Tom Glocer

Founder & Managing Partner, Angelic Ventures at angelic-ventures

Reviewed Updated May 1, 2026

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Location New York, New York
Check Size Angel checks via family office; sizes not publicly disclosed
Last Verified Investment Superlegal (Seed) — May 22, 2024
Social @tglocer LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed series-a
Sector Focus
fintech cybersecurity ai big-data media healthcare marketplace

Background

Tom Glocer (born October 8, 1959, in New York City) is the founder and managing partner of Angelic Ventures, LP, a family office he uses to invest in early-stage technology startups, primarily in financial technology, cybersecurity, media, “big data” and healthcare 12. He is best known publicly as the former Chief Executive Officer of Reuters Group PLC (2001-2008) and the merged Thomson Reuters Corporation (2008-2011) 13.

Glocer earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Columbia University and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1984 124. He began his career as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell from 1984 to 1993, practicing in New York, Paris, and Tokyo 1245. Glocer joined the Reuters legal department in 1993 as Vice President and Deputy Counsel for Reuters America, then moved into operating roles, serving as President of Reuters Latin America and President of Reuters America before becoming CEO of Reuters Group PLC in July 2001 125. When Thomson Corporation acquired Reuters in 2008 to form Thomson Reuters, Glocer continued as CEO of the combined company until stepping down at the end of 2011 12.

After leaving Thomson Reuters, Glocer turned his attention to angel investing and to co-founding two operating businesses where he serves as Executive Chairman:

  • Capitolis — a post-trade fintech platform he co-founded in 2017 with Gil Mandelzis (founder of Traiana and former CEO of EBS BrokerTec) and Igor Teleshevsky (formerly Executive VP and Head of Technology at Traiana). Capitolis raised a $110M Series D led by Canapi Ventures in March 2022, with an additional $56M strategic round closed in August 2025 that brought in Barclays, BNP Paribas, J.P. Morgan, Citi, Morgan Stanley, State Street, and UBS as bank investors 678.
  • BlueVoyant — a cyber defense company he co-founded in 2017 with Jim Rosenthal, the former Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley. BlueVoyant has since raised $696M and crossed a $1B valuation with investors including Liberty Strategic Capital, Temasek and Fiserv 910.

Glocer is also a partner at Communitas Capital, an early-stage fintech and marketplaces fund founded with Doug Atkin (former CEO of Instinet) and Duncan Niederauer (former CEO of NYSE) 111.

His board service is extensive. He has been a director of Merck & Co. since 2007, where he is the independent lead director and chairs the Governance Committee 12. He joined the Morgan Stanley board in May 2013, became chair of its Operations and Technology Committee in February 2014, and has served as Independent Lead Director since September 1, 2017 13. He is also a director of Publicis Groupe and chairman of ISTARI, a cyber risk management company 1. He sits on the Council on Foreign Relations and the Atlantic Council, and is a trustee of the Cleveland Clinic 124. He has been recognized as a Yale Law School alum at events held by the school’s Law & Business Society 14.

Stated Thesis

(Self-reported: Glocer’s own description of how he picks investments. See Inferred Thesis below for analysis of actual portfolio behavior.)

Glocer describes Angelic Ventures as “a family office focusing on early stage investments in financial technology, media, ‘big data’ and healthcare” 2. In a 2017 interview with Futures magazine he summarized his investment process succinctly: “My primary thesis is to choose trends that will be important and get in early” 15. He frames selection around two variables, borrowing from horse racing: “The jockey and the racetrack” 15. His primary focus area is “Communication and marketplaces because of network effects” 15.

In a longer-form interview with Alejandro Cremades, Glocer elaborated on the jockey framing:

“The horse is important. You don’t want a lame horse, but I think about the jockey. Who is the founder?” 16

He has also stated that his post-Reuters investing concentrates on themes he watched up-close during his Thomson Reuters years — “data analysis, news distribution, and financial markets” — particularly the way “new media such as social network sites were changing the way that news was being both distributed and discovered” 17.

On founder traits, his advice is consistent across interviews: “Be the authentic you, even though that sounds quite trite,” and “Have the confidence to speak in the way that you normally do to the people who you’re relaxed with” 16.

Inferred Thesis

Critical disambiguation up front. “Tom Glocer” is a common-enough name that several legal and business professionals share it; the analysis below refers only to the former Reuters/Thomson Reuters CEO who runs Angelic Ventures, who is also Executive Chairman of Capitolis and BlueVoyant 12.

Vehicle is a family office, not a fund. Angelic Ventures is a personal/family office vehicle — there are no outside LPs, no formal fund cycle, and Glocer writes angel-sized checks at his own discretion 2. Reported investment counts diverge widely across data aggregators: Crunchbase shows 124 investments in his name; Glocer himself wrote in April 2017 that “Through Angelic Ventures I have made 40+ early stage investments” 1518. The wider Crunchbase number likely includes overlap with his Communitas Capital and operating-company (Capitolis/BlueVoyant) roles. The figure of “40+” from his own writing is the most reliable lower bound for personal angel checks as of 2017.

Sector composition: heavily financial-data and fintech, with a strong cybersecurity and AI/big-data overlay. Across the portfolio entries verified for this profile (see Portfolio table), the dominant pattern is fintech infrastructure and financial-data tooling — companies whose product Glocer would have personally encountered or competed with at Reuters/Thomson Reuters. AlphaSense (research), Dataminr (real-time signal from social streams), Selerity (real-time event data), Arachnys (KYC/AML data), Algomi (fixed-income data), LendingClub (consumer credit marketplace), Wise/TransferWise (FX/payments), Coinbase (crypto exchange), Fundbox (small-business credit) and Capitolis (post-trade balance-sheet optimization) all fit this thesis cleanly 15171819. Cyber defense (BlueVoyant, Illumio) and infrastructure software (Symphony) are secondary clusters 15.

Stage discipline: predominantly early-stage, with selective later participation. Aretë Index lists entry valuations for a subset of his named holdings; the spread runs from Series A entries at $11.6M-$75M post (Fundbox, AlphaSense, Capitolis) through Series D/E entries at $1B+ valuations (Coinbase, Wise, Illumio, LendingClub) 18. Glocer’s own framing — “get in early” — and his self-reported “40+ early stage investments” suggest the modal check is Seed or Series A, with later-stage participation in standout names from earlier entries 15.

Geographic pattern: New York and Israel-adjacent, plus selective UK fintech. Capitolis and BlueVoyant are both US-Israel companies (with Israeli engineering teams) 69. Arachnys and Algomi are UK fintechs 1719. The pattern is consistent with someone whose professional network is concentrated in New York financial services with strong ties to Israeli cyber/fintech founders.

Co-investor / network signal. Glocer’s founder-network is built on a specific kind of operator: people who have run financial-data infrastructure (Mandelzis at Traiana, Rosenthal at Morgan Stanley, Atkin at Instinet, Niederauer at NYSE). He partners with them rather than competing with traditional VC funds — which makes his deals distinctive but limits the speed at which Angelic appears as a co-investor on standard VC syndicates.

Active investor signal: moderate. The most recent personal angel investment that could be independently dated in this research pass is Superlegal (Seed Round) in May 2024 20. He is highly active as Executive Chairman of Capitolis (most recent strategic round closed August 2025) and BlueVoyant (active operator), and as Lead Director at Morgan Stanley and Merck — but pure new-name angel cadence appears to have slowed since 2020. Treat him as a selective angel rather than a high-volume one.

Notable gap between stated and actual behavior: Glocer’s stated thesis includes healthcare, but verified healthcare holdings in this profile are sparse — Cradle is the only healthcare-tech entry surfaced in independent sources 21, and his board service at Merck and Cleveland Clinic appears to inform that interest more than his personal portfolio does 112.

Sample-size caveat: this analysis is built on roughly 12-15 individually verified portfolio names plus secondary listings; it is a directional read, not a comprehensive percentage breakdown. Where Aretë Index, Crunchbase, and Tracxn disagreed on entry round or year for a given company, I used the press source or Glocer’s own writing where available.

Portfolio

Company Year Stage Source
Capitolis 2017 (co-founded) Co-founder / Executive Chairman 67
BlueVoyant 2017 (co-founded) Co-founder / Executive Chairman 910
LendingClub ~2010 (pre-IPO angel round; LC IPO 2014) Early round 1518
Dataminr pre-2015 Series D entry per Aretë 151718
Selerity pre-2015 Angel 17
AlphaSense pre-2017 Series A entry per Aretë 1518
Arachnys May 2015 $3.5M round (with Martlet) 17
Algomi by March 2016 Investment + strategic advisor 19
Symphony pre-2017 Early investor 15
TransferWise (Wise) pre-2017 (Series E entry per Aretë) Late stage 1518
Illumio pre-2017 (Series D entry per Aretë) Late stage 1518
~unknown Coinbase Series D entry per Aretë Late stage
~unknown Alchemy Insights Series A entry per Aretë Series A
~unknown Fundbox Series A entry per Aretë Series A
~unknown Evident — Early stage (business/productivity)
~unknown LawGeex — Early stage (legaltech)
~unknown Cradle — Early stage (healthcare tech)
~unknown Velocity Black — Early stage (luxury commerce)
~unknown ShopKeep — Early stage (iPad POS)
Taktile by 2024 Listed as angel 20
Superlegal 2024-05-22 Seed (most recent verified) 20
~unknown Hopper — Mentioned by Glocer as portfolio
~unknown Yahoo! — Mentioned by Glocer; nature of holding unclear
~unknown Airbnb — Mentioned by Glocer; nature of holding unclear

Years are left blank where independent sourcing did not yield a clear date. Wikipedia singles out Windward as an Angelic Ventures portfolio company but the date and stage were not independently confirmed in this pass 1. Pitchbook and Crunchbase list higher total investment counts (Crunchbase: 124) that include overlap with Communitas Capital and the operating companies; this table is a curated, independently sourced subset and is not comprehensive 1518.

In Their Own Words

On his investment thesis (Futures magazine, April 2017):

“My primary thesis is to choose trends that will be important and get in early.” — Tom Glocer 15

“The jockey and the racetrack.” — Tom Glocer, on what he evaluates 15

“Communication and marketplaces because of network effects.” — Tom Glocer, on his primary focus areas 15

On LendingClub (Futures, April 2017):

“I invested in an early round at Lending Club because I believed that the spread between what banks paid to small depositors and what they turned around and lent to them via credit card debt was huge (1500bp +)” — Tom Glocer 15

On AlphaSense (Futures, April 2017):

“I love the Jockey (Jack Kokko) and the pain point AlphaSense reduces is a real one – research overload.” — Tom Glocer 15

On founders (Alejandro Cremades interview):

“The horse is important. You don’t want a lame horse, but I think about the jockey. Who is the founder?” — Tom Glocer 16

On authenticity in founders (Alejandro Cremades interview):

“Be the authentic you, even though that sounds quite trite.” — Tom Glocer 16

“Have the confidence to speak in the way that you normally do to the people who you’re relaxed with.” — Tom Glocer 16

On Capitolis (Alejandro Cremades interview):

“CAPITOLIS is a core B2B fintech business, which essentially helps banks and other counterparties in trading markets optimize their balance sheet.” — Tom Glocer 16

“It’s like the Airbnb of capital, and we help banks improve their profitability without increasing risk.” — Tom Glocer 16

On BlueVoyant (Alejandro Cremades interview):

“BlueVoyant is a cyber defense business, and we focus on two core problem areas in cyber. One is your supply chain.” — Tom Glocer 16

On supply-chain cyber risk (Recorded Future interview, May 8, 2021):

“Morgan Stanley has over 10,000 suppliers and one is vulnerable via the supply chain and the potential there to introduce malware and ransomware.” — Tom Glocer 22

On board-level cybersecurity questions (Recorded Future, May 2021):

“The great question that every director wants to know—whether they’re more technical or less—is am I spending enough money?” — Tom Glocer 22

On SolarWinds and the cybersecurity market (Recorded Future, May 2021):

“Now with SolarWinds, it’s unfortunately for society a very good thing for BlueVoyant, because now the penny has dropped.” — Tom Glocer 22

On Algomi’s product (Finovate, March 14, 2016):

“Algomi’s approach of creating a bank balance-sheet based on actual data, and virtualizing the assets in the market is fascinating.” — Tom Glocer 19

On his career and leadership (Yale Law School profile):

“A meandering river that followed the North Star of curiosity and learning new things.” — Tom Glocer, describing his career trajectory 4

“Authenticity, hard work, an embrace of different cultures and ways of working, a strong ethical backbone.” — Tom Glocer, on his core values 4

“A light managerial touch, zero tolerance for bad behavior but permission to make commercial mistakes, taking risks to promote talented and diverse managers, a culture of respect.” — Tom Glocer, on his leadership approach 4

What Founders Say

Independently sourced founder testimonials about working with Glocer as an angel investor are limited; the most substantive one published in independent press is from Algomi’s CEO at the time of Glocer’s investment:

Stu Taylor, CEO of Algomi (Finovate, March 14, 2016):

“Tom’s experience with Thomson Reuters and his track record of working with other successful financial services businesses will be invaluable for us.” 19

No other independent founder quotes describing the working relationship with Glocer (as opposed to standard press-release boilerplate at funding announcements) were located in this research pass. This section should be revisited; portfolio founders at AlphaSense, Dataminr, Capitolis, and BlueVoyant have spoken publicly about their companies, but verifying that they specifically describe Glocer’s contribution was beyond this pass.

Connections

Co-founders and operating partners: - Gil Mandelzis — Co-founder & CEO of Capitolis; founder of Traiana (acquired by ICAP) and former CEO of EBS BrokerTec 611. - Igor Teleshevsky — Co-founder of Capitolis; formerly EVP and Head of Technology at Traiana 6. - Jim Rosenthal — Co-founder of BlueVoyant; former COO of Morgan Stanley with direct responsibility for cyber and technology 910.

Communitas Capital partners 11: - Doug Atkin — Co-founder of Communitas Capital; former CEO of Instinet. - Duncan Niederauer — Co-founder of Communitas Capital; former CEO of the New York Stock Exchange.

Public-company board seats: - Independent Lead Director, Morgan Stanley (director since May 2013; Lead Director since September 1, 2017; chair of Operations & Technology Committee since February 2014) 13. - Independent Lead Director, Merck & Co. (director since 2007; chairs Governance Committee) 12. - Director, Publicis Groupe 12. - Chairman, ISTARI (cyber risk management) 1. - Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Capitolis 68. - Co-founder & Executive Chairman, BlueVoyant 910. - Advisory Board, Afiniti (AI/big data) 1.

Civic / institutional roles: - Council on Foreign Relations — member 12. - Atlantic Council — board / advisory role 12. - Cleveland Clinic — trustee 12. - Yale Law School — Executive Committee member; honored by Yale Law & Business Society 214. - Columbia University Global Center (Paris) — Board member 1. - Library of Congress Madison Council — member 1.

Prior employer: - Davis Polk & Wardwell (1984-1993) — M&A lawyer in New York, Paris and Tokyo 125.

Operating company that defined his investing thesis: - Reuters Group PLC / Thomson Reuters Corporation — 1993-2011 (Deputy Counsel → President Reuters America → CEO Reuters 2001 → CEO Thomson Reuters 2008-2011) 125.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, “Tom Glocer,” accessed May 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Glocer↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. Tom Glocer’s Blog, “About,” accessed May 2026. https://www.tomglocer.com/about/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Morgan Stanley press release, “Morgan Stanley Announces New Lead Director and New Board Committee Chairs,” July 27, 2017. https://www.morganstanley.com/press-releases/morgan-stanley-announces-new-lead-director-and-new-board-committ↩

  4. Yale Law School alumni profile, “Thomas H. Glocer ‘84,” accessed May 2026. https://law.yale.edu/studying-law-yale/alumni-student-profiles/thomas-h-glocer-84↩↩↩↩↩↩

  5. FTF News, “Ex-Reuters CEO Tom Glocer Joins Morgan Stanley Board,” accessed May 2026. https://www.ftfnews.com/ex-reuters-ceo-tom-glocer-joins-morgan-stanley-board/18087/↩↩↩↩

  6. Capitolis, “Leadership,” accessed May 2026. https://capitolis.com/leadership/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  7. Index Ventures, “Fintech Startup Capitolis Secures $40 Million in Financing,” accessed May 2026. https://www.indexventures.com/perspectives/fintech-startup-capitolis-secures-40-million-financing/↩↩

  8. Capitolis press release, “Capitolis Announces Strategic Investments from Barclays, BNP Paribas, and J.P. Morgan, Alongside Existing VC Investors Canapi Ventures, 9Yards Capital, and Greenfield Partners,” August 6, 2025. https://capitolis.com/capitolis-announces-strategic-investments-from-barclays-bnp-paribas-and-j-p-morgan-alongside-existing-vc-investors-canapi-ventures-9yards-capital-and-greenfield-partners/↩↩

  9. BlueVoyant, “What’s the State of Cyber Security - Featuring Tom Glocer,” accessed May 2026. https://www.bluevoyant.com/press-releases/whats-the-state-of-cybersecurity-featuring-tom-glocer↩↩↩↩↩

  10. PR Newswire, “BlueteamGlobal Announces Corporate Name Change to BlueVoyant,” accessed May 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blueteamglobal-announces-corporate-name-change-to-bluevoyant-300565148.html↩↩↩↩

  11. Communitas Capital, “Tom Glocer,” accessed May 2026. https://communitascapital.com/tom-glocer/↩↩↩

  12. Merck & Co., “Thomas H. Glocer,” accessed May 2026. https://www.merck.com/leadership/thomas-h-glocer/↩↩↩

  13. Business Wire, “Morgan Stanley Announces New Lead Director and New Board Committee Chairs,” July 27, 2017. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170727005811/en/Morgan-Stanley-Announces-New-Lead-Director-New↩↩

  14. Yale Law School news, “Yale Law & Business Society to Honor Thomas Glocer ‘84,” accessed May 2026. https://law.yale.edu/yls-today/news/yale-law-business-society-honor-thomas-glocer-84↩↩

  15. Tom Glocer’s Blog, “Interview in April Edition of Futures Magazine,” April 22, 2017. https://www.tomglocer.com/2017/04/22/interview-in-april-edition-of-futures-magazine/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  16. Alejandro Cremades, “Tom Glocer On Selling Reuters For $17 Billion And Now Creating A $1.4 Billion Business By Preventing Cyber Attacks,” accessed May 2026. https://alejandrocremades.com/tom-glocer/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  17. Finance Magnates, “Former Thomson Reuters CEO adds to Fintech Investments with Stake in Arachnys,” May 17, 2015. https://www.financemagnates.com/fintech/data/former-thomson-reuters-ceo-adds-to-fintech-investments-with-stake-in-arachnys/↩↩↩↩↩↩

  18. Aretë Index, “Thomas Glocer investor,” accessed May 2026. https://www.areteindex.com/angels/thomas-glocer/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  19. Finovate, “Algomi Gains Investment from Former Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer,” March 14, 2016. https://finovate.com/algomi-gains-investment-strategic-advisory-from-former-thomson-reuters-ceo-tom-glocer/↩↩↩↩↩

  20. Tracxn, “Tom Glocer — 2025 Portfolio & Founded Companies,” accessed May 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/tom-glocer/__lL3Q2HTgS_dsTYa0xJb1NvEz9MFxf2l7OnlOoUuvG1Q↩↩↩

  21. Angels Partners, “Angelic Ventures,” accessed May 2026. https://angelspartners.com/firm/angelic-ventures↩

  22. Tom Glocer’s Blog, “Interview With Recorded Future on Cybersecurity,” May 8, 2021. https://www.tomglocer.com/2021/05/08/interview-with-recorded-future-on-cybersecurity/↩↩↩