Venture veteran Danny Rymer has risen to the highest of the Midas List Europe due to writing the primary verify for $20 billion design startup Figma. Here’s how Index Ventures’ companions landed offers this 12 months.
T.Glowing black-and-white portraits off the partitions of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art did not provide a lot aid from powerful conversations for Figma co-founder Dylan Field. Their collaborative design instrument was a giant hit, however the four-year-old startup wasn’t turning a revenue. Now his lead investor, Danny Rimer of his Index Ventures, was pressuring him to start out charging customers. “Danny inspired me to be extra industrial,” says Field.
Field feared charging customers would stall Figma’s explosive progress and his grasp plan to exchange PhotoShop because the go-to instrument for creatives. But including a month-to-month subscription, which he begins at $12 per person, did not decelerate adoption and put Figma on observe to earn his $400 million projected income in 2022. rice area. In September, Adobe will Acquired for $20 billion This is the most important acquisition of a non-public know-how firm in historical past. “I resisted fairly a bit on the time as a result of I believed I wasn’t prepared, however trying again, Danny was completely proper,” says Field.
The deal (not but accomplished) represents a $2.6 billion windfall for one in all them, Index Ventures. Figma’s largest shareholder. This exit additionally removes Rimer from Midas List Europe 2022.
Rimer Europe list It was a world pillar after returning to London in 2018. List of Midas Dropbox, Etsy, and Patreon From the San Francisco workplace of Index Ventures, which he based in 2011.
“Figma is a classic venture capital story,” says Saul Klein, a co-founder and accomplice at LocalGlobe and a former Index accomplice who additionally invested in Figma. “From concept to exit, Danny was greater than only a bystander. He was encouraging and supportive each step of the best way.”
Rimer’s seed of writing the primary checks in Figma had deep roots.The Swiss-Canadian investor then met 17 year old field It occurred whereas he was interning at one other funding, Flipboard. The pair reconnected when Field and his co-founder Evan Wallace later began elevating cash. figma“Danny instantly understood what we have been doing, in all probability higher than I used to be. He known as me hours after our first assembly with the time period sheet,” Field mentioned. enhance.
Figma’s progress was evident at weekly conferences at SFMOMA, of which Rimer additionally served on the board. “By taking the conversation from a neutral standpoint and seeing great work in another medium, we were able to talk about more challenging topics,” he says.
Today, Rymer’s new house in London’s prosperous Mayfair district overlooks the Royal Academy of Arts, a design mecca. A statue of Archimedes friends into the workplace home windows of a gallery-like index of work by British summary artist Jeremy Moon. An avid artwork collector, his Mr. Rimer now tate gallery, has curated enterprise investments. “Many VCs understand numbers, but Danny is the rare investor who also has a taste,” says Field.
Born in Canada, Reimer grew up in Geneva, Switzerland earlier than transferring to the United States to check artwork historical past at college. After a bid to construct his personal art-focused startup stalled, he coated his IPOs of Amazon, Yahoo, and different dot-com shares as an analyst. “I realized in faculty that he had two passions: the web and artwork,” he says Rimer. “I attempted to marry them each, however then I noticed I did not wish to be within the artwork world. I needed to work with web entrepreneurs.”
Rimer joined his brothers Neill and David after beginning to spend money on startups on the Barksdale Group. The brothers based Index Ventures in Switzerland in 1996 with the thought of bringing Silicon Valley investments to Europe. Fittingly, Rimer returned from the Bay Area and injected West Coast know-how into the opening of his Index London workplace in 2002. A love movie sponsored by Rymer.
A November 2016 dinner at an Italian restaurant in North Beach helped energy one in all Rimer’s different main investments: social messaging platform Discord. The firm’s co-founder and CEO, Jason Citron, mentioned: discordant Growing up, Rimer known as me the subsequent day with a proposal. He ended up main his $50 million Series E spherical of the startup, funded by Discord. $500 million The September 2021 valuation is $14.2 billion.
“We felt it was an easy way to raise money, and that comes from his belief in what it means to be ‘great,’” says Citron. “To today, I’ve by no means performed a partner-his assembly utilizing his listed slide deck.”
This low-key, understated method, together with a compelling observe document, contacts, and worldwide perspective, appears to draw founders. Bliss founder Marcia Kilgore turned to Rimer to boost its first enterprise funding for brand spanking new startup Beauty Pie.
Raimer isn’t the loudest within the boardroom. But his recommendation, gained from his expertise backing greater than 22 unicorn firms, means he has the ears of each traders and founders. And it is a present,” says Kilgore, who raised $100 million for the Cosmetics Membership Club.
Venture traders themselves prefer to tout the advantages of sample matching. Reimer warns that that capacity has an expiration date, and plenty of older traders have misplaced the power to attach with entrepreneurs and make the worst investments later of their careers. “You’ve been positive for a time frame after which it is time to retire,” he says Rimer. “When I get to be my entrepreneurial grandfather’s age, I will not be capable to discover the subsequent Discord.”
Rimer calls the Index’s hands-on investing method “artisan,” which appears considerably conventional in comparison with the aggressive growth of some rival funds.The Index’s personal progress plans are modest as compared: including new companions Tel Aviv Earlier this 12 months, new york office Led by fellow Midas List Europe traders Martin Migneau in October. “Every resolution we make could be very deliberate,” he says Rimer. “It took him 10 years to open San Francisco, and it took him 10 years to determine to open New York.”
This conservative method has additionally led Rimer and Index to largely shun crypto startups at a time when a lot of their rivals threw themselves into what Rimer is now dubbing Web 3.0.Delusion.”. “We spent a ton of time on cryptocurrencies and decided not to invest,” he mentioned. “I’m happy with that self-discipline.”
For the full Midas List Europe, click here.
What has excited Rimer lately is the burgeoning creator economic system expressed in investments like Discord, subscription platform Patreon, and web site builder Squarespace, which went public in May 2021 at a valuation of $2.4 billion. “It may sound exaggerated, but I am drawn to entrepreneurs who build businesses that have a cultural impact,” he says Rimer.
E-commerce startups with manufacturers that assist join with buyers are additionally a giant draw for Rimer.classic market Acquisition of Grailed October’s Goat is Rimer’s newest exit, and he is nonetheless counting Emily Weiss’ magnificence unicorns. glossyCosmetic Purchase Club beauty pie and sustainable on-line retailers Otrium in his portfolio.
Back in Index’s London workplace, Rimer is uncharacteristically optimistic concerning the prospects for European startups, regardless of a know-how slowdown and the battle in Ukraine. “There were always good entrepreneurs in the early days, but very little talent,” he says Rimer. “Success stories like Adienfarfetch, Spotify Encouraging operators to join startups has put the entire ecosystem on par with the US. ”
Rimer interrupts himself by making an attempt to retrieve a guide about Diana Arbus’s “outsider” portrait pictures. Investors on the prowl at the moment are in acquainted territory, however apparently drawn to her topic and founder carving her personal path. “It’s the outsider standing I really feel comfy with, and the identical is true for many people on the Index.”
