Robin Klein (venture capitalist)

Robin Klein (born December 1947[2]) is a British entrepreneur and investor. He was until 2015 a venture partner at Index Ventures and co-founder of The Accelerator Group, an advisor and investor in early-stage companies.[3] In April 2015, he and his son, Saul founded LocalGlobe, a seed stage venture capital firm.

Robin Klein
Born
Johannesburg, South Africa
Alma materUniversity of the Witwatersrand
OccupationPartner at Index Ventures Founding Partner at The Accelerator Group (TAG)
Spouse(s)Hanna Klein
ChildrenSaul Klein and Dr. Melanie Morris
RelativesJonathan Klein (brother), co-founder and CEO of Getty Images;[1] Martin Klein

Early life and education

Klein was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, specialising in cybernetics,[4] and a master of science degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, in 1969. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1976.[5]

Career

From 1991–1997, Klein was chairman and CEO of Innovations Group PLC, which conducted the first documented e-commerce transaction in the UK, in May 1995.[6] Klein was managing director, marketing and home shopping, at Arcadia, from 1996–99. Klein started his investing career in earnest in 1998, co-founding The Accelerator Group (TAG), a vehicle for investing in early-stage internet services, e-commerce and digital media businesses, with his son, Saul Klein.[7]

From 2010 to 2015 Klein was a venture partner at Index Ventures. He ran Index Seed, Index Ventures' seed fund, in partnership with TAG.[8]

In April 2015, Saul and Robin founded LocalGlobe, a Venture Capital Firm focusing on early stage (Seed) investment in Technology enabled businesses. They raised LocalGlobe 7, a fund of £45m by October 2015 and LocalGlobe 8, a £70m fund in March 2017.

Klein has been an early-stage investor in a number of companies, including Agent Provocateur (acquired by private equity firm 3i for £60m),[9] Lastminute.com (acquired by Travelocity for £577m,[10] Last.fm (acquired by CBS for $280 million,[11] Dopplr (acquired by Nokia),[12] LoveFilm (acquired by Amazon for $317 million),[13] Sit Up TV (acquired by Virgin Media), SlideShare (acquired by Linkedin for $119 million),[14] Fizzback (acquired by Nice Systems for $80 million),[15] Mashery (acquired by Intel for $180 million),[16] TweetDeck (acquired by Twitter for $40 million – $50 million),[17] and Twitterfeed (acquired by Bitly).[18] Klein is involved with OpenCoffee Club, a group his son Saul Klein started in 2007 to facilitate gatherings and networking among entrepreneurs, developers and investors[19] and is an advisor to Seedcamp which he helped to launch in 2007.[20] Klein is currently chairman of the board at moo.com, an online printing company; MyBuilder, an online marketplace bringing together consumers, builders and tradesmen;[21] and Wonga, a digital finance company, named the number one company in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100.[22] Klein is also a board member of EDITD, Farfetch, FreeAgent, Onefinestay, Skimlinks, and Zoopla,[23] an investor and board observer at TransferWise, and a non-executive director at Moneysupermarket.com (LSE: MONY),[22] and an investor in other companies.

From 2007–2010 Klein spent a day a week as venture partner at Atlas Venture, an early-stage technology and life sciences venture capital firm.[7]

Philanthropy and non-profit involvement

Klein was chairman of Great Ormond Street Hospital Promotions Ltd, the funding company for Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children's hospital in London,[24] and was formerly on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community Centre for London which developed the JW3 community centre.[25]

References
  1. "Getty Images bought by private equity firm Carlyle Group for £2.1bn". The Jewish Chronicle Online. 15 August 2012.
  2. "Robin Matthew KLEIN - Personal Appointments (free information from Companies House)". beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
  3. "Index Ventures creates seed fund with Kleins at the helm". TechCrunch. 25 April 2010.
  4. "BusinessWeek Executive profile: Robin Klein".
  5. "Robin Klein's blog".
  6. "The investors' view: Robin Klein". Growing Business. 15 January 2010. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012.
  7. "Robin Klein allies with Index Ventures in next Venture Partner role". BusinessInsider. 26 April 2010.
  8. "Index Seed: Giving Europe's Early-Stage Investments a Much Needed Boost". readwrite. 26 April 2010.
  9. "Private equity firm 3i pays £60m for Agent Provocateur?". The Guardian. 15 November 2007.
  10. "Travelocity buys Lastminute.com for £577m". The Register. 12 May 2010.
  11. "CBS Acquires Europe's Last.fm for $280 million". TechCrunch. 30 May 2007.
  12. "Nokia to Acquire UK Startup Dopplr". TechCrunch. 23 September 2009.
  13. "Amazon Acquires LoveFilm, The Netflix of Europe". 12 May 2010.
  14. "LinkedIn Acquires Professional Content Sharing Platform SlideShare For $119M". TechCrunch. 3 May 2012.
  15. "NICE Systems Acquires Fizzback For Approximately $80 Million". TechCrunch. 19 September 2011.
  16. "Source: Mashery Is Selling To Intel For More Than $180M". TechCrunch. 17 April 2013.
  17. "Twitter To Buy TweetDeck For $40 Million – $50 Million". 2 May 2011.
  18. "Burp! Bitly Swallows Twitterfeed". All Things D. 9 April 2011.
  19. "The OpenCoffee Club Movement". readwrite. 23 May 2007.
  20. "seedcamp: Seedcamp Week 2011". Archived from the original on 6 June 2013.
  21. "Board Moves". The Sunday Times. 23 June 2013.
  22. "2011 Tech Track 100". Fast Track, in association with The Sunday Times. January 2010. Archived from the original on 7 May 2012.
  23. "Index Ventures partner bio".
  24. "UK Business Angels Association, Speakers". Archived from the original on 14 August 2014.
  25. "JCC picks three heads". The Jewish Chronicle Online. 11 November 2010.
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