Former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos joins Index Ventures as EIR

Mårten Gustaf Mickos, former CEO of MySQL, has joined Index Ventures as Entrepreneur In Residence (EIR).

The news comes four months after the man joined another VC firm, Silicon Valley-based Benchmark Capital, also as EIR.

In a statement, Index Ventures says Mickos will focus on seeking out new investment opportunities within the European technology market, helping to identify and evaluate companies on behalf of the VC firm.

That’s absolutely splendid news for European entrepreneurs and promising startups.

Mickos served as chief executive officer for open source database company MySQL from January 2001 to February 2008, when Sun Microsystems acquired the company for $1 billion.

Just like Benchmark, Index Ventures was a relatively early investor in the company; they participated in the $20 million Series B round together back in 2003.

Mickos holds a M.Sc. in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology and is also a board member of Mozilla Messaging and RightScale.

(Via @IndexVentures / press release)