ben has played a key role in sourcing and supporting investments we have made in internet and software sectors," said Danny Rimer, partner at Index Ventures. "We are excited to announce his promotion and we look forward to his ongoing contributions to the firm and our portfolio companies."

In addition, Tony Zappala and Roman Fleck, both based in the firm's Geneva office, have been promoted to principals in the IT and biotech teams respectively.

About Index

Index Ventures is a leading venture capital firm active in venture investing since 1996. For more information, please visit www.indexventures.com

SOURCE Index Ventures

Source: PR Newswire

More News in this Category