Phoenix Court Research
Investment Thesis
Phoenix Court (formerly LocalGlobe) is EMEA's leading multi-stage venture capital group, headquartered in London's King's Cross neighbourhood. Co-founded in 1999 by Robin Klein and subsequently built into a global franchise by father-and-son duo Robin and Saul Klein, Phoenix Court rebranded from LocalGlobe to its current name in June 2022 when it launched a $500M first close across four distinct investment vehicles. The central thesis is that exceptional founders deserve long-term partners who can back them from the earliest pre-seed stages all the way through public markets and beyond — a lifecycle conviction model that has produced 73+ exits and 18 unicorns.
The firm operates with a distinctive purpose-led model. Phoenix Court Works, the firm's King's Cross neighbourhood foundation, receives 10% of profits and 2% of fund carry. In 2025-2026, Phoenix Court restructured as a shared-ownership institution, with Phoenix Court Works becoming the single largest shareholder and all full-time employees receiving equity, profit share, and carry — an unusual governance model that sets it apart from traditional VC partnerships.
Fund Structure
Phoenix Court operates four investment vehicles targeting different lifecycle stages:
LocalGlobe is the pre-seed and seed fund — the historic core of the business. LocalGlobe has backed companies at the very earliest stages since 1999, with check sizes ranging from £500k for pre-seed to approximately £2M for seed rounds. The fund has seeded 18 unicorns and achieved a ~90% Series A graduation rate, versus ~40% for the European average. Notable companies first backed at seed include Wise, Monzo, TravelPerk, Citymapper, Hailo, Zego, and Figma.
Latitude is the growth fund, partnering with portfolio companies 'from breakout to scale-up.' Latitude provides growth capital at Series B and later, following both LocalGlobe portfolio companies and investing in new opportunities at growth stage. Notable Latitude investments include Motorway, At-Bay, Melio, YuLife, and participation in Nyobolt's Series C at a $1B valuation in May 2026.
Solar focuses on the private-to-public market transition. It holds major stakes in late-stage companies including Melio, M-Kopa, Raisin, Multiverse, and Monzo as they approach or pursue public market listings.
Basecamp is a community and LP fund for emerging managers, micro VCs, and solo GPs — a distinctive ecosystem-building play that strengthens Phoenix Court's position as a hub of European venture capital.
Stage Focus
The group covers the full investment lifecycle:
- Pre-seed and Seed (LocalGlobe): £500k–£2M per investment
- Growth Stage, Series B-C (Latitude): larger growth checks
- Late Stage, pre-IPO and public market exposure (Solar)
- Emerging Manager Support (Basecamp LP fund)
Geographic Focus
Phoenix Court is predominantly UK and European focused, deploying approximately 80% of capital in the UK. Saul Klein has articulated a 'four-hour train radius' from London — encompassing Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bristol, Oxford, and Cambridge — as the firm's primary investment geography, with the aspiration to build a 'values-based New Palo Alto' in this region. The headquarters at 2 Brill Place, London NW1 1DX serves as its anchor point, with a deliberate commitment to the Somers Town neighbourhood.
Portfolio Highlights
Phoenix Court has 267+ portfolio companies across its history. Key highlights:
Major exits and public companies: Wise (London Stock Exchange IPO, 2021), Figma (public markets), Lovefilm (acquired by Amazon, 2011), Platoon (acquired by Apple, 2018), Citymapper (acquired). 73+ total exits recorded.
Unicorns backed at seed: At-Bay (digital-era insurance), Hailo (edge AI processors), Motorway (UK used car marketplace), TravelPerk (business travel), Zego (commercial vehicle insurtech), Cleo (AI finance assistant), SoRare (NFT sports gaming), Monzo (digital bank), Multiverse (workforce reskilling).
Current active major holdings: Monzo, Wise, Tide, TravelPerk, Multiverse, Motorway, Melio, Raisin, Improbable, At-Bay, Copper, Hailo, Justworks.
Recent investments 2025-2026:
- Trent AI (Seed, April 2026): $13M seed for multi-agent AI security platform, led by LocalGlobe and Cambridge Innovation Capital
- Nyobolt (Series C, May 2026): Fast-charging battery technology at $1B valuation; Latitude participated alongside Symbotic, IQ Capital, and Scania Invest
- CoMind (~2025): €87.8M for AI-powered non-invasive brain monitoring
- Planbase (~2025): $2.1M for healthcare workforce management AI
- Nila (~2025): $2.4M pre-seed for cross-border elder care for immigrants
Team
Saul Klein, Co-founder & Managing Partner: One of Europe's most celebrated venture investors with 30+ years in tech. Part of the original Skype executive team (acquired by eBay, 2005), co-founded Lovefilm (acquired by Amazon, 2011) and Platoon (acquired by Apple, 2018), was a General Partner at Index Ventures (2007-2015), and co-founded Seedcamp. Appointed the UK's first Technology Business Ambassador to Israel in 2012 and awarded an OBE for services to Business in 2016.
Robin Klein, Co-founder & General Partner: Veteran European tech investor and serial entrepreneur with decades of experience backing early-stage companies across the UK and Europe.
Investment Team: Paul Bishop (General Partner), Remus Brett (General Partner), Julia Hawkins (General Partner), George Henry (General Partner), Benjamin Grol (Technology Partner).
Operations Team: Ben Adler (Head of Finance), Amy Grimshaw (Partner, Marketing & Communications), Kira Jang (Finance Partner), Rachel Johnson (Phoenix Court Works Director).
Notable 2025 departures: Suzanne Ashman (General Partner) departed to lead the UK government's Sovereign AI fund. Ash Aurora also departed in 2025. The firm is transitioning to shared ownership going forward.
Investment Decision Process
Phoenix Court operates as a partnership. They are noted for their open dealflow meetings and transparency — 'openness is one of our hallmarks as a firm.' The firm uses a proprietary 52-parameter evaluation framework for founder assessment. Key criteria include: exceptional founder quality with compelling personal narratives, founder-market fit, scalability targeting $750M+ exit markets, and preference for technical or domain-expert founders.
Firm Recognition and Standing
Phoenix Court ranks as EMEA's #1 investor on Dealroom's Power Law Investor Ranking, with fintechs dominating their 'Thoroughbred' list of outstanding portfolio companies. The firm has a ~90% Series A graduation rate across LocalGlobe's seed investments, compared to approximately 40% for European VCs generally. Saul Klein has become a prominent voice on European tech policy, including appearances at London Tech Week 2026, CNBC (September 2025), and the EUVC Podcast (September 2025).
Sector Focus
Portfolio is broadly sector-agnostic but trend-aware, with heaviest concentration in:
- Fintech/Payments: Wise, Monzo, Tide, Melio, Raisin, Zego, At-Bay, Cleo — the most dense sector in the portfolio
- Enterprise Software: TravelPerk, Justworks, Multiverse, AccuRx, Copper
- Consumer Apps: Citymapper, Cleo, Motorway, Zoopla, M-Kopa
- Healthcare/HealthTech: AccuRx, CoMind, YuLife, Nila, Planbase
- Deep Tech / AI: Hailo (edge AI), Trent AI (agentic security), Wonder Studios (AI VFX), Improbable (metaverse infrastructure)
- Security: At-Bay (digital-era cyber insurance), Trent AI (agentic AI security)