Index Raises $3.1 Billion to Support New Wave of Founders, Everywhere (Index Ventures)

Index Ventures’s July 2021 announcement of $3.1 billion across three funds.

Why it was kept

The passages Kyle kept, filed under his Index of the Future thread: the pandemic’s acceleration of startups, ‘capital is a commodity, but the relationship is not’, and the shifting boundary between venture and growth.

As Kyle captured it

• Index Raises $3.1 Billion to Support New Wave of Founders, Everywhere Thread: Index of the Future
  • While the pandemic was devastating in so many ways, COVID-related restrictions created an opening for founders to re-imagine our world, transcending physical boundaries.
  • “Capital is a commodity, but the relationships it comes with can’t be commoditized. If you can get money anywhere, you’d rather take money that comes with a long-term partner that has a transformational impact on your ability to build your business.” Mike Volpi
  • 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, advisors, mentors and coaches. Mike Volpi
  • At Index, we believe in partnering with founders from the beginning of their journey through their IPOs. These funds will support new ventures through all of the stages of growth, from ideation to maturity. Mike Volpi
    • You don’t “scale out” of real friendships. You live and die together.
  • At Index Ventures, these funds are invested by a single group of people from day one through IPO. ==There are no hand-offs across teams from seed, to venture, to growth. That’s very different from the approach taken by other investors.== Today’s entrepreneurs are looking for a more seed-to-IPO kind of a journey, and at Index, we want to support entrepreneurs from the moment they think of the business until the moment they stand on the podium at one of the world’s exchanges and ring the bell.
  • To fulfill the commitment we make to founders, we have to be partners through the full journey. As venture capitalists we do “invest,” but 90% of our time is dedicated to helping entrepreneurs grow. If you just get something passed on to you by a colleague and you don’t understand its history—the why or where it came from—we don’t think you can give as valuable of a product to founders. Mike Volpi
  • I’d go as far as saying we’re not announcing new funds—we’re really announcing a platform. Jan Hammer
  • A notion of a particular time window for assistance isn’t useful to the entrepreneur. They need to know you’re there for the long haul. Jan Hammer
  • Entrepreneurship is a journey of ups and downs. To us, being a true partner through the whole journey means keeping founders’ feet on the ground when they’re high, and lifting them up when they’re low. That’s what sets us apart. We love to invest in people that become our best friends, so we can be there for them on a deep, personal level. Mike Volpi