Mike Volpi talks about Index Ventures' investment strategy that led to six $1B+ exits for its startups this year, investments in Europe, fintech, and more
Index Ventures is quietly encroaching into the top tier of American investors. Here are five questions with them.
Context & Ripple Effects
A month before this interview, Index Ventures closed $1.65B across its early-stage and growth funds — its largest raise to that point — so Volpi's pitch here lands at the moment the firm is converting a European base into US-scale firepower. Six $1B+ exits in one year, plus a deliberate Europe-and-fintech thesis, is the evidence he offers that a London-Geneva-rooted firm belongs in the American top tier.
The later coverage validates the arc Volpi describes: the firm's fund sizes step up every cycle — $2B closed in 2020, then $2.3B in 2024 explicitly aimed at AI bets like Mistral and Cohere — culminating in [[a:888813|$11B+ in proceeds from Figma's IPO, Google's Wiz acquisition, and Meta's Scale AI investment]]. This 2018 conversation is the early statement of the strategy those numbers compounded from.
First-order effects
- Limited partners reading the six-exit year get direct evidence for re-upping into Index's next vintage, right as the firm has just raised $1.65B and needs to deploy it.
Second-order effects
- US top-tier firms competing for European breakout deals now face a rival that can lead both seed and growth rounds locally, pressuring them to open or expand continental offices rather than wait for startups to relocate.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the industry consolidates around a small set of multi-stage firms whose fund sizes and exit proceeds compound each cycle — raising the capital bar for any new entrant trying to reach the top tier.
The trend: Venture capital is concentrating in a handful of multi-stage firms whose successive fund raises and exit windfalls compound into durable top-tier status, with Index Ventures' 2018-to-2025 progression a clean data point.