Phoenix Court

LocalGlobe and Latitude opened the doors at Slush to founders this morning and invited them to ‘Ask Me Anything’. Our partners Ambi Mistry, Ash Arora, Julia Hawkins, Tom Lambert and Yvonne Bajela loved meeting you all and leading this super interactive session on the journey from Seed to Series A. We covered everything from navigating the current fundraising landscape to developing winning growth strategies. Strong questions from our guests included: 🔎 What do you look for in the first meeting?  ☝️ How do I know if an investor is interested? 💰 How much revenue do you need to raise a pre seed? 👀 How much do you rate the importance of founder vs traction vs product? ⚠️ What are the pitfalls founders do in their first meeting with investors? Thanks to everyone who came along and contributed to what was a very frank, open and collaborative conversation. #Slush2024 #VentureCapital #FounderSupport

Last week we hosted our Phoenix Court Annual Showcase. It’s our chance to take stock, highlight the breadth and depth of our portfolio, and paint a picture of the future innovation economy we want to help build. Our LocalGlobe, Latitude and Solar funds have proven (see Dealroom data below) their ability to pick and back unicorns and thoroughbreds (companies with revenues of $100m or more) from seed stage onwards, giving us the track record to identify the breakout companies of tomorrow. A week after our Fintech Showcase (more details in our previous post) Saul Klein began with a prediction that set the scene for the entire day: New Palo Alto (the cluster of European cities within a five-hour train ride of London) will not just create global champions in fintech but in science as well. That prediction was followed by presentations from three of our deeptech portfolio companies addressing enormous global markets:  🧫 Spore.Bio’s founder Amine Raji described how they are helping us take a huge leap forward in food safety, using AI to offer a radically faster way to detect contamination and prevent outbreaks. 🥤 Our dependence on plastic packaging is one of the planet’s biggest challenges, threatening the environment and health. Shellworks’ natural material Vivomer is creating a new category from this safe, sustainable substance that degrades naturally, as we heard from founder Insiya Jafferjee. 🧠 CoMind’s founder James Dacombe inspired us with jaw-dropping technology that can replace invasive brain procedures - a ‘lidar’ for the brain built around lasers and optics, which can measure cerebral blood flow and intracranial pressure in seconds. Fresh from penning an oped in the Financial Times (link below in the comments), Sir Nigel Wilson joined Saul in a discussion about how the UK lost out to the US on the first technology wave but now has the potential, as our deeptech presentations showed, to commercialise our scientific innovation and capture the second wave. We have the ambition, entrepreneurial talent, expertise in fintech and deeptech and we have the pools of capital. Crucially, if only 2% to 4% from the UK’s pension funds was put into VC-backed companies, it would unleash incredible growth. In the perfect follow-on panel, two of the UK’s most forward thinking asset allocators - Alex Seddon at M&G Investments and Paul Forshaw Future Growth Capital - were interviewed about the Mansion House Compact and next steps. Both agreed there is huge enthusiasm under this government to accelerate progress in this space. But there is still work needed to educate UK asset allocators and promote a healthier attitude towards risk if we are to unlock capital to invest in innovation and create world leaders in healthtech, biotech, quantum and fusion. Together, we can drive growth and build the global tech and innovation champions of tomorrow, ensuring that UK pensioners and savers benefit from these market leading industries in the future. 

We absolutely love our partnership with Cook for Good 😊 If you are business local to Kings Cross - check them out! Their soup is out of this world 🌍

While investor appetite for fintech has gyrated - especially in public markets - behind the scenes we’ve seen consistent growth, stronger technical moats and profitability across our fintech portfolio. Last week we gathered founders, investors and our network together for a fintech showcase that explored just what it takes to build strong, sustainable fintech thoroughbreds  - companies with ARR of $100m+ - across EMEA and the US. Watch the video below for a taste of the powerful insights our brilliant speakers and moderators brought to the discussion. We were thrilled to have so many companies from our fintech portfolio taking part and will be sharing content on each of the five panels in the days to come: https://lnkd.in/ecp6kS74 See link in comments below for more from our general partner Remus Brett on why time is up for fintech gloom. Cc Dr. Frank Freund, CFA, Dr. Oliver Prill, Nicky Goulimis, Tingting Peng, Helin Ece Akgül, Remus Brett

Yesterday at Phoenix Court we went deep on fintech - with practical wisdom and insights from some of the most important emerging fintechs of our age. LocalGlobe, Latitude and Solar are investors in 11 fintech thoroughbreds - these are fintechs generating $100m+ revenues (some are achieving much more…). Of seven of these, we’ve seen the journey from seed via LocalGlobe (At-Bay, Cleo, Justworks, Melio, M-KOPA, Tide, Wise) while four we joined at breakout or scaleup stage via Latitude and Solar (Moove, Monzo, Rapyd, Raisin). We were joined yesterday by Cleo, M-KOPA, Moove, Raisin, Tide, Wagestream, and Wise, as well as some of the most promising from the next cohorts of scaleup fintech. The day was framed around the disconnect between muted investor appetite for fintech and the incredible progress we’re seeing within our private fintech portfolio. While public markets have gyrated from 2020-24, across our 11 fintech thoroughbreds we’ve seen >70% annual growth rates at significant scale on cumulatively several $bns of revenues. But rather than simply cheerleading for fintech yesterday, we focused on fundamentals - resulting in a series of deep, strategic and tactical discussions covering: • How European fintechs can break the US successfully with Raisin, Cleo and Tunic Pay • How legacy financial institutions can be valuable ‘frenemies’ for rapidly scaling fintechs with Tide, M-KOPA and Adyen • The inside scoop on how Wise built a true infrastructural moat, foundational to its $10bn+ success  • What public investors are looking for from fintechs today, as well as valuable tactical advice on the journey from private to public markets with Wellington Management and Pinegrove Capital Partners  • The open space that exists today where venture scale fintechs can build while ‘dancing between the feet of elephants’ with Wagestream, Super Payments, Moove and RiseUp We intend to share detailed content from each panel over the coming days and weeks. Please do contribute to the discussion. Thank you to our outstanding panelists Dr. Frank Freund, CFA, Chris Hamblin, Mayur Patel, Dr. Oliver Prill, Helin Ece Akgül, Josh Yablon, Prateek Bhide, Tingting Peng, Portman Wills and Samir Desai CBE, and our brilliant moderators Nicky Goulimis, Sandra Friis - Adyen - Vice President Sales, Harry Jell, Julian Rowe and Tamara Harel-Cohen. #Fintech #thoroughbreds #fundamentals cc Remus Brett, Julian Rowe, Tom Lambert, Yvonne Bajela

At Phoenix Court, we've long been champions of King's Cross and Somers Town, the heart of New Palo Alto. It's gratifying to see The Economist recognise this area's transformative potential. King’s Cross's remarkable journey from industrial wasteland to science and innovation super hub is a testament to the power of innovation and investment. With world-class universities, cutting-edge AI research, and genuine partnership between private and public sector, this area offers a unique blend of opportunities. While King's Cross has experienced a spectacular renewal, it’s vital to ensure that the benefits of innovation and economic growth are shared across the community including in nearby Somers Town where Phoenix Court is based.  We believe that Somers Town, together with King’s Cross, can be a model for place-based innovation and progressive economic development, helping people to reach their full potential. Cc Rachel Johnson, Saul Klein, Duncan Robinson, Stian Westlake https://lnkd.in/eSWKSzqu

“Europe’s fintech sector is back in full force” Our General Partner Remus Brett, was featured in EU-Startups discussing the resurgence of European fintech, according to new data from Dealroom.co Here's why we're excited: ➡️ Fintech funding jumped 45% year-over-year in Q3 2024, hitting $1.6 billion. This signals renewed confidence in the sector's potential. ➡️ We're seeing more ‘thoroughbred’ fintechs, companies exceeding $100 million in annual revenue, demonstrating the sector's ability to scale and create significant value. Thanks to Stefano De Marzo for a great write up. Read the full piece here: https://lnkd.in/ey2Gxz49 #fintech #europeanfintech #venturecapital #AI #innovation

11 Phoenix Court fintech portfolio generating over $100m in revenue - come join them and some of the others aiming to be there in the future - who says fintech is yesterday’s news :)

For 20 years we’ve recognised the huge talent of founders right across Europe building companies with the potential to be global tech champions, through our funds LocalGlobe, Latitude, Solar and Basecamp. That is why we are fully supportive of The EU Inc Petition to create a single pan-European startup entity. It is a much-needed initiative that will remove the red tape and constraints that are currently preventing founders from  scaling faster and fulfilling their true potential. Join the thousands that have already signed the petition and send a powerful message to the new EU commissioners who will start work on their new agendas on the 1st of December, 2024.

Our co-founder Saul Klein's op-ed in WIRED today highlights the huge potential of Europe's tech and innovation economy to build the companies that can be Europe’s future champions 🏆 Here at Phoenix Court, we've been investing in waves of innovation for more than two decades. It’s the next 20 years when it gets really interesting 📈 Key takeaways: ➡️ Move over Unicorns, Thoroughbreds are here: Europe is home to 507 "Thoroughbreds" – companies generating over $100M+ in annual revenue, building sustainable success ➡️ New Palo Alto is at the heart of this opportunity: A cluster of interconnected cities, including Amsterdam, and Paris, all within five hours of London producing EMEA’s most exciting companies  ➡️ The scale-up capital gap: Despite strong early-stage investment, European startups face a $30B funding shortfall to scale their businesses effectively ➡️ Government support: The UK and France are leading the way but no innovation ever became great because of policy alone There is an opportunity to build an alternative model of innovation here in New Palo Alto at the heart of Europe - one that is sustainable and shares the benefits of innovation more equally. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/gxikXCnV With thanks to Greg Williams and Amit Katwala at WIRED for the opportunity and to Yoram Wijngaarde and Dealroom.co for the data!