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When technology financier Ian Osborne invests in a company, executives must agree to an unusual clause: they must not talk without his consent.
Although he has participated in high-profile investment and acquisition offers in the past decade, this strategy has helped Osborne and his company Hedosophia largely escape the radar.
With the early support of funds related to media tycoon Michael Bloomberg, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing and the Burda family of Germany, the 38-year-old Osborne quietly founded $1.5 billion Venture capital business.
According to people familiar with the matter, companies from Spotify, TransferWise and Raisin in Europe to Alibaba, Ant Financial and Airwallex in Asia have all received investments from Osborne.
One technology investor compared the urbanite but taciturn British investor with the close public relations restorer Matthew Freud: “He knows everyone.” The other was with Oss. Ben (Osborne) conducted due diligence before cooperating, and he said: “He is the kind of person who will show up behind you on a flight to Rio. He is a true mystery.”
As one of the architects of the prosperity of the special purpose acquisition company (Spacs), the company raised funds through a listed fund and then looked for a company to go public. Osborne helped improve the technical valuation.
Even if the U.S. market has cooled down on this phenomenon and the regulatory review is increasing, Osborne hopes to promote it Blank Check Cart in Europe It plans to raise up to 460 million euros through the listing of Spac in Amsterdam.
Michael Bloomberg becomes the connecting thread of Ian Osborne’s career © Joe Raedle / Getty
Osborne was described by his contacts as “obsessed with secrets.” He strictly protects his privacy and allows publicity to well-known partners, such as venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.
Palihapitiya is a former Facebook executive who has been widely followed on social media and is keen to make provocative remarks on TV. He described Osborne as “to my Yang Very beneficial yin”.
Moonshot machine
It is precisely because of the re-release of Spacs in 2017 that Osborne became the most well-known company-working with Palihapitiya’s Social Capital to support the listing of companies such as Virgin Galactic, Clover Health and Opendoor.
A person familiar with the matter said that in the process, Osborne has accumulated up to 300 million US dollars worth of stock, thanks to the juicy “promotional” stock awards provided to listing promoters.
For friends and investors, he is a savvy trader and well-established Internet person, connecting a rich family office with founders who need capital expansion.
Others worry that he has been at the forefront of a wave of speculative cash, giving unproven companies a mediocre valuation.
He helped Virgin Galactic go public in 2019, opening the floodgates for companies with very little revenue, which rarely go public through Spacs. According to data from Refinitiv, more than 300 Spacs raised US$97 billion this year.
As the operation now moves to Europe, which marks Osborn’s home, Osborn has divided his time among the houses in London and Hong Kong where he lives.
Chamath Palihapitiya described Osborn as “a very good yin for my Yang” ©David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
From Bloomberg to Zuckerberg
Born in Richmond, London, Osborne is the son of a lawyer and a doctor. He studied at St. Paul’s School, King’s College and the London School of Economics. He graduated in 2005 and became an advisor to Bloomberg and a liaison for Bloomberg. Through Osborne’s career.
Bloomberg’s long-term campaign manager and head of communications Kevin Sheekey (Kevin Sheekey) said that after co-hosting a dinner in London, Osborne began to work for the then mayor of New York. The guests of the dinner included actress Crowdy. Claudia Schiffer (Claudia Schiffer) and media son James Murdoch (James Murdoch).
By 2007, thanks to Osborne’s support, Bloomberg delivered a speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Blackpool. Sheekey said: “It sounds easy, but the contacts are rare talents.” “Dozens of people who have a good relationship with Mike and I are from Ian. There has never been a meeting between global business leaders. There are no yellow pages.”
He described Zelig-like qualities to Osborne: “His nature is not to improve himself.”
As an international consultant to Bloomberg for the next four years, Osborne continues to use his network skills to reach out to those who will become his entry into the technology and finance world.
“At first it was like,’What is this 20-something British doing in American politics?’ It doesn’t make much sense,” said Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, who met Austria during this period. Spencer.
According to Ek, Osborne initially offered “suggestions, connections between people”. “But his Rolodex is out of reach for such a young person. The connection between politics and business today seems appropriate, but no one established the connection at the time.”
After meeting with Mark Zuckerberg in 2008, Osborne began to advise on Palihapitiya’s social capital and subsequently invested in it.
Palihapitiya described Osborne as “extremely, extremely cautious and incredible credibility. His connection is incredible. He is the modern homeless billionaire Version. Ian keeps working, keeps traveling, he is collecting people.”
Osborne partnered with Palihapitiya’s Social Capital to support the listing of Virgin Galactic ©Virgin Galactic
In 2009, he established his own consulting company Osborne and Partners, and accepted clients including DST Global (DST Global), which is run by the Israeli-Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (Yuri Milner). investment company.
By 2010, he helped DST lead the investment in Spotify and Alibaba, where he established relationships with founders Ek and Jack Ma, respectively.
In his work with DST and subsequent work, Osborne continued to serve as a public relations and business development consultant, from Travis Kalanick (Travis Kalanick) and Evan Spiegel (Evan Spiegel) to Zuckerberg Grid’s American high-tech billionaire provides business consulting. He has been in close contact with Bloomberg and tried to acquire the Financial Times from Pearson in 2013.
That year, he firmly established his technical position among the organizers of one of the hottest parties in Davos, with Napster co-founder Sean Parker and Salesforce CEO Mark Bay Marc Benioff co-sponsored a carnival with the theme of “taxidermy”.
He also began to work informally for the then British Prime Minister David Cameron and Prime Minister George Osborne, and he has maintained a close relationship with him and helped open the door to the United States. During the 2010 election, he helped Cameron prepare for the television debate. At about the same time, he organized a trip to the United States for Boris Johnson, then mayor of London.
A person familiar with the period stated that Osborne became the “ultimate co-host”, gathering people from the political, technological, financial, and artistic circles. At a 2014 dinner hosted by Osborne, actors Ed Norton and Arianna Huffington attended a meeting. An Uber executive was in trouble. Because he hinted that the company could unearth the dirt of key reporters.
Promote “IPO 2.0” to Europe
Osborne founded Hedosophia (named after the Greek god of pleasure and wisdom) in 2012 to specialize in early technology companies.
A person familiar with the matter said that early supporters included family offices such as Burda in Germany and funds related to Hong Kong tycoon Lee. He also added that the institution now has more university endowments, university endowments, public pension funds and insurance companies from insurance companies. The United States, Japan, Canada and Sweden.
Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, recalled Osborne’s “Rolodex not so young” ©Drew Angerer / Getty
At a dinner held in Hong Kong with Palihapitiya in early 2017, he proposed the idea of a new type of Spac to make it easier for tech founders to go public in public without the risk and regulatory burden of traditional IPOs.
People familiar with the matter said that despite being partners in the sponsoring company, the two did not evenly distribute the income. Palihapitiya made most of the profits, but also invested more money. Palihapitiya also coined a new term for Spac, namely “IPO 2.0”, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange at the 2017 press conference.
Since then, hundreds of Spacs have followed this strategy, which was initiated by former bank executives, athletes and politicians who are keen to enjoy the almost risk-free upside of the Spac sponsor model. But even those who operate near Osborne want to know if the market is now going too far. One person said: “The bubble must have burst now.”
As the market shifted, the Osborne/Palihapitiya Spac franchise took a hit-Shamrock’s share price fell by more than 50% from its peak, while the share price of Virgin Galactic, which has not yet conducted commercial flights, fell by more than 70% . peak.
People close to the plan said that Osborne is determined to properly exercise his European Spac qualifications, cut the financial rewards of sponsors, and form a heavyweight board of directors.
This month, he will also restore his early passion for theater and produce one of the first musicals to be released after the end of the pandemic ban in the West End- Everyone is talking about jamie.
He will need to get used to being the central figure-at least in Europe, he does not have Palihapitiya to hide, and the US scrutiny of Spacs has begun to raise questions about whether investors and sponsors have gone too far in the market. , Too fast.
Additional reporting by Tim Bradshaw and Arash Massoudi
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