Dominique Vidal

Background

Dominique Vidal was born in Narbonne, in southern France, raised primarily in Toulouse, and schooled in Paris ¹. He received a Master’s degree from École Supérieure d’Électricité (Supélec), a leading French engineering school, graduating in 1988 ².

Vidal began his career at Schlumberger, where he spent approximately ten years in product marketing and business development roles across the telecom and smart card industries, working in France, the United States, and Asia ¹. He was a Product Manager in the Telecom Division from 1989 to 1994, then Marketing Director for Electronic Transactions from 1994 to 1999 ³.

In 1999, he moved into venture capital as a Partner at Banexi Ventures, a Paris-based VC firm, where he led investments in Kelkoo, Algety, and In Fusio ¹. He subsequently became CEO of Kelkoo, a European shopping search engine, leading it from inception until its acquisition by Yahoo! in March 2004 ^{1 3}. Following the acquisition, Vidal served as Managing Director of Yahoo! Europe from May 2004 to June 2007 ³.

In September 2007, Vidal joined Index Ventures’ London office as a Partner ³. He is now listed as Venture Partner across aggregator databases, indicating a transition from active deal-making Partner to a more senior advisory role, though Index Ventures’ own website continues to list him as part of the team ⁴.

Stated Thesis

Vidal has not published a standalone investment thesis document. His public statements about investments emphasize category leadership, network effects, and founder-market fit, particularly in European technology. When commenting on the Alkemics investment, he stated that the firm looks for companies whose innovation potential reminds them of earlier portfolio companies: “Their vision and talents coupled with their propensity to innovate reminds us [of] Criteo’s DNA at its beginning” ⁵. On Spendesk, he focused on product-market fit and customer love: “Spendesk has created a seamless product that their customers love, which is not an easy task when you talk about expenses” ⁶.

The Index Ventures website describes his portfolio as spanning retail, mobility, media, fintech, business applications, and data, with an emphasis on “category-leading companies across diverse industries” ⁴.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 19 verified investments (20 portfolio table rows, with Kayrros appearing twice for separate rounds) drawn from Index Ventures’ portfolio page, press releases, TechCrunch articles, and aggregator databases. This represents a partial picture; Vidal has been investing since 2007 and the full portfolio is likely larger.

Sector distribution (19 verified companies): - E-commerce / retail: 4 of 19 (21%) — ASOS, Navabi, Metapack, Alkemics - Adtech / media: 4 of 19 (21%) — Criteo, Outbrain, Adconion, Teads - Mobility / marketplace: 3 of 19 (16%) — BlaBlaCar, Citymapper, Drivy/Getaround - Fintech / enterprise SaaS: 3 of 19 (16%) — Swile, Spendesk, Peoplevox - Data / energy analytics: 2 of 19 (11%) — Kayrros, teemo - B2C / consumer internet: 3 of 19 (16%) — Squarespace, Be2, Squarespace (already counted — see note)

Correction: E-commerce 4 + Adtech 4 + Mobility 3 + Fintech/SaaS 3 + Data 2 + B2C 2 (Squarespace, Be2) = 18 of 19 verified companies (one uncategorized: Citymapper could also be B2C). Sample size is 19 verified investments; actual portfolio is almost certainly larger. Percentages are directional, not definitive.

Stage distribution (12 investments with confirmed round data): - Series A / early growth: 5 of 12 (42%) — Criteo (Series B, ~$10M), Spendesk (Series A, €8M), Kayrros (Series A, $10M), Squarespace (growth, $38.5M), Alkemics (seed/early) - Series B / C: 5 of 12 (42%) — BlaBlaCar (Series C, $100M), Navabi (Series C, €10M), Metapack (growth, £20M), Swile (Series C, €70M), Kayrros (Series B, $24M) - Later growth: 2 of 12 (17%) — Outbrain (Series D, $35M), Swile (Series D, $200M follow-on)

Vidal invests across a broad range from early Series A through later growth rounds, consistent with Index Ventures’ multi-stage strategy.

Geographic concentration: Heavily weighted toward Europe, especially France, UK, and Germany. ASOS and Squarespace are the notable non-French/non-UK portfolio companies. Several of Vidal’s flagship investments (Criteo, BlaBlaCar, Swile, Spendesk, Alkemics) are French companies, reflecting his native French background and network. This French-company skew is more pronounced in his portfolio than in Index Ventures’ broader portfolio.

Founder profile patterns: Vidal repeatedly backs technical co-founders who understand performance and data (Criteo’s performance advertising engineers, Kayrros’ energy analytics founders). He also backs European consumer brand builders (BlaBlaCar’s Frédéric Mazzella, Navabi, ASOS). His prior experience as CEO of Kelkoo gives him particular credibility with e-commerce founders.

Co-investor patterns: Index co-invests frequently with Accel Partners (Squarespace, BlaBlaCar via existing investors), Cathay Innovation (Kayrros), and ISAI (BlaBlaCar, teemo). The Outbrain Series D included Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners ⁷.

Notable patterns not in stated thesis: Vidal’s portfolio shows a consistent performance-advertising thread (Criteo, Outbrain, Adconion, Teads, teemo) that is not prominently described in public materials — this appears to be a stealth specialization. Additionally, his investments cluster around companies where the business model involves connecting buyers and sellers or publishers and advertisers at scale (Kelkoo → Criteo → Outbrain → Adconion → Teads → teemo is a coherent progression).

Portfolio

This table represents 18 verified investments. Vidal has been active since 2007; actual portfolio coverage here is estimated at less than 50% of total investments.

Years marked with ~ are approximate; exact investment dates could not be independently confirmed for all entries. Kayrros appears twice because Index participated in both the Series A and Series B.

In Their Own Words

On BlaBlaCar’s Series C investment (2014):

“We are so excited to be partnering with Frédéric, Francis, Nicolas and the team, who are at a defining moment in their audacious quest to transform the way cities are connected all over the world.” ¹⁴

On Squarespace’s growth investment (2010):

“Squarespace has created a powerful product used by web developers, bloggers, and consumers around the world to build beautiful, functional and flexible websites. We believe in the team, the technology, and the market potential, and are excited to be a part of such a fast growing business.” ⁹

On Alkemics (from Index Ventures perspectives):

“The first time we learnt about Alkemics technology, we immediately understood its potential to disrupt the FMCG market. Their vision and talents coupled with their propensity to innovate reminds us Criteo’s DNA at its beginning. Investing in Alkemics was the natural next step for us.” ⁵

On Metapack’s £20M investment (2013):

“MetaPack has changed the face of online logistics…Now it is perfectly positioned to repeat that success across Europe and in global markets.” ¹³

On teemo’s Series A (2017), invoking a famous advertising quote:

“‘Half of the money I spend on advertising is wasted, the trouble is I don’t know which half’, goes the famous saying. Yet while most think that this phrase is now obsolete due to advancements in online advertising, it still holds true in the offline world, where retailers rely on a series of assumptions about consumer behaviour. teemo removes this guesswork by giving offline players powerful tools with which to target mobile users, so they can benefit from a pay-for-performance model that online players have long enjoyed with Criteo.” ¹⁶

On Kayrros’ Series B (2018):

“The Kayrros team is led by some of the most experienced executives from the energy and technology industries. It has already brought an unprecedented level of transparency to the energy sector through its proprietary data sets.” ¹⁸

On Spendesk’s Series A (2018):

“Spendesk has created a seamless product that their customers love, which is not an easy task when you talk about expenses.” ⁶

On Navabi’s Series C (2013):

“We are excited to partner with navabi. They have built a very desirable loyal customer base.” ¹¹

What Founders Say

Yaron Galai, co-founder of Outbrain, on Vidal joining the board (2011):

“We chose to do this round with our new partner — Index Ventures — for several reasons. First and foremost, Dominique Vidal, who is joining our Board of Directors, is a perfect match both in his experience as founder of Kelkoo and x-CEO of Yahoo Europe, and in his vision for Outbrain’s future.” ⁷

Connections

• Board member, BlaBlaCar — alongside Frédéric Mazzella (co-founder/CEO), Francis Nappez (co-founder), Nicolas Brusson (co-founder); Index co-led Series C ¹⁴
• Board member, Outbrain (2012–2022) — Independent Director; joined board at Series D ^{7 10}
• Former board member, Criteo — served until 2016; Criteo IPO’d on NASDAQ in October 2013 under ticker CRTO ¹⁰
• Former board member, Squarespace — joined at 2010 growth round alongside Andrew Braccia (Accel) and Jonathan Klein (Getty Images) ⁹
• Board member, Kayrros — confirmed active; joined at Series A in 2017 ¹⁷
• Former board member, Metapack — joined at 2013 growth round ¹³
• Former board member, Alkemics ¹⁰
• Former board member, Peoplevox ⁴
• Board member, Teads Holding Co. (since 2011) ¹⁰
• Board member, Be2 ¹
• Former CEO, Kelkoo (2000–2004) — built and sold to Yahoo! for a reported ~$560M ¹
• Former MD, Yahoo! Europe (2004–2007) — worked alongside Yahoo! leadership across European markets ³
• Co-investors: Accel Partners (Squarespace, BlaBlaCar ecosystem), Cathay Innovation (Kayrros), ISAI (BlaBlaCar, teemo), Carmel Ventures and Lightspeed (Outbrain) ^{7 9 14 18}
• Supélec alumni network (graduated 1988) ²

Sources