Index Ventures raised $2bn to bet harder on AI. Its own co-founder says the winnings should be handed back.

Index Ventures has raised $2bn in fresh capital, lifting its war chest to $3.5bn, and it plans to spend most of it on AI. The timing is awkward. One of the firm’s own co-founders has warned that the wealth AI is minting will, one way or another, have to be handed back.

The London-based firm announced the funds on Friday, marking its 30th year. They split into a $400m seed fund, a $900m venture fund, and an extra $700m for its 2024 growth fund, which now stands at $2.2bn. The money spans its home ground of Europe, Israel and the US.

The raise follows a banner year. Index was the largest outside backer of Wiz, the security firm Google bought for $32bn, a stake reportedly worth about $3.8bn to the fund. Add Figma’s IPO and a secondary that valued Revolut at $115bn, and, as Sifted reported, the firm booked close to $9bn.

Doubling down on AI

Most of the new money is heading back into the market that produced those returns. Index holds a stake in Anthropic and backs Mistral, the inference platform Fireworks AI, and the robotics firm Physical Intelligence. AI drew a reported 41% of all venture investment in the year to mid-2026.

That concentration is the story of the moment. Money keeps pouring into a handful of AI names while founders in other sectors face the hardest fundraising market in years. Index, with fresh billions and a strong record, can raise through it. Many smaller managers cannot.

The co-founder’s warning

Neil Rimer, who co-founded Index and stepped back from daily investing in 2021, sees a reckoning coming. He told TechCrunch he has “a strong sense that there will be some sort of a redistribution” of AI wealth. The choice, he said, is to act voluntarily now or face a correction later.

His firm is doing the opposite of pulling back. It is deploying more, faster, into the sector he is uneasy about. The instinct to give is fading elsewhere, too. The Giving Pledge drew 113 signatures in its first five years, and just four in 2024.

None of this is Index’s failing alone. It is how the industry works. But it leaves a pointed question hanging. The people who have gained most from the AI boom can see the imbalance it is creating. Whether any of them act before they are made to is another matter.