好英语网Index Ventures 新基金募资逾4亿美元
LONDON – The European venture capital firm Index Ventures has raised 350 million euros ($442 million) to invest in early stage start-ups in both Europe and the United States.
伦敦——欧洲风险投资公司Index Ventures募资3亿5千万欧元（约4亿4千2百万美元）投资于美国和欧洲的早期创业公司。
The announcement comes despite bleak prospects for Europe’s economy, which continues to suffer from the Continent-wide financial crisis.
这项公告出台之际正值欧洲经济前景低迷，整个大陆持续收到金融危机的影响。
The venture capital industry also has been affected. Firms in Europe have raised $2.1 billion so far this year, a 58 percent drop compared to the same period last year, according to the data provider Thomson Reuters. Fund-raising for North American venture capitalist firms has fallen 52 percent over the same period.
风险投资行业也受到了影响。据汤森路透的数据显示，截至目前为止，欧洲风险投资公司在今年募资21亿美元，与去年同期相比减少了58%。北美风投公司的募资额则在同一时期内下降52%。
Index Ventures, which is headquartered in Geneva with offices in London and San Francisco, will focus its new round of fundraising on early stage start-ups on the West Coast, New York and several burgeoning tech hubs across Europe.
Index Ventures总部位于日内瓦，并在伦敦和旧金山设有办公室。它的新一轮融资主要针对美国西岸、纽约和欧洲几个发展迅速的科技中心城市的早期创业公司。
Recently, cities like London and Berlin have become centers from entrepreneurs specializingin industries like technology, financial services and fashion.
近年来，像伦敦和柏林这样的城市已经成为科技、金融服务和时尚业企业家的聚集地。
Earlier this year, Index raised a 150 million euro fund ($189 million) in collaboration with GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson to invest in life science start-ups. In late 2011, the firm also raised 500 million for a new fund focused on later-stage investments.
在今年早些时候，Index通过与葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline） 及强生（Johnson &Johnson）公司的合作募集了1.5亿欧元（1.89亿美元），以投资于生命科学创业公司。2011年后半年，Index公司为一个针对后期投资的新基金募资5亿欧元。
Danny Rimer, a partner at Index Ventures, said the new fund-raising would be aimed at companies working in a small number of sectors, including mobile, commerce and cloud computing.
Index Ventures合伙人丹尼·赖默（Danny Rimer ）称新一轮募资将针对手机、商业和云计算等少数几个行业内的企业。
“We continue to look for companies that have global ambitions,” Mr. Rimer said, adding that the fund-raising was completed in less than two months at the beginning of the year. “In the end, start-ups can pop up from anywhere.”
“我们会继续寻找具有全球视野的公司，”赖默补充说，此次融资在年初两个月内就全部完成。“最终，创业公司可有可能出现在任何地方。”
Index has previously backed a flurry of successful European start-ups, including Skype and the Internet radio station last.fm. And despite the Continent’s current financial problems, Mr. Rimer said the crisis still provided opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Index以前曾成功投资一系列欧洲创业公司，包括Skype和网络广播电台 last.fm。尽管目前欧洲正在经历金融危机，赖默却认为危机依然为企业家带来了机遇。
One of Index’s portfolio companies called Peopleperhour, an online community for freelancers and small businesses, for example, recently relocated its 50-person engineering department to Athens. The move was to take advantage of the local pool of qualified engineers that currently cannot find work because of the country’s economic problems.
比如，Index投资的一家公司是一个名为Peopleperhour的自由职业者和小企业网络社区。该公司最近把一个拥有50位员工的工程部迁至雅典。此举是为了利用希腊当前由于经济危机找而不到工作的合格工程师资源。
“They were able to scoop up the best people,” Mr. Rimer said.
“他们网罗到了最优秀的人才，”赖默说。