Index Ventures Launches Index Origin, a $200 Million Dedicated Seed Fund

APRIL 8, 2021 – SAN FRANCISCO/LONDON — Index Ventures today unveiled Index Origin, a $200 million dedicated seed fund designed to give founders around the world the foundation they need to build tomorrow’s iconic companies. Index Origin brings together the focus and community of a dedicated seed fund, with the resources, network, and reach of a multi-stage global firm. 

“Right now, as an early-stage founder, you’re making a trade-off between a multi-stage venture fund that invests in seed or a dedicated seed fund,” said Nina Achadjian, Partner at Index Ventures. “Index Origin offers founders a platform that scales with them, from inception to IPO. By offering seed-specific resources and by encouraging collaboration and co-investment with seed funds and solo general partners, we want to set up founders for success from day one.”

The new fund reflects the changing needs of founders who are facing increasing pressure to grow, hire, and sign up customers faster than ever in their journey. That means having access to world-class talent, top-tier customers, and an influential network of advisors, as well as more capital to finance rapid growth.

Index Origin is designed as a highly collaborative fund, encouraging co-investing with the world’s leading seed funds, solo general partners, and super angels. This ensures founders benefit from a broad range of support and expert advice in the early stages.  

The launch of Index Origin builds on the firm’s long history of investing at the very early stages. Index is the first institutional backer of many leading technology companies including Adyen, Deliveroo, Figma, Kong, Robinhood, and Wise (formerly known as TransferWise). In the last 18 months, Index has done nearly 40 seed investments, including companies such as Common Room, Fast, Goody, Grid, Remote.com, Resistant AI, and Stytch.

Job van der Voort, founder and CEO of Remote, commented:

“As a founder, choosing the right VC partner is important at every stage of growth, but probably the most critical at seed. Having Index as part of the Remote team from the very beginning, allowed us to attract top talent, sign up customers around the world and grow faster. They subsequently also led our Series A. Having the backing of a top VC firm like Index is something that I’d recommend to every founder.”

“We decided to partner with Index on our pre-seed round – and every subsequent round – because of their incredible commitment to helping founders build great companies,” said Domm Holland, CEO and co-founder of Fast. “At each step of our journey at Fast, Index has been an essential collaborator. The Index team didn’t just invest their money, they also invested their blood, sweat, and tears right alongside us. We couldn’t ask for a better partner from the beginning.”

Index Origin focuses on three core areas of support: recruitment, early adopting customers, and access to the Index family of founders, operators, and mentors. 

1. First Hires: In the early days of a business, getting the team right is crucial. Index Origin’s recruiting team will partner with founders to think through strategies for recruiting and hiring early employees. 
2. Early Adopters: Index Origin will help founders gain access to key decision-makers at well-known companies, with the opportunity to become design partners and help startups with early customer feedback.
3. Operating Experts: Over the last 25 years, Index has built an extensive network of specialists, experts, and authorities across product, sales, finance, operations, and engineering. Founders will have access to this network for help with specific advice or guidance. 

Index supports founders from seed to IPO and beyond. With the launch of a dedicated global seed fund, Index increases the amount of capital available to seed-stage startups, provides tailored support and counsel, and, in partnership with seed investors, gives entrepreneurs the best chance at success from day one. Index Origin brings the total amount raised by the firm in the last 12 months to $2.2bn across three funds. For more information on Index Origin, please visit our website.

About Index Ventures

Index Ventures is a venture firm investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs from seed to IPO. We partner with founders with bold dreams that challenge the status quo to build enduring companies. With offices in San Francisco & London, we invest in entrepreneurs all over the world. Generational Index-backed companies include Adyen, Datadog, Discord, Figma, Robinhood, and Roblox.