Index Ventures, the London-based venture capital firm best known for investing in LoveFilm and Skype, has defied the eurozone debt crisis to launch a €500 ($689.4/£429.03) million fund to invest in late-stage startups in Europe.

In a further sign European tech VCs are looking to give their companies U.S. scale and to invest in American startups, Britain’s Index Ventures is opening a permanent Bay Area office in San Francisco.

Berlin-based audio hosting website SoundCloud says it’s taking investment from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures.

Chartbeat, an analytics startup that provides subscribers with a snapshot of how people are interacting with their sites—in real time—has raised $3 million in a first round of funding. The company, which was incubated at NYC-based tech investor Betaworks and launched in April 2009, pitches its service as an alternative…

Crafts buying site Etsy has raised a fifth VC round of $20 million from Index Ventures, the investor announced through TechCrunch, though not its own site.

Squarespace, the popular web publishing platform, has raised $38.5 million in a first round of funding led by Index Ventures and Accel Partners. This is the first outside investment for Squarespace, which was started seven years ago and has been profitable since its first year in business. Founder Anthony Casalena…

Sonos, which sells a digital music system that can be used to play music throughout a home, has raised $25 million in a third round of funding from Index Ventures. The funding was first reported by TechCrunch earlier this week and confirmed by Sonos CEO John MacFarlane in an interview…

San Francisco-based Boku has raised a sizable round of funding totaling $25 million to build a mobile-payments company that they believe can one day compete against financial institutions, like Mastercard, Visa, and even online providers, like Paypal. The year-old company has partnered with wireless carriers around the world to let…

As expected, eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) announced a deal today between the Skype investor group and Joltid, the owner of the code that runs Skype. Joltid and Skype cofounders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis will get 14 percent of the new Skype in exchange for granting Skype ownership of the software…

Mike Volpi kept the role of chairman when Joost switched to a white-label tech provider and he left as CEO for Index Ventures, an investor in the video startup. That’s over, too. Volpi told paidContent, following a report on SAI that he was out as chairman, “I will confirm that…

It only looks like deja vu all over again for Index Ventures, the early backer of Skype that is now part of the investor group buying 65 percent of the company from eBay (NSDQ: EBAY) for $1.9 billion in cash. This time Index Ventures is investing in a profitable company—not…

So much for any of the whispers that had Mike Volpi moving to another executive operations role—less than a week after stepping down as CEO of struggling video company Joost, Volpi has surfaced as a partner at venture capital firm Index Ventures. Index was one of the investors in the…

DoubleTwist has raised $5 million in a round of funding from a set of high-profile investors. They include Horizon Ventures, the investment arm of Hong Kong-based billionaire Li Ka-Shing; Michael Ovitz, the former president of the Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS) Company; Alex Zubillaga, the former head of digital strategy at…

Social games publisher and developer Playfish has raised $17 million (£10.8 million) in a second round of funding led by Accel Partners and Index Ventures. The London-based start up plans to use the money to continue growing its offering. The company says it currently has more than 10 million monthly…

Bestofmedia Group, the French tech publisher that acquired tech sites Tom’s Hardware and related sites last year, has taken its first outside funding in its 8-year history: It has raised €22.5 million ($35 million) from Index Ventures. The company claims to be the third biggest online tech publication in terms…

WooMe, a service that offers speed dating via internet video, has raised a $12 million second round led by Index Ventures. NewTeeVee first reported the news yesterday, VentureBeat confirmed it today, though it said the funding valued the company at $41 million, as opposed to the $30 million originally reported.…

All the ad networks are filling their coffers before the recession spreads to the online advertising industry, or at least that’s the reasoning most of them are giving. Now, Adconion, the UK-based online ad network which is also now expanding into U.S., has raised a big second round of $80…

Mountain View, CA-based TrialPay, an online payment provider, has raised a $12.7 million second round from Index Ventures, Atomico Ventures and ex-PayPal executives. The round brings the company’s total raise to $15.8 million, having previously taken investments from Battery Ventures, Ron Conway and Bob Pittman in 2006. The company’s strategy…

SF-based DoubleTwist, the DRM-fighting startup from famed hacker “DVD” Jon Lech Johanson, has raised funding from Skype-backer Index Ventures and Norway’s NorthZone Ventures, reports FT. After an unfulfilled partnership with fellow traveler Michael Robertson, Johanson launched DoubleTwist in 2006, with the goal of letting third parties understand Apple’s (NSDQ: AAPL)…