Brent Hoberman

Brent Hoberman
Born
Brent Shawzin Hoberman

(1968-11-25) 25 November 1968 (age 55)
Cape Town, South Africa
NationalityBritish
EducationDragon School
Eton
Alma materNew College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, Investor
Known forCo-founder, lastminute.com, made.com, Founders Factory, Founders Forum Group & firstminute capital
Board member ofGoogle Cloud, The UK Government Digital Service, Tessa Jowell Foundation and the WEF Digital Europe Group.
Websitehttps://ff.co

Brent Shawzin Hoberman CBE (born 25 November 1968) is a British entrepreneur and investor. During the dot-com boom, he co-founded lastminute.com with Martha Lane Fox in 1998, where he was CEO from its inception, before selling the business to Sabre in 2005 for $1.1bn.[1][2]

Hoberman's other business involvements include Made.com, which he co-founded in 2010. Hoberman left his role as Chair shortly before the company went public with a valuation of $1bn, voicing that he was not in favour of the IPO.[3][4] The company was a 'pandemic star' but fell into administration in late 2022.[5]

Brent is also co-founder of the startup accelerator Founders Factory, tech community Founders Forum, and $270m seed fund firstminute capital.[6][7][8] Technology businesses co-founded by Hoberman have cumulatively raised over $1 billion.[9][10][11]

Hoberman sits on the advisory boards of Google Cloud, UK Government Digital Service and the WEF Digital Europe Group, as well as advising the British government on technology.[12][13][14] He previously chaired the Oxford Foundry, the Royal Foundation Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying for William, the Prince of Wales, and had further board roles including The Royal Academy, TalkTalk, TimeOut, The Guardian Media Group, Shazam Entertainment, Eton College, Imperial College Innovation Fund and The Economist.[14][15][16]

  1. ^ "Sabre Holdings Completes Acquisition of lastminute.com". Sabre. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  2. ^ Pesola, Maija (12 May 2005). "Sabre agrees to buy Lastminute for £577m". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Made.com valued at £775m in London IPO". Financial Times. 16 June 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  4. ^ "Letter: The difference between co-founder status and the CEO role". Financial Times. 1 November 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  5. ^ Provan, Sarah (16 June 2021). "Made.com valued at £775m in London IPO". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 11 December 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  6. ^ Thomas, Daniel; Bradshaw, Tim (29 November 2020). "Global tech founders back London-based start-up fund". Financial Times. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  7. ^ "100 unicorn founders back London-based VC fund Firstminute Capital". Sifted. 4 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  8. ^ "Our Story". Founders Forum. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  9. ^ Ackerman, Naomi (3 December 2020). "London start-up unveils ROBOT CHEF as it secures £6.5 million investment from Ocado and Brent Hoberman's Firstminute Capital VC fund". www.standard.co.uk. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  10. ^ Wood, Charlie. "How a former DJ promoter persuaded one of Europe's top VCs to cofound and help raise $9 million for his robot-chef startup". Business Insider. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  11. ^ Bain, Jessica. "Brent Hoberman". Champions Of Change Coalition. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  12. ^ "Google Cloud Establishes European Advisory Board". Google Cloud Blog. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Brent Hoberman". Slush. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  14. ^ a b "Brent Hoberman". Lattice. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  15. ^ "Brent Hoberman". Founders Forum. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  16. ^ "Brent Hoberman CBE Biography". Oxford Foundry. Retrieved 1 October 2021.