LocalGlobe rebrands as Phoenix Court Group, launches new $500 million fund

Robin and Saul Klein’s VC vehicles LocalGlobe and Latitude are now under one parent organisation, dubbed Phoenix Court Group. In conjunction with the rebrand (of sorts), the Group has announced a $500 million fund aimed at backing founders from pre-seed right on through to an IPO and beyond. 

While LocalGlobe traditionally supported pre-seed and seed-stage companies, and Latitude laid into the Series B and later stages, the moniker and grouping of funds reflect a larger ambition to have distinct vehicles with distinct strategies and separate fee structures offering support across the board. 

According to Saul Klein, Phoenix Court Group will conduct operations with a four-pronged approach:

LocalGlobe, the Group’s core fund will remain committed to pre-seed and seed investment opportunities, and Latitude will carry on with non-lead Series B and Series C activities.

However, under the Phoenix Court Group banner, two lesser-known entities are being thrust into the spotlight: Solar and Basecamp, initiatives that had been previously internally funded, but will now begin the transition to institutionalised funding.

Solar is Phoenix Court Group’s breakout and scale-up fund, focusing on the oft underinvested capital needed for later-stage support as companies navigate the waters between private and public markets, 

Basecamp, alongside another Klein creation, Newton Venture Programme, is dedicated to fostering the next generation of seed investors and has already pledged financial support to some 50+ emerging early-stage funds, angel investors, and solo GPs from diverse geographies including African, APAC, European, Indian, Israeli, and US markets, all the while seeking to increase the diversity of the venture capital investment sector.

In structuring the Group in such a manner, Klein and Co. don’t need to rely on third-party data or research insights alone, with LocalGlobe, Latitude, and Basecamp’s structured pipeline providing direct access to some of the best pre-selected private companies that will feed approximately 80 percent of Solar’s pipeline.

“Despite being the third-best producer of high-growth private companies globally, this geography is still underserved by investors, especially at the breakout and scale-up stages. Not only is there an acute funding gap at the scale-up stage here, less than 20% of the capital invested at that stage is domestic, so when companies in our region are acquired or move to the public markets, UK pensioners and savers miss out, while their Canadian, Australian, and Singaporean equivalents benefit,” explained Klein.

And then there’s what Klein has been affectionately referring to at the New Palo Alto since 2019, an area of northwest London technically named Somers Town that’s historically been influenced by three major London railway endpoints: Euston Station, St Pancras, and King's Cross, destinations all easily accessible from not only with the UK, but across Europe as well.

Setting out to not only become a global investment powerhouse, but a local community powerhouse, Phoenix Court Group has established the Phoenix Court Works foundation, a limited company that has pledged 10 percent of profits from Phoenix Court Group’s management company and 2 percent of carry from all the funds to support neighbourhood organisations, 23 to date, in the Somers Town and the broader Camden regions that focus on core themes including health and wellbeing, education and inclusion, climate and the environment.

“We have a 10-year view on investing and given the access, insight and engagement that we have through our LocalGlobe, Latitude, Solar and Basecamp funds, we continue to think that this is a great place to build innovative companies and also pioneer a new era of ethical innovation. We’re not building the next Palo Alto, it’s a different one,” concluded Klein.