Why I’m Excited To Join Local Globe!

For many years I have admired the development of LocalGlobe’s team, portfolio and brand. When I saw the announcement that the team was expanding, I knew I wanted to work with London’s most active seed investor.

I came to London 20 years ago to study social policy at the London School of Economics and went on to work at Goldman Sachs, Last.fm, BBC Worldwide, and most recently Universal Music, where I helped set up the venture capital activity.

There I led Universal’s investment in three LG portfolio companies ROLI, Sofar Sounds and Wool & The Gang. Working with LG closely on those deals was my first introduction to the team and I’m super grateful to Roland (Roli’s CEO), Rafe (CEO of Sofar Sounds) and Daniel Waterhouse at Balderton, another investor in Roli, for championing me to LocalGlobe. It’s been a great journey so far and it’s only just beginning.

My experience is rooted in media and music in particular, and I’m excited to work closely with the brilliant portfolio companies in these sectors, as well as the fantastic teams across the portfolio. With many years working with corporates under my belt I have first hand knowledge of the opportunities that are available — whether through commercial and media partnerships; accelerators or investment possibilities. I also understand deeply the challenge of working with corporates (how they can be slow and may switch investment strategies). I really do think I can use this experience to support portfolio companies and the wider ecosystem.

I’m currently very curious about genomics, health tech and the potential for gene therapy. The UK is home to a world leader in genomic discovery in the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge and, closer to home, the Crick Institute is on the same street as LocalGlobe’s new offices at Phoenix Court. LocalGlobe has already demonstrated its interest in this area with early moves to invest in companies like MyHeritage and Zebra Medical Vision and most recently Echo. I’m very excited to work with the team to develop the investment area in genomics and health tech further.

Over the last six months I have been grateful for the opportunity to spend significant time with every member of the LocalGlobe team and to attend deal flow on several occasions. We have been through a (fun) process of two-way referencing and each meeting increased my conviction that I wanted to join and help build this firm.

LocalGlobe’s values — respect for the team, having each others’ back, full on commitment once we have decided to invest — really resonate with me since they are about supporting and nurturing individuals within the context of a team.

So that’s it! I am thrilled to be joining LocalGlobe’s diverse and amazing team. I can’t wait to get started to help ambitious founders build innovative businesses and I’m itching to contribute to building a firm for the long term with LocalGlobe. Let’s get going.