Words: Alex Woodhall
Get to know the people who are silently propping up and naturing some of the biggest companies in the world, with combined investment profiles amounting to tens and tens of billions. These are the investors who are making the capital’s economy tick:
Brent Hoberman
Entrepreneur turned investor, Hoberman co-founded LastMinute.com in 1998, floating the online travel broker in the midst of the dot-com bubble. He took a step back from the business in 2005 after the sale to Sabre, which valued Last Minute at £577m and he left the company all together in 2006. He went on to co-founded Made.com in 2010, and PROfounders Capital in 2009, an early stage fund that backs digital entrepreneurs.
Awarded a CBE for services to entrepreneurship and business, Hoberman is a key face in British business and investment, particularly in the online sector. He’s so far invested in digital firms such as Viagogo, WAYN and CreativeLive.
Jonathan Goodwin
A founding partner of Lepe Partners, the international merchant bank with a focus on digital media, Goodwin was previously managing director of Wireless Group PLC and has advised on transactions in the media and internet sector worth over $20bn total. He is also a co-founder, along with Brent Hoberman, of PROfounders Capital and the Founders Forum in 2005.
Founders Forum is a key entrepreneurs event held annually in London, New York, Brazil and India. Goodwin is also President of the British Fashion Council’s Investment Pillar and part of the advisory board for the Tech City’s Future Fifty, which aims to accelerate the development of digital start-ups.
Ben Holmes
New Zealand born Holmes has been a general partner at the Europe-US based Index Ventures since 2002. With a primarily focus on investments in digital and tech, Index has backed some of the biggest and brightest startups in the world, including Dropbox, Etsy, Sonos and SoundCloud.
The VC’s personal primary focus is gaming and e-commerce and he’s fronted the firm’s portfolio development in these industries. His notable investments include King, the creators of the inescapable Candy Crush, Playfish, which was later acquired by gaming behemoth EA, iZettle and Just Eat, the online takeaway company.
James Wise
Prior to becoming a venture investor at Balderton Capital, Wise helped establish one of the UK’s very first social venture funds which provided assistance to startups particularly in the education, healthcare and financial sectors. With a background largely in social enterprise, he joined Balderton in 2012, where he works in supporting early-stage tech startups across Europe.
An investor in Lyst, LoveFilm, Crowdcube, Sunrise and the like, he holds board positions at the latter two and has an outstanding track record with a large number of his investments to date.
Tom Teichman
Chairman of SPARK Venture Management, Teichman began investing in tech startups in the mid-80s and has a track record of backing, chairing and aiding the development of some the continent’s most successful technology businesses.
Having spent 10 years (until 2011) as executive chairman of SPARK Ventures and now heads the SPARK Venture Management arm. SPARK manages a raft of significant technology and life sciences portfolios and includes funds from major institutions, 27 Oxford University colleges and the UK Government.
In total, Teichman has backed companies with an exit value of well over £1 billion, among them are LastMinute.com, ARC, Squawka and NotontheHighStreet.
Neil Hutchinson
The founder of Forward Internet Group, which begun life in 2004 as TrafficBroker, a digital marketing agency specializing in Google AdWords, there are now whispers of a £1bn valuation.
With a portfolio of over 20 companies, Forward invests in web businesses across a variety of industries and is spread over 2 investment vehicles. Forward Private Equity, which acquires brands and helps to accelerate growth, its companies include uSwitch and Factory Media, and Forward Partners with a focus on aiding entrepreneurs through investment and support.
Hutchinson now works primarily on Neon Adventures. The personal investment vehicle has ties to finance, property, lifestyle and philanthropy and invests in high growth opportunities, particularly those with an online angle.
Peter Dubens
The founder and managing partner at Oakley Capital Group, Dubens, a serial internet entrepreneur, is a premier name in UK based investment. Oakley, set up in 2002, is a key entrepreneurially driven investment house and has a number of branches, managing over $1bn in assets across them. Prior to Oakley, he was influential in establishing 365 Media, which was sold to BSkyB in 2006 for £110m, and Pipex, later sold to Tiscali for £220m.
Through the private equity arm, Oakley has previously acquired majority stakes in the likes Time Out and intergenia AG, a leading web hosting company. It has also notably sold Host Europe for £222m in 2010 and Headland Media for £15.5m in 2013.
Dubens is also an investment partner at PROfounders Capital and has bought, sold and restricted over 40 businesses across his career.
Julie Meyer
American born Meyer arrived in London by way of France in time for the dot-com boom at the turn of the millennium. She immediately founded the first social network for internet entrepreneurs, First Tuesday, and later sold it Israeli company Yazam for $50m. The network was largely credited for sparking the European internet generation.
She went on to found Ariadne Capital at the end of 2000, building the ‘entrepreneurs backing entrepreneurs’ model, which wasn’t particularly established at the time. Instrumental in the early stages of the likes of Skype, WGSN, Monititse and Spinvox, Ariadne and Meyer have been the driving force behind a number of explosive growth startups in its near 15 years.
Sean Seton-Rogers & Rogan Angelini-Hurll
Founding general partners at PROfounders capital, these are the men behind the firm that connects so many of the biggest names in investing; Jonathan Goodwin, Peter Dubens and Brent Hoberman included. The fund aims to plug the gap between VC and angel investors, offering support of established, successful entrepreneurs to help promote the next generation.
Previously at Balderton Capital and Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Seton-Rogers has an invested interest in tech on both sides of the Atlantic. The VC has previously had major wins, notably with Bebo which sold to AOL for $850m in 2008 and who’s co-founder Michael Birch also works with PROfounders.
Angelini-Hurll recently headed the Citi Pan European Media Research team, covering both UK and Continental European companies -particularly those in the media and entertainment sectors. He’s previously worked for Salomon Brother and Spectrum Strategy Consultants.
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