Danny Rimer

Reviewed Updated Mar 18, 2026

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Partner at Index Ventures since 2002, ranked #1 on Forbes Midas List Europe (2025). Portfolio of 24 verified investments skews 33% consumer e-commerce, 21% creator economy, 13% design tools, with seed-stage wins in Figma, Dropbox (IPO), and Etsy (IPO). Known for backing design-obsessed founders and cultural 'phenomena' over market size analysis.

Location London, United Kingdom

Check Size $1M-$50M

Last Verified Investment Granola (Series C) — Mar 25, 2026

Social @dannyrimer LinkedIn

Stage Focus

Sector Focus

consumer design-tools e-commerce creator-economy fintech gaming enterprise

Background

Danny Rimer OBE is a partner at Index Ventures, the global venture capital firm. Born in Canada and raised in Geneva, Switzerland, Rimer has Belgian and Canadian heritage. His father is Gerald Rimer, the founder of Index Securities, the predecessor to Index Ventures; his brothers Neil and David also work for the firm ¹.

Rimer graduated from Harvard University with a Bachelor of Arts in history and literature ¹. He then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he joined Hambrecht & Quist as an underwriting analyst. There he established the boutique investment bank’s internet sector equity research group and worked on the IPOs of Amazon, Netscape, and VeriSign ¹.

In 1999, Rimer became a General Partner of The Barksdale Group, where he invested in a dozen companies including Crossgain (acquired by BEA Systems), Ofoto (acquired by Kodak), and Tellme Networks (acquired by Microsoft) ¹.

In 2002, Rimer joined Index Ventures and established the firm’s London office ¹. He later opened the firm’s San Francisco office in 2012, before returning to London in 2018 ¹. He has been ranked by Forbes on the Midas List as one of the world’s top investors for over a decade ². He was named #1 on the Forbes Midas List Europe in 2025, following Figma’s IPO ³. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to business and charity ¹.

Stated Thesis

Rimer publicly describes his focus as backing founders passionate about design and the intersection of technology and culture. On his investment approach, he has stated: “Our job is spotting someone trying to spark lightning in a bottle working out of their garage and we have to figure out whether they’re the right people to do this, that they have been placed on this Earth to go after this global ambition. We then work tirelessly to help them get there.” ⁴

He is explicitly skeptical of traditional total-addressable-market analysis: “We learned a long time ago to think of the total available market as noise, and we’re probably going to get it wrong.” ⁵ Instead, he looks for founders who are attacking cultural or behavioral shifts — what he calls “phenomena” — rather than fitting neatly into an existing market ⁵.

Rimer emphasizes founder talent above market size or sector thesis: “From an Index standpoint, it’s always been the people. Of course, you need to have the markets and technologies aligned. But the talent is really what’s going to drive the difference. Index will always back a phenomenal team in a crappy market, rather than the inverse.” ⁶

He also articulates that founders must have global ambitions from the outset: “The level of ambition necessary to create a global business cannot be underestimated.” ⁷

Index Ventures’ public positioning frames the firm as an “outsider” with an external, unbiased perspective unclouded by embedded market positions — a characteristic Rimer ties to the firm’s European origins ⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 24 verified portfolio investments attributable to Rimer (from sources listed below; this represents a partial view of his investment activity over 20+ years):

Stage distribution: Rimer invests from seed through growth. Verified investments include seed (Figma 2013, Last.fm 2006), early-stage Series A/B (Farfetch 2012, Patreon 2014, Etsy 2010, Glossier 2016, Beauty Pie 2019), and growth/late-stage (Dropbox Series B 2011, Skype buyout 2009, Linktree Series C 2022). His most celebrated returns — Figma, Dropbox, Etsy — were seed or early-stage entries, suggesting conviction-based early bets are central to his strategy.

Sector distribution (24 verified investments): - Consumer / retail / e-commerce: Etsy, Farfetch, 1stdibs, Glossier, Beauty Pie, Anine Bing, GOAT, Net-A-Porter — 8 companies (33%) - Creator economy / media / social: Patreon, Linktree, Last.fm, Discord, Flipboard — 5 companies (21%) - Design / productivity / enterprise software: Figma, Common Room, Notion (partial data) — 3 companies (13%) - Infrastructure / developer tools: MySQL, Dropbox — 2 companies (8%) - Gaming / entertainment: King, Dream Games — 2 companies (8%) - Fintech: Boku, Betfair — 2 companies (8%) - Other (VoIP/communications, food): Skype, Good Eggs — 2 companies (8%)

Sample note: 24 verified investments represents a partial view; Rimer has been investing since 2002 and the full portfolio is considerably larger. Percentages should be read as indicative directional patterns, not statistically definitive.

Geographic patterns: Rimer has backed both US-headquartered companies (Figma, Dropbox, Patreon, Discord, Etsy) and European companies (Farfetch, Last.fm, Betfair, King, Beauty Pie, Linktree [Australia]). His cross-Atlantic positioning — opening London then San Francisco offices — reflects a genuine geographic range rather than purely domestic focus.

Founder profile patterns: Rimer has demonstrated strong pattern of backing design-obsessed founders at very early stages before commercial proof: Dylan Field (Figma, age 19), Emily Weiss (Glossier, pre-revenue blog-to-brand), José Neves (Farfetch, unusual fashion/tech hybrid). He has also backed technical infrastructure founders (Marten Mickos at MySQL) and gaming entrepreneurs (Riccardo Zacconi at King). The “cultural phenomenon” lens — backing companies that become part of how people live and create — runs across consumer and creator-economy investments.

Co-investor patterns: Index Ventures co-invested with Benchmark Capital (MySQL), Sequoia (Dropbox Series B), and Insight Partners (Beauty Pie). As a large-fund multi-stage investor, Rimer participates alongside a wide range of co-investors.

Notable gaps: Despite stated focus on design and culture, Rimer has publicly cited missing Airbnb and Snapchat as significant misses ⁸. His portfolio does not prominently feature pure SaaS or B2B enterprise software, despite some enterprise tools (Figma, Common Room) being present. He has been less active in pure deep-tech or biotech.

Portfolio

Company	Year	Stage	Source
Skype	2004	Series B	⁹
MySQL	2003	Series B	¹⁰
Last.fm	2006	Series A	¹¹
Betfair	~2002	Early	¹²
Etsy	2010	Series E	¹³
Dropbox	2011	Series B	¹⁴
Farfetch	2012	Series B	¹⁵
Figma	2013	Seed	⁵
Patreon	2014	Series A	¹⁶
1stdibs	~2011	Growth	²
Flipboard	~2011	Growth	²
King	~2005	Growth	¹⁷
Glossier	2016	Series B	¹⁸
Good Eggs	~2013	Series A	¹⁹
GOAT	~2016	Series A	²
Anine Bing	~2018	Series A	²
Discord	2020	Series F (lead)	²⁰
Beauty Pie	2019	Series B (lead)	²¹
Common Room	~2020	Series A	²
Dream Games	~2020	Series A	²
Linktree	2021	Series B	²²
Linktree	2022	Series C	²³
Net-A-Porter	~2004	Growth	²
Notion	~2019	Series A	²
Granola	2026	Series C (led, $125M)	²⁸

In Their Own Words

On what he looks for in founders:

“Our job is spotting someone trying to spark lightning in a bottle working out of their garage and we have to figure out whether they’re the right people to do this, that they have been placed on this Earth to go after this global ambition. We then work tirelessly to help them get there.” ⁴

On market sizing:

“We learned a long time ago to think of the total available market as noise, and we’re probably going to get it wrong.” ⁵

On talent over market:

“From an Index standpoint, it’s always been the people. Of course, you need to have the markets and technologies aligned. But the talent is really what’s going to drive the difference. Index will always back a phenomenal team in a crappy market, rather than the inverse.” ⁶

On gut instinct vs. analytical frameworks:

“What is the first reaction that you have to the founder, to the opportunity? How does it make you feel?” ⁸

On the role of design:

“Design was sort of what architecture was in the early 20th century, during the Bauhaus movement. Everyone was talking about being a designer of apps, of software, of fashion. It was a term that became synonymous with the future.” ⁵

On backing Dylan Field (Figma) at seed:

“Here was this 19-year-old, who had a lot of clarity about what he wanted to do — democratize the world of design, and provide tools to everyone. He had this ambition of dropping out of university to go after this crazy idea, where it’s clear that he’s not going to be able to come up with a product for over two years. In the world of move-fast-break-things, here were two folks who were saying, ‘We’re not going to have anything for two years, so we hope you’re comfortable with that.’” ⁵

On Dylan Field’s character:

“Dylan has shown that one can be ambitious and humble. Commercial and community-minded. Visionary and deeply human.” ²⁴

On building sustainable businesses:

“Fundamentally you can’t build something of substance if your desire or your goal is to sell it; it’s just not going to happen.” ²⁵

On his role as board member:

“I end up spending a lot less time talking and spending a lot more time listening and figuring out what is the one piece of key advice that I want to provide.” ⁷

On honest investor-founder relationships:

“The fastest way to build a strong, transparent relationship with founders is to make myself vulnerable by asking for constructive criticism and showing willingness to learn from their feedback.” ⁴

On Farfetch founder José Neves at IPO:

“Taking the company public confirms Farfetch as the leading technology platform for the global luxury fashion industry, and much of that credit goes to the remarkable patience and vision of its founder, José Neves, and the strength of an awesome team.” ²⁶

On the Linktree investment:

“What Linktree has created is a new and deeper way to connect with the brands and people that matter to you. It reflects the changing nature of these relationships, where we place much more value on transparency and authenticity. In an online world which is fragmented and noisy, Linktree is the only link you will ever need. But it’s more than a link. It is a starting point for building a closer connection.” ²²

On Beauty Pie:

“BEAUTY PIE delivers huge value to its customers demonstrated by exceptional member loyalty over many years.” ²¹

On Discord:

“I’ve always said that life on this earth is about people, which is why I love the Discord team and why we are excited to lead their most recent $100 million round.” ²⁰

On Discord’s founders:

“Jason, along with CTO and co-founder Stan Vishnevskiy, have both proved to be unusually scalable entrepreneurs who are growing in ambition and capability with the business.” ²⁰

What Founders Say

Emily Weiss, Founder and CEO of Glossier, on Danny Rimer as an investor (quoted on Index Ventures’ website):

“He’s been tremendously helpful as we build the future beauty company.” ²⁷

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials beyond the Index Ventures website quote were found. The Danny Rimer–Figma relationship is extensively documented from Rimer’s perspective (13 years of board service, weekly calls with Dylan Field), but Dylan Field’s direct statements about working with Rimer were not available in accessible sources at time of research.