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Bobby Hashemi founded Union Ventures in 2012.

Bobby is a different type of dealmaker - with over 20 years’ experience in the consumer sector across three key aspects - as an entrepreneur who has built a leisure business from scratch into a well-known national brand, as an investor partner in an established private equity investment fund, and as an advisor in a major US investment bank.

Investor: From 2007 – 2012, Bobby was a partner and shareholder at an established private equity investment firm with a £75 million fund investing in growth companies across the UK, where he participated in originating, appraising, executing, and monitoring deals across the consumer sector.
Entrepreneur: Prior to his investing career, he co-founded and led Coffee Republic Plc from its inception to position as one of the best-known coffee bar brands in the UK, a London Stock Exchange quoted company with annual sales of £30 million and 100 stores across the UK. As CEO and then Executive Chairman, he was involved in all aspects of growing and running the business - including strategy, branding, operations, finance and fundraising. The business was founded in late 1995, floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1997, raised £20 million equity over the following 3 years, and by 2001 when Bobby exited the business, the share price had risen by 5x since flotation.
Advisor: Bobby started his career advising US consumer businesses as an investment banker in mergers & acquisitions at Lehman Brothers in New York.

Other activities:

Author: Bobby has co-authored “Anyone Can Do It”, a UK No. 1 best-selling business book about entrepreneurship and building a business, translated into 6 languages and distributed internationally.
Speaker: Bobby is regularly invited to speak about entrepreneurship, building a business, fundraising, private equity investing and the consumer sector, and has presented to a variety of audiences and at a number of national events. Please email details of your event to Bobby in the Speaking or Contact sections.

Bobby has an MBA from Amos Tuck School of Dartmouth College in the U.S., and a BSc in Computer Engineering.