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January 22, 2008
Index Ventures Gets Growth Money
Index Ventures sent us the news that it has added a new €400M fund that can invest in so-called growth, or expansion phase, ventures. It has a dual focus, life science and tech, with plans to invest in 15 companies.
The fund is targetting entrepreneurs whose businesses are already generating quick growing sales and who want to grow the business more before doing an IPO or a trade sale.
Investment activity is directed by Index co-founder Giuseppe Zocco (left) and Dominique Vidal (right), previously CEO of Yahoo! Europe and co-founder of Kelkoo. He was with Paris-based Banexi before that. (Image source: Index Ventures)
Going straight from self-funding to a pre-IPO round, or a pre-trade sale round, has become more common in Europe in recent years. We can think of several examples in the French market particularly.
AGF Private Equity, acquired a minority stake in French dating site Meetic.com (IPO) and was able to get a relatively rapid return when the firm floated a year or so later, while 3i did well with Seloger.com (IPO), also in France.
US venture funds like Summit Partners have for several years been active in the growth sector in Europe. For example, it acquired a majority stake in the Samwer brothers Jamba venture back in 2003 for $40M and then did a dual track IPO/M&A strategy which led to the company being acquired in 2004 by Verisign for $273M.
It recently acquired a stake Vente Privée, the fast growing French private sale company.
Other VC firms that say they are active in the later stage European tech venture market and that have raised new funds since the post-bubble-downturn include Invision, Kennet and Iris Capital.
The fact that Index has now also entered this stage in addition to its early stage foucs, and was able to raise the fund quickly, suggests that limited partner types see plenty of opportunity in Europe these days.
Zocco said as much in a statement: “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.”
See also Index Ventures fund eyes maturing European tech | Special Coverage | Reuters
Index Sets Sights l Financial Times
Posted on January 22, 2008 08:09 AM | Posted to News And Updates | Permalink
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