RocketSpace, the San Francisco technology campus that has been the home to tech startups including Uber, Blippar, and Spotify, is expanding to the UK.
A Penningtons Manches multidisciplinary team led by the firm’s San Francisco partners, James Klein and Hamish Corner, advised RocketSpace on its deal with the campus’ development partner, the Royal Bank of Scotland, to open and operate a large tech campus in the Regents House in Angel, London.
London is San Francisco-based RocketSpace’s first location outside the US and the UK campus will initially house up to 1,500 people at its opening in early 2017. Since its founding five years ago, RocketSpace has supported more than 750 high-growth tech startups.
Commenting on the deal, James Klein said: “RocketSpace is a great example of the type of inward investment into the UK that will genuinely help London to sustain its attractiveness as a global tech hub for fast- growth tech and innovative businesses. As a firm with of offices in San Francisco and the Golden Triangle of London, Cambridge and Oxford, we had the multidisciplinary corporate, commercial, real estate and tax expertise needed to complete the deal for RocketSpace.”
In the company’s announcement, Duncan Logan, Founder and CEO of RocketSpace said, “London’s tech community continues to rapidly expand and drive innovation. Creating a physical presence here is critical to our expansion strategy and mission to build an ecosystem for innovation to thrive, across a global network of campuses. We are very excited about working with London’s tech entrepreneurs, who are creating some of the most disruptive technologies of the future.”
In regards to RocketSpace’s engagement with Penningtons Manches, Logan added: “We are delighted to have worked closely with the inward investment team at Penningtons Manches who provided us with vital legal support for this major business transaction.”
About Penningtons Manches
Penningtons Manches LLP is a leading UK law firm with offices in the City of London, Basingstoke, Cambridge, Guildford, Oxford, Reading and San Francisco. It is the founder member of the European Law Group, an association of European law firms, and a member of Multilaw, an association of 73 firms in 60 countries worldwide.
Penningtons Manches’ legal services cover a range of specialist areas including corporate and commercial, corporate tax, banking and finance, dispute resolution, professional regulation, real estate, residential property, wills, trusts and probate, UK and offshore tax planning, family, intellectual property, technology, employment, immigration, life sciences, travel law, clinical negligence and personal injury matters.
