Robin Klein (venture capitalist)
| Robin Klein | |
|---|---|
| Born | Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Alma mater | University of the Witwatersrand |
| Occupation |
Partner at Index Ventures Founding Partner at The Accelerator Group (TAG) |
| Spouse(s) | Hanna Klein |
| Children | Saul Klein and Dr. Melanie Morris |
| Relatives | Jonathan Klein (brother), co-founder and CEO of Getty Images;[1] Martin Klein |
Robin Klein 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.[2]
Early life and education
Klein was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1947. He received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, specialising in cybernetics,[3] and a master of science degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg, in 1969. He moved to the United Kingdom in 1976.[4]
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.[5] Klein was managing director, marketing and home shopping, at Arcadia, from 1996–99.[6] 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, an entrepreneur and also currently a partner at Index Ventures.[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]
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]
Industry and societal influence
Klein is known for being active in helping to fortify the European start-up environment and for asserting that more initial public offerings (IPOs), particularly of technology firms, should happen in London instead of the New York Stock Exchange or elsewhere, and advocating specific steps to be taken by government and investors to move in this direction.[24]
Philanthropy and non-profit involvement
Klein has served as a governor of Rhyl primary school in London since 2004. He was chairman of Great Ormond Street Hospital Promotions Ltd, the funding company for Great Ormond Street Hospital, a children's hospital in London,[25] and is on the Board of Trustees of the Jewish Community Centre for London which has developed the JW3 community centre.[26]
References
- ↑ "Getty Images bought by private equity firm Carlyle Group for £2.1bn". The Jewish Chronicle Online. 15 August 2012.
- ↑ "Index Ventures creates seed fund with Kleins at the helm". TechCrunch. 25 April 2010.
- ↑ "BusinessWeek Executive profile: Robin Klein".
- ↑ "Robin Klein's blog".
- ↑ "The investors' view: Robin Klein". Growing Business. 15 January 2010.
- ↑ "Who owns genealogy companies?". Daily Mail. 30 May 1999.
- 1 2 "Robin Klein allies with Index Ventures in next Venture Partner role". BusinessInsider. 26 April 2010.
- ↑ "Index Seed: Giving Europe's Early-Stage Investments a Much Needed Boost". readwrite. 26 April 2010.
- ↑ "Private equity firm 3i pays £60m for Agent Provocateur?". The Guardian. 15 November 2007.
- ↑ "Travelocity buys Lastminute.com for £577m". The Register. 12 May 2010.
- ↑ "CBS Acquires Europe's Last.fm for $280 million". TechCrunch. 30 May 2007.
- ↑ "Nokia to Acquire UK Startup Dopplr". TechCrunch. 23 September 2009.
- ↑ "Amazon Acquires LoveFilm, The Netflix of Europe". 12 May 2010.
- ↑ "LinkedIn Acquires Professional Content Sharing Platform SlideShare For $119M". TechCrunch. 3 May 2012.
- ↑ "NICE Systems Acquires Fizzback For Approximately $80 Million". TechCrunch. 19 September 2011.
- ↑ "Source: Mashery Is Selling To Intel For More Than $180M". TechCrunch. 17 April 2013.
- ↑ "Twitter To Buy TweetDeck For $40 Million – $50 Million". 2 May 2011.
- ↑ "Burp! Bitly Swallows Twitterfeed". All Things D. 9 April 2011.
- ↑ "The OpenCoffee Club Movement". readwrite. 23 May 2007.
- ↑ "seedcamp: Seedcamp Week 2011".
- ↑ "Board Moves". The Sunday Times. 23 June 2013.
- 1 2 "2011 Tech Track 100". Fast Track, in association with The Sunday Times. January 2010.
- ↑ "Index Ventures partner bio".
- ↑ "Index says the City of London needs to step it up". GigaOM. 30 July 2012.
- ↑ "UK Business Angels Association, Speakers".
- ↑ "JCC picks three heads". The Jewish Chronicle Online. 11 November 2010.
External links
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