Martin Gibson

Currently on “indefinite sabbatical”. Technology investor & hands-on non-executive chairman, director & board member, helping start-up entrepreneurs turn great ideas into outstanding companies.

📍 London, England, United Kingdom🔄 Updated September 2026💼 24 investments📅 17 years investing🗓 Last invested May 2022𝕏 @upgrade_to_unlock
VC🌍 United Kingdom20+ investments
24
Total investments
2
Early stage
8
Mid stage
6
Late stage
17y
Years active

Portfolio

20 investments · sorted by recency
All investments
Early stage
Mid stage
Late stage
Board Member
May 2022
Were Carwow. The car-changing destination for life-changing moments. We get it. Changing your car’s a big deal, and it usually comes at a pretty big junction in your life. So whether you’re buying, selling, or (car) window shopping, we’ll give you total confidence in your choice. You won’t find biassed reviews or shady interests here. Just honest opinions, clear prices, and a network of trusted dealers. No haggling. No stress. No costs. Just cruising. That’s great news for dealers, too. With access to over 3 million customers, we help our dealer partners fill forecourts, lower costs, and sell more than ever before. But what does Carwow look like under the hood? We’re a dedicated team of over 350 experts across the UK, Germany, Spain and Portugal. But we’re not all petrol heads (well, maybe Mat is). Were curious, humble, and empowered individuals relentlessly driven and passionate about creating the best car buying experience, and a fantastic place to work. Ready to kick your career up a gear? We’re hiring at www.carwow.co.uk/jobs
Board Member
May 2022
Anyfin is a fintech on a mission to simplify loan repayments and improve the financial well-being of millions. The company was founded in 2017 by Mikael Hussain, Sven Perkmann, and Filip Polhem, all of whom have extensive experience from tech giants like Klarna, Spotify, and iZettle. Anyfin is currently operating in its home market of Sweden as well as in Germany, Finland, and Norway. Backed by investors Accel, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Fintech Collective, Global Founders Capital, Quadrille Capital, Augmentum FinTech, and Citi Ventures, amongst others.
Board Member
May 2022
Finaloop reconciles all financials in real-time, providing ecommerce and DTC brands flawless books, optimized tax returns, and actionable insights 24/7 with 100% accuracy. We replace your accounting software, your integrations, your bookkeeper and tax CPA, so you stop wasting your precious time and money, make smarter decisions and handle taxes on time. Grow your business, make more money and beat your competition with flawless financials and actionable real-time business data.
Board Member
May 2022
Privitar empowers organizations to use their data safely and ethically. Our Data Security Platform (DSP) builds collaborative workflows and policy-based data privacy and access controls into data operations. Only Privitar has the right combination of technology, regulatory expertise, and best practices to support modern data innovation initiatives while navigating regulations and protecting customer trust. Founded in 2014, co-founders Jason du Preez and John Taysom united to combine John’s academic work on privacy with Jason’s experience of big data and enterprise software. Together, they launched Privitar, with a passion for building a center of excellence around their idea that technology and privacy together can thrive. Fast-forward to today, Privitar is a global leader—and set the standard in privacy engineering—for organizations worldwide. Headquartered in London, Privitar now has offices around the world, with an international customer base which includes Global 2000 banking, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, professional services, retail and telecommunications companies like HSBC, Citi, the UK’s National Health Service and AstraZeneca, to name a few. To date, Privitar has raised more than $150 million in funding, led by Warburg Pincus, Accel, Partech, IQ Capital, Salesforce Ventures, ABN AMRO Ventures and HSBC. Email us at info@privitar.com Follow us at @privitarglobal
Board Member
Mar 2020
The site builder loved by designers.
Board Member
Nov 2018
Zero Trust Security for All Your Cloud-Native Apps Octarine delivers zero trust, runtime security for cloud-native apps to give organizations total visibility and control over all their container and VM communications, so they can confidently maintain security and compliance when transitioning to cloud-native. Octarine makes it easy to define, enforce and audit fine-grained policies, based on the identity of each service, to ensure defenses always match current risk conditions. Because Octarine is tightly coupled with every workload, it can automatically inspect, authenticate, authorize and encrypt, as needed. It doesn’t matter whether the service is in a container, VM, public cloud, or serverless environment, or using HTTP/HTTPs, Kafka, or Istio, organizations can manage and secure it with Octarine.
Board Member
Nov 2018
Zero Trust Security for All Your Cloud-Native Apps Octarine delivers zero trust, runtime security for cloud-native apps to give organizations total visibility and control over all their container and VM communications, so they can confidently maintain security and compliance when transitioning to cloud-native. Octarine makes it easy to define, enforce and audit fine-grained policies, based on the identity of each service, to ensure defenses always match current risk conditions. Because Octarine is tightly coupled with every workload, it can automatically inspect, authenticate, authorize and encrypt, as needed. It doesn’t matter whether the service is in a container, VM, public cloud, or serverless environment, or using HTTP/HTTPs, Kafka, or Istio, organizations can manage and secure it with Octarine.
Investor
Mar 2018
Fever is the leading global live-entertainment discovery tech platform with a clear mission: to democratize access to culture and entertainment. Fever has developed a proprietary technology that inspires its global community of over 125M people through personalized and curated experiences in their local city whilst empowering entertainment and event creators to reach new audiences and enhance their experiences. Some successful examples include the “Candlelight Concert Series” attended by over 3 million guests last year, the Los Angeles-based “Stranger Things: The Drive-Into Experience” co-produced with Netflix, or the “Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience” winner of USA Todays 10 Best Readers Choice award. The company, present in over 100 major cities across the globe, is backed by leading investors such as Goldman Sachs, Alignment Growth (growth equity investor in global entertainment and consumer tech, led by former Warner Bros and Time Warner), Goodwater Capital (the largest dedicated consumer technology platform globally), Smash Capital (a late-stage venture capital firm led by former Disney and growth equity investors, backer of Epic Games), Eurazeo, Vitruvian Partners and Atresmedia among others. To pursue our objective, we are looking for bar-raisers who want to work hard, have fun, and make history with us.
Board Member
Oct 2017
Pharmacy Simplified. We leverage service and technology to simplify the management of complex medication regimens for the 32 million people taking more than 5 medications a month. PillPack uses design to create an unparalleled patient experience that is both satisfying and effective.
Board Member
Apr 2017
Welcome to the new era of payments. Collect one-off, automated, or recurring payments – directly from your customers bank account to yours. Putting an end to late payments, chasing customers, stress, and expensive fees. Its just cash, flowing from one account to another. Join 100,000 businesses of all sizes, worldwide, who trust us to power their payments.
Investor
Jan 2016
Helpling started off with the vision to revolutionise the household service industry. It has grown from a Berlin start-up into an international organization with several brands under its umbrella. Since 2014, the Helpling Group has expanded into ten different markets across the globe. With different ventures in the household and office service industries, the Helpling Group currently employs about 200 people across its headquarters and six regional offices. Thousands of people use its products, services and platforms every day.
Board Member
Jan 2016
Everyone loves receiving packages. Our mission is to make shipping easy and transparent for people and businesses throughout the world! Packlink is an online shipping service offering individuals and business customers a fast and easy way of booking parcel deliveries with the worlds top couriers. Packlink is based in Madrid but operates across Europe. Our aim is to become the leading provider of shipping technology for consumers and eCommerce merchants selling online. The service first launched in Spain in 2012, making headlines and partnering with major national and international couriers by integrating with their booking and parcel tracking systems. Packlink currently serves over 215k business customers and has integrated its platform with the leading eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. We are a marketing and technology company, built on talent and teamwork. We believe in a dynamic, motivating startup environment and great company culture centered on innovation, outstanding customer service, and a happy team. Our passion for getting shipping right led us to develop a platform that uses cutting-edge technology. Our solution is based on a microservice and event-oriented architecture using Scala (with a little bit of Java here and there) for a sturdy backend, and ReactJs for a fancy frontend to catch our customers attention. We use contract & resilience testing to prevent any issues that could impact UX. All of this, combined with our DevOps mentality, allows us to develop high-end software. In fact, words can’t really do it justice, so you can take a look at our full tech stack at Stackshare - Packlink.
Board Member
Dec 2012
Dragonplay is multi-platform development house specializing on Social and Mobile gambling games production. Established in 2010 by Sharon Tal, located in the heart of the startup nation of Israel, the company launched the first-ever social Poker app in Google Play store. Live Hold’em Poker was installed by tens of millions of people worldwide. In 2012 the company raised $14 Million from Accel Partners, one of the leading Venture Capital companies in the world. In 2012, the company launched Dragonplay Slots followed by Dragonplay Bingo and invested in several ventures across other gaming verticals. Dragonplay’s games are available on mobile in iOS, Android and Facebook. In June 2014, Dragonplay was acquired by Bally Technology for $100 Million, and merged into Scientific Games interactive division when the last acquired Bally Technologies in November 2014. Dragonplay now serves as the Israeli R&D center of Scientific Games, developing multi-player, cross-platform social games. The first ever Bally Slots were released to the social casino market in March 2015 with Quick Hit Slots followed by SHFL masters games in Dragonplay Poker. Other Products: ============ * Quick Hit Slots * Dragonplay Slots * Jackpot Madness * Dragonplay Poker * Live Hold'em Poker Pro * Wild Bingo Facebook Pages: ============= * Quick Hit Slot - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quick-Hit-Slots/1514614155455091 * Live Hold'em Poker Pro - https://www.facebook.com/Live.Holdem * Dragonplay Slots - https://www.facebook.com/DragonplaySlotCity * Wild Bingo - https://www.facebook.com/WildBingo
early stageComputer Games
Board Member
Nov 2011
watAgame is an international interactive media company located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is our mission to give kids a great first social media experience, surrounding them with good friends in a free, playful and safe environment watAgame develops and operates Momio, which is a social media for kids.
Board Member
Nov 2011
myThings is a global leader in fully customized performance programmatic, personalizing dynamic creative for leading global brands on web and mobile. With more than a decade of experience and intelligence in retargeting and re-engagement, we work with the largest retail, travel and ticket sales brands including Puma, Nordstrom Rack, Southwest and Primesport. We strive to provide unmatched levels of customization and control, as well as dynamic, optimized creative that is properly brand-aligned, in addition to performance at scale. Our solutions marry the best of performance and brand marketing, all in real time. This really is performance programmatic made for you.
Show all 20 investments ↓
Experience · 25 entries
All (25)
Investments (24)
Board (21)
2022
Board Member
May 2022
Were Carwow. The car-changing destination for life-changing moments. We get it. Changing your car’s a big deal, and it usually comes at a pretty big junction in your life. So whether you’re buying, selling, or (car) window shopping, we’ll give you total confidence in your choice. You won’t find biassed reviews or shady interests here. Just honest opinions, clear prices, and a network of trusted dealers. No haggling. No stress. No costs. Just cruising. That’s great news for dealers, too. With access to over 3 million customers, we help our dealer partners fill forecourts, lower costs, and sell more than ever before. But what does Carwow look like under the hood? We’re a dedicated team of over 350 experts across the UK, Germany, Spain and Portugal. But we’re not all petrol heads (well, maybe Mat is). Were curious, humble, and empowered individuals relentlessly driven and passionate about creating the best car buying experience, and a fantastic place to work. Ready to kick your career up a gear? We’re hiring at www.carwow.co.uk/jobs
Board Member
May 2022
Anyfin is a fintech on a mission to simplify loan repayments and improve the financial well-being of millions. The company was founded in 2017 by Mikael Hussain, Sven Perkmann, and Filip Polhem, all of whom have extensive experience from tech giants like Klarna, Spotify, and iZettle. Anyfin is currently operating in its home market of Sweden as well as in Germany, Finland, and Norway. Backed by investors Accel, EQT Ventures, Northzone, Fintech Collective, Global Founders Capital, Quadrille Capital, Augmentum FinTech, and Citi Ventures, amongst others.
Board Member
May 2022
Finaloop reconciles all financials in real-time, providing ecommerce and DTC brands flawless books, optimized tax returns, and actionable insights 24/7 with 100% accuracy. We replace your accounting software, your integrations, your bookkeeper and tax CPA, so you stop wasting your precious time and money, make smarter decisions and handle taxes on time. Grow your business, make more money and beat your competition with flawless financials and actionable real-time business data.
Board Member
May 2022
Privitar empowers organizations to use their data safely and ethically. Our Data Security Platform (DSP) builds collaborative workflows and policy-based data privacy and access controls into data operations. Only Privitar has the right combination of technology, regulatory expertise, and best practices to support modern data innovation initiatives while navigating regulations and protecting customer trust. Founded in 2014, co-founders Jason du Preez and John Taysom united to combine John’s academic work on privacy with Jason’s experience of big data and enterprise software. Together, they launched Privitar, with a passion for building a center of excellence around their idea that technology and privacy together can thrive. Fast-forward to today, Privitar is a global leader—and set the standard in privacy engineering—for organizations worldwide. Headquartered in London, Privitar now has offices around the world, with an international customer base which includes Global 2000 banking, healthcare, insurance, life sciences, professional services, retail and telecommunications companies like HSBC, Citi, the UK’s National Health Service and AstraZeneca, to name a few. To date, Privitar has raised more than $150 million in funding, led by Warburg Pincus, Accel, Partech, IQ Capital, Salesforce Ventures, ABN AMRO Ventures and HSBC. Email us at info@privitar.com Follow us at @privitarglobal
2020
Board Member
Mar 2020
The site builder loved by designers.
Show all 25 entries ↓
Investment activity
2009–2022 · 24 investments
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