Succession is one of the most underestimated topics in venture capital. While public attention tends to focus on valuations, fundraising cycles, or headline-grabbing exits, the true long-term fate of many VC firms is decided elsewhere: in how well they manage the transition of power, knowledge, and culture from one generation to the next.

Few firms are better suited to illustrate this than Index Ventures.

From Geneva to the World: A European Outlier

Founded in Geneva in 1982, Index Ventures has grown into one of the very few venture capital firms that has successfully scaled across continents and market cycles. With deep roots in Europe, London, and Silicon Valley, Index has built a global platform that connects founders, talent, and capital at the highest level.

In 2025, the firm reached a new peak. Multiple large exits generated exceptional distributions to limited partners, often from funds that were already many years old. A standout example was Index’s early investment in Figma, which turned an initial multi-million-dollar check into a multi-billion-dollar return after the IPO. Additional strong outcomes came from portfolio companies such as Wiz, acquired by Google, and Scale AI, which exited to Meta.

These results reinforce Index’s reputation not just as a top-performing fund, but as an institutional outlier in global venture capital.

Strength Brings a Different Question

It is precisely from this position of strength that Index is now turning inward, toward questions of leadership, succession, and the preparation of the next generation of partners. This matters because venture capital remains a deeply people-driven business. When founding or star partners step back without a clear transition plan, firms can quickly lose decision quality, deal access, or cultural coherence.

Sustainability in VC is therefore not only about picking great companies. It is about building an organization in which experience, judgment, and networks can be transferred deliberately rather than disappearing with individuals.

Index’s willingness to engage openly with this challenge is a sign of institutional maturity.

Time, Patience, and Selection as a System

A core reason for Index’s success lies in its long-term mindset. The firm has never optimized for quick wins or short-term market momentum. Instead, it has consistently backed companies with the potential to become category-defining leaders and stayed committed to them over many years.

The Figma investment is emblematic: an early conviction, sustained through multiple market cycles, that ultimately produced a generational outcome. This approach cannot be reduced to a single partner’s intuition; it must be embedded in how decisions are made, debated, and taught internally.

Succession, in this context, becomes a strategic question: can these principles survive beyond the individuals who originally shaped them?

Who Takes Over?

According to Bloomberg, succession at Index Ventures is being handled deliberately and transparently by shifting influence from the founding generation to a clearly identifiable next cohort of partners, rather than staging a single leadership handover.

The firm’s long-time leaders, including Neil Rimer and Danny Rimer, remain closely involved but are gradually stepping back from day-to-day decision-making. Alongside them, senior figures such as Mike Volpi who played a central role in building Index’s European technology franchise are increasingly focused on stewardship, mentoring, and preserving the firm’s culture.

Operational leadership and investment responsibility, however, is moving toward a next generation of partners who have already led some of Index’s most successful bets. Bloomberg highlights figures such as Martin Mignot, Jan Hammer, Nina Achadjian, and Shardul Shah as representatives of this cohort. These partners are not newcomers: they have been at Index for many years, sat on boards through multiple cycles, and shaped the firm’s recent generation of category-defining investments.

Crucially, Bloomberg notes that Index is not anointing a single successor. Instead, leadership is being distributed across a group that already commands internal credibility and external trust from founders and LPs alike. The founding partners transition from being primary decision-makers to long-term custodians of standards, judgment, and values.

This named, multi-partner transition model reinforces Index’s core institutional thesis: that enduring venture capital firms are built not around individual stars, but around partnerships that can renew themselves. Quietly, incrementally, and without disrupting performance.

What This Means for European Venture Capital

Index Ventures also carries broader symbolic weight. Its long-term global performance has helped shift perceptions of Europe’s role in venture capital. Europe is no longer merely a talent pool or a feeder system for U.S. funds. It is home to firms capable of building enduring, world-class VC institutions.

For other European funds, the lesson is clear. Long-term success is not built on timing alone, nor on one exceptional fund vintage. It requires deliberate organizational design, including early thinking about leadership transition, ownership structures, and cultural continuity.

Conclusion

The discussion around the next generation at Index Ventures is not a sign of decline. It is a signal of confidence. It reflects an understanding that venture capital, at its best, is a multi-decade endeavor.

In a market where many firms struggle with identity, returns, and relevance, Index offers a quieter but more durable message: truly great venture firms are not just built. They are successfully handed over.