Venture Capital

Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a globally renowned venture capital firm that originated in Europe and has been instrumental in scaling many of the continent’s top tech companies. Founded in Geneva in 1996 by the Daly brothers and Neil Rimer, Index later opened major offices in London and San Francisco, making it a transatlantic VC powerhouse. Index invests at all stages (seed to growth), though it is especially prominent in Series A/B in Europe. The firm has an extraordinary track record: it was an early backer of Skype (sold to eBay), Last.fm (sold to CBS), Supercell (acquired by Tencent), and MySQL (acquired by Sun) in the 2000s, and more recently of Deliveroo, Adyen, Figma, Revolut, Robinhood and Notion – to name a few. Index’s portfolio spans consumer and enterprise: it has seeded fashion marketplaces like ASOS and Farfetch, scaled up fintech stars like TransferWise (Wise) and Robinhood, and supported open-source and SaaS successes (Elastic, Confluent, Collibra). The firm manages multiple funds (it raised a $3B+ set of funds in 2022) and often co-invests across its early and growth funds to support companies long-term. Index is particularly known for its knack in consumer-facing startups and its ability to spot trends early (e.g., it led Patreon’s Series A in the creator economy space, and Discord’s seed in gaming communication). Partners at Index are a cosmopolitan bunch – with backgrounds ranging from gaming entrepreneurs to investment bankers – and they bring a strong network in both Silicon Valley and Europe. Uniquely, Index also has a life sciences arm (Index Life) that invested in companies like Moderna. In Europe, Index has been among the top three most active VCs by number of unicorns backed. For example, Index led Deliveroo’s Series B in 2014 and remained a major shareholder through its 2021 IPO. Similarly, Index was pivotal in Adyen’s growth (now a ~$50B payments giant). Culturally, Index is known for being founder-friendly and global in outlook – encouraging its European portfolio to expand to the US when needed and vice versa. It also frequently publishes insightful content (e.g., Bernard Dallé’s guides on SaaS metrics or interviews with founders). As of 2025, Index Ventures stands as a gold-standard VC, with a portfolio boasting dozens of IPOs and acquisitions, and a current crop of rising stars across continents.

United KingdomLondonSeed to GrowthGeneralistTechnology

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Location

London, United Kingdom

Portfolio startups

Startups this investor has backed

Revolut

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Revolut is a British fintech company offering a “super-app” for digital banking and financial services. Launched in 2015 by founders Nik Storonsky (a former Credit Suisse trader from Russia) and Vlad Yatsenko (Ukrainian developer), Revolut began as a multicurrency travel card allowing users to spend and transfer money globally with minimal fees. It quickly evolved into a full-featured neobank. As of 2025, Revolut operates in 48+ countries and has 65 million customers worldwide, making it one of the fastest-growing fintechs ever. The app provides a suite of services: GBP and EUR bank accounts, debit cards, currency exchange for 30+ currencies at interbank rates, stock and crypto trading, person-to-person payments, bill splitting, and more. Revolut’s growth has been astonishing – it surpassed £3.1 billion in annual revenue in 2024 with £1.1 billion operating profit. The company has raised over $1.7 billion from investors like SoftBank, Tiger Global, and TCV, reaching a private valuation of $33 billion in 2021. In late 2025, a secondary share sale reportedly valued Revolut at $75 billion, vaulting it among the world’s most valuable fintechs. Revolut’s journey has not been without challenges: it faced regulatory hurdles (e.g. its UK banking license was long-delayed), compliance scrutiny, and had to strengthen its governance as it scaled. Nonetheless, the company achieved profitability in 2021 and has continued to grow its user base across Europe, North America, and Asia. Revolut’s mission is to become a “global financial super-app”, consolidating banking, investing, insurance, and payments in one place. It has introduced products like “Revolut Junior” accounts for kids, pay-later services, and expanded into credit in select markets. With over 10,000 employees worldwide, Revolut is now a regulated bank in the EU and other jurisdictions. Its story from scrappy travel card startup to a $75B-valued fintech giant with 65 million users epitomizes Europe’s fintech rise and the potential of challenger banks to rewrite banking norms.

StartupLate StageFintechConsumer

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Hopin

London, United Kingdom · Startup

Virtual and hybrid event platform enabling immersive conferences, expos, and town halls.

StartupGrowthEventsSoftware

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Personio

Munich, Germany · Startup

Personio is a Munich-based HR software company that has become one of Europe’s most valuable SaaS startups. Founded in 2015 by Hanno Renner (CEO) and three co-founders from the Technical University of Munich, Personio set out to streamline HR management for small and mid-sized businesses. Its cloud platform offers an “all-in-one” suite – from recruiting and applicant tracking to payroll, attendance, and performance management. Personio’s focus on Europe’s underserved SME segment paid off spectacularly: as of 2024, the company serves 12,000+ customers across 70 countries (primarily firms with 10–2,000 employees). This rapid growth attracted major VC funding. Personio became a unicorn in January 2021 with a $1.7 billion valuation, and by October 2022 it raised a $200 million Series E extension at a staggering $8.5 billion valuation – making it one of Europe’s most valuable private tech companies at the time. Investors like Index Ventures, Accel, Lightspeed, and Greenoaks have backed Personio. The company has since expanded to 8 offices (including London, Dublin and Amsterdam) and grown to about 2,000 employees. Despite the size, Personio continues to post strong metrics: in 2023, revenue reportedly doubled and the firm reached over 15,000 customers by 2025. Personio’s success is often attributed to its user-friendly, modular platform tailored to non-technical HR teams at smaller companies. It integrates with 100+ other business tools and emphasizes automation of routine HR tasks. Now valued at $8.5 billion+, Personio is widely seen as a future IPO candidate and a role model for Europe’s B2B SaaS boom – proving that an “SMB HR” niche can scale to a global category leader.

StartupGrowthHR TechSoftware

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Related entries

Startups with overlapping focus

Sherry Coutu

Cambridge, United Kingdom · Angel Investor

Sherry Coutu CBE is a prominent angel investor and entrepreneur known for championing the UK’s scale-up ecosystem. Originally from Canada, Coutu moved to the UK and in 1994 founded Interactive Investor, an online brokerage, which she led to an IPO in 2000. After exiting that venture, she became a full-time angel in 2000 and has since invested in 50+ tech companies, focusing on consumer internet, education, and fintech startups. Coutu has been an early backer of notable UK startups like Zoopla and LoveFilm, and holds LP stakes in several venture funds. Beyond investing her own capital, Sherry Coutu is famed for her advocacy of “scale-ups” – mid-stage companies poised for high growth. In 2014, she authored the landmark Scale-Up Report for the UK government, highlighting the economic importance of helping startups grow into larger firms. This led her, alongside LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman, to found the ScaleUp Institute in 2015 – a nonprofit that provides resources, mentorship, and policy advocacy for scaling businesses. Coutu also founded Founders4Schools and Digital Boost, initiatives connecting students and small businesses with experienced entrepreneurs. She remains an active non-executive director on multiple boards – past roles include serving on the boards of the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the University of Cambridge Finance Board, and Pearson plc. In the angel community, Sherry Coutu is respected not only for her investments but for her mentorship and network: she often provides board-level guidance and operational mentorship to founders. Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2013 for services to entrepreneurship, Sherry Coutu is a pivotal figure helping UK tech startups navigate the jump from startup to scale-up.

Angel InvestorPre-Seed to Series AGeneralistTechnology

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Amber Business Angels Network

Szczecin, Poland · Angel Investor

A network grown by the Polish Entrepreneurship Foundation in Szczecin, uniting ~50 investors from across Poland. Amber invests in projects that at least have a prototype or beta, focusing on those with high potential and market access. Notable focus: early post-prototype startups requiring angel funding to commercialize (diverse sectors, strong emphasis on the West Pomerania region).

Angel InvestorPre-Seed to SeedGeneralistTechnology

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aws Gruenderfonds

Vienna, Austria · Accelerator

Launched 2013. Federal venture fund co-investing in Austrian high-growth startups with long-term local support.

AcceleratorLate Seed to Series ATechnologyGeneralist

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Nordic Makers

Copenhagen, Denmark · Angel Investor

Collective of Nordic angel investors backing early-stage founders.

Angel InvestorPre-Seed to SeedGeneralistTechnology

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Robert Ługowski

Warsaw, Poland · Angel Investor

Managing partner of COBIN Angels, Poland’s largest angel network, Robert is both an investor and a key ecosystem builder. Under his leadership, COBIN Angels grew since 2015 to connect dozens of deals between angels and startups. He personally has invested in multiple ventures via the network and serves on the European Business Angels Network board. Associated startups: Numerous early-stage companies facilitated through COBIN Angels (various sectors from fintech to medtech).

Angel InvestorPre-Seed to SeedGeneralistTechnology

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Sterling Angels

Krakow, Poland · Angel Investor

Also known as the Polish Business Angel Network, Sterling Angels is a community of private investors and some VCs who co-invest in early-stage companies. Based in Kraków, Sterling Angels not only provides capital but also mentoring and connections to help startups succeed. Notable focus: Southern Poland’s startup scene – tech startups in need of both funding and business expertise.

Angel InvestorSeedTechnologyGeneralist

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