31 Facts About Brent Hoberman

Brent Shawzin Hoberman was born on 25 November 1968 and is a British entrepreneur and investor.

Brent Hoberman was a 'pandemic star' but fell into administration in late 2022.

Brent Hoberman is co-founder of the startup accelerator Founders Factory, tech community Founders Forum, and $270m seed fund firstminute capital.

Technology businesses co-founded by Brent Hoberman have cumulatively raised over $1 billion.

Brent 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.

Brent Hoberman 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.

Brent Hoberman was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 25 November 1968.

Brent Hoberman was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford, followed by Eton College.

Brent Hoberman subsequently read Modern Languages at New College, Oxford.

Brent Hoberman stepped down as chief strategy officer and chairman in January 2007.

In 2007, Brent Hoberman took on the role of non-executive chairman of Wayn, a travel and leisure social network, and in December 2009, stepped down from the company's board.

In July 2009, Brent Hoberman co-founded PROfounders Capital, a fund that invests in early stage internet projects, with Michael Birch, Peter Dubens, Jonnie Goodwin, Rogan Angelini-Hurll and Sean Seton-Rogers.

Brent Hoberman is the co-founder and was founding chairman of Made.

In December 2015, it was reported that Brent Hoberman was leaving PROFounders Capital.

Brent Hoberman is a co-founder of Founders Forum, a private network for digital and technology entrepreneurs.

In 2013, Brent Hoberman launched Founders Intelligence, a digital consultancy that advises corporates and investors on digital innovation and strategy and Founders Forum for Good, the precursor to Founders Pledge, the charitable arm of Founders Forum through which founders can commit a percentage of their future exit proceeds to social causes.

In 2014, Brent Hoberman co-founded Founders Keepers, an executive search firm within the digital and technology space and Smartup, a peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and micro-learning platform.

In 2015, Brent Hoberman launched corporate-backed tech startup accelerator and studio with Henry Lane Fox in London.

In 2015, Brent Hoberman launched Grip, an AI event matchmaking business which raised a $13million seed round in 2021.

In 2016, Brent Hoberman launched Founders of the Future which provides programmes, events and tools for aspiring entrepreneurs, and accelerateHER which is a network to support women working in technology.

In 2017, Brent Hoberman was appointed chair of the advisory board for the Oxford Foundry.

In 2020, Brent Hoberman launched firstminute capital's second fund, a $250m seed fund with global remit, backed by over 100 unicorn founders.

In 2021, Brent Hoberman launched 01 Founders, a free-to-access coding school with a job guarantee with a mission to train 100,000 diverse software engineers by 2030.

Brent Hoberman sits on the Royal Academy corporate advisory group and the UK Government digital advisory board.

Brent Hoberman says his mentors have been his father and South African grandfather Leonard Shawzin, who built an empire of over 650 clothes shops from a single store.

Brent Hoberman has stated that he believes what makes a business successful is passion; in an interview with BBC The Bottom Line, he states his belief that the most successful small businesses are those where the founders remain passionate about their business, and are themselves part of their target market.

In 2009, Brent Hoberman was selected as one of the World Economic Forum's Global Young Leaders for the UK, and in July 2009, Brent Hoberman joined The Business Sectors Council for Britain under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Brent Hoberman was a member of the New Enterprise Council, a group of entrepreneurs who advise the Conservative Party on policies related to the needs of business.

Brent Hoberman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to entrepreneurship.

In 2016, Brent Hoberman was appointed chair of the Royal Foundation Taskforce on the Prevention of Cyberbullying for the Duke of Cambridge.

In 2018, Brent Hoberman was appointed co-chair of Prime Minister Theresa May's Business Sector Council for Small Business, Scale ups and Entrepreneurs.