Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a transatlantic firm with offices in London, San Francisco, and New York, and a portfolio that has produced category leaders including Adyen, Datadog, Discord, Figma, Notion, Roblox, Wise, and Revolut. The firm is unusual among top-tier US firms in having a genuinely European operating bench (the London office is fully resourced and decision-making, not a satellite), which makes Index a credible lead for European and US founders alike, and a particularly strong partner for founders whose go-to-market spans both continents. For healthcare and AI founders, Index has been an active investor across the AI cycle, with partners including Mark Goldberg, Mike Volpi (now departed but emblematic), Shardul Shah, Sarah Cannon, and others having led major rounds in AI infrastructure and applications, and the firm has made healthcare bets selectively, with a preference for healthcare technology with consumer or enterprise software economics rather than therapeutics or devices. Index has also been a long-standing investor in fintech-meets-healthcare adjacencies (insurance, benefits, payments) where the firm’s enterprise and consumer expertise translates cleanly. Stage focus is seed through growth, with seed checks through Index Origin, Series A leads in the ten-to-twenty-million range, Series B and beyond scaling into the tens and low hundreds, and a willingness to do growth rounds well past one hundred million for breakout companies. Geography is US and Europe with limited but growing activity in Israel; the firm does not maintain India or Asia offices and invests selectively outside its core geographies. Founders who should approach Index are technical founders building software-economics businesses in healthcare or AI, with bonus weight for European founders who want a credible US-and-Europe partner without flying back and forth, and additional weight for founders whose market is genuinely transatlantic. Founders should also approach Index if they value a partnership that has gotten consistently more aggressive on AI in the post-ChatGPT cycle and that has the capital to lead larger rounds at the application layer. Founders who should think twice are pure US-only seed-stage founders for whom a US-only firm with a denser local network might be a better fit, and life-sciences founders whose category Index does not invest in. The cleanest entry path is a warm intro through a portfolio CEO or through Index’s reasonably active scout and operator network. When you pitch, lead with the global market thesis and the team’s ability to operate across geographies, because Index’s superpower is helping companies expand internationally; show that you have thought about the European or US expansion question before the partner asks. Caveats: Index is large, well-capitalized, and brand-name, which means valuations are at the high end of the market and ownership expectations are real; the firm will sometimes pass on rounds where it cannot get its target ownership; and partner involvement post-investment varies by partner, so ask which specific partner will own your relationship and verify that with a portfolio reference call before signing.