Ian Lobley is a Senior Partner in 3i's venture capital business and a member of its global leadership team. He has been with 3i since 1987, investing primarily in technology-based businesses trying to exploit technology and market advantage to achieve exponential growth. Roles have included heading up IT investing in the UK, global leadership in the communications sector and leading 3i's venture capital business in France.Ian specialises in information technology investments across Europe. Key deals that he has been involved in include Bookham Technology, a leading supplier of optical components; Sophos, a world leader in protecting businesses against viruses and spam; Searchspace, a leading provider of financial risk management software; Magic4 and Paragon Software, both mobile device software companies separately acquired by Openwave; and Merlin Communications, a spinout of the BBC World Service transmission business. Currently Ian is a director of a number of exciting young companies including The Cloud, Europe's leading WiFi network; Ipanema Technologies, provider of world leading network management software; Psytechnics, a company assuring the quality of Voice and Video over IP; Intense, bringing leading edge laser solutions to the printing industry. Nujira, providers of solutions to increase the efficiency of wireless infrastructure and Dibcom, world-leaders in mobile TV chipsets. He has served on various advisory boards including the European Objective One Programme, the European Technology Forum and Oxford BioTechNet.Prior to 3i, he worked with The BOC Group, in a division producing high purity gases for the semiconductor and medical industries.Ian has an honours degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Birmingham.
