Index Ventures Announces Euro 400 Million Growth Fund

    LONDON, GENEVA and JERSEY, United Kingdom, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire/ --
 Index Ventures today announced the closing of the euro 400 million Index
 Ventures Growth I L.P. The fund is the first of its kind raised by a
 European venture capital firm and was formed to address the market
 opportunity created by the maturation of Europe's start-up industry and the
 movement of traditional late-stage investors into larger deal sizes in both
 the technology and life science sectors. The new fund will complement the
 firm's venture capital fund, Index Ventures IV L.P., which will continue to
 focus primarily on seed and early-stage investments.
 
     The growth investment team, which will be fully integrated into the
 existing investment team, will be led by: Index co-founder Giuseppe Zocco;
 Dominique Vidal, previously CEO of Yahoo! Europe and co-founder of Kelkoo;
 and Guido Magni, formerly the Global Head of Medical Science,
 Pharmaceutical Division, F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. Basel, Switzerland.
 
     "Index has been investing in European start-ups since 1996 so we've had
 front row seats to watch the industry expand and mature," said Giuseppe
 Zocco. "There is now a critical mass of companies that have the potential
 to be market leaders and make a global impact. With the growth fund, we
 have the ability to find and support these companies, helping them get to
 the next level."
 
     The fund expects to make investments of between euro 20 million and
 euro 50 million in European-based companies. The team will also selectively
 consider companies in Eastern Europe and the U.S. that have plans to expand
 internationally. Technology and life science companies are the primary
 focus, with media, retail and green technology opportunities also being
 considered.
 
     "Our goal with the Index Ventures Growth Fund is to partner with
 entrepreneurs who have built successful, quickly growing businesses that
 have reached a stage when they are considering strategic alternatives
 including being acquired," said Dominique Vidal. "In many of these cases,
 investing additional capital and time in the business will result in a much
 greater long-term payoff and allow the entrepreneur to continue growing his
 or her company into a market leader."
 
     Vidal and Magni bring decades of operating experience to Index,
 supplementing Zocco's long history with the firm. The team will also
 include Tony Zappala, who has been with Index since 2005.
 
     "Index has a proven track record of finding and investing in industry
 changing businesses. The new fund gives us the ability to continue working
 with successful early-stage companies that have become growth
 opportunities, leveraging the knowledge, methodology and network across
 both the venture and growth teams," said Guido Magni.
 
     For more background on Dominique Vidal and Guido Magni, please visit:
 http://www.indexventures.com/team
 
     ABOUT INDEX VENTURES
 
     Index Ventures is a leading European venture capital firm active in
 technology venture investing since 1996. The firm is dedicated to helping
 top entrepreneurial teams in the Information Technology and Life Science
 sectors build their companies into market defining global leaders. The firm
 has offices in Geneva, London and Jersey and focuses on investments from
 seed through growth stage companies. Recent exits include Skype (the
 pioneering communications company acquired by eBay); MySQL (the world's
 most popular open source database recently acquired by Sun), Last.fm (the
 world's largest social music platform, recently acquired by CBS) and
 BioXell (BIOX, floated on the SWX in 2007). For more information, please
 visit http://www.indexventures.com.
 
 
 

SOURCE Index Ventures