Sarah Cannon is to leave internet and technology group Alphabet’s growth equity unit, CapitalG, in May this year for a partner position at venture capital firm Index Ventures, Recode has reported.
Cannon has been a principal at CapitalG since 2014, having been recruited from Harvard Business School where she was a graduate student. She was previously a project officer at multilateral financing body International Monetary Fund and a policy advisor for the US president’s National Economic Council.
Founded in Switzerland in 1996, Index now operates from offices in San Francisco and London. It has closed eight early-stage funds and three growth-stage vehicles, and has some 160 companies in its portfolio.
Cannon will be Index’s first female partner in the US. She expects to focus on sectors such as cloud productivity, blockchain, artificial intelligence and urban transport, and will advocate an international strategy that makes use of the firm’s presence in Europe.
Mike Volpi, general partner of Index Ventures, told Recode: “Venture capital is a tricky profession as it requires both strong intelligence but also a nice human touch. It is rare you find someone who excels at both attributes as Sarah does.”