Rob Dobson
Director @ Float
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Rob Dobson is a seed investor at Float in Edinburgh focused on Software and SaaS. Rob founded Actix (actix.com) in 1991 and as CEO (1991-2005) grew it to over $50m revenue by 2005. More than 90% of the world’s mobile phone customers have their networks optimized by Actix software and Rob has worked with many of the world’s leading mobile operators and infrastructure vendors. In 2005 he sold a majority stake in the company toPE firm Summit Partners at a $100+m valuation. He has invested in a further 30+ startups and has had five very successful exits (he's not counting failures as they come with the territory). Rob is chairman of Robotical (robotical.io) and DevicePilot.com. He's also the founding chairman of Singletrack.com and a supporter of the unique orchestra SouthbankSinfonia.co.uk. As an inveterate tinkerer in software and hardware, he's fascinated by IoT, 3D printing and the maker movement (as you can probably see from his personal website (robdobson.com). Rob is a Fellow of the IET and has a 1st class honours degree in Electronic Engineering.
- Total investments:
- 22
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 23%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Rob Dobson invests in
Stages Rob Dobson invests in
Countries Rob Dobson invests in
Round sizes
Round size
- Seed
- $638k–$1.8M
- Pre-Seed
- $39k–$1.7M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 8 (36%)
- SaaS 3 (14%)
- E-Commerce 3 (14%)
- Business Intelligence 3 (14%)
- Robotics 2 (9%)
Stage
- Seed 6 (27%)
- Pre-Seed 5 (23%)
- Angel 3 (14%)
- Funding Round 3 (14%)
- Series A 1 (5%)
Country
- United Kingdom 16 (73%)
- United States 1 (5%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
Robotical
|
Robotical™ is a startup based in Edinburgh, UK. They designed a low cost walking robot that's fully programmable, wifi-enabled, and really customisable and upgradeable. Perfect for kids, makers and educators to get stuck into robotics. | Seed / Dec 13, 2021 | |
Connect4
|
Connect4 provides a client meeting app. It is designed to help client-centric teams deliver smarter client meetings. First-class client meetings lead to strong relationships and healthy recurring business. They built around the concept of pods, which are central workspaces for teams and clients. | Pre-Seed / Jul 31, 2021 | |
|
Robotical
|
Robotical™ is a startup based in Edinburgh, UK. They designed a low cost walking robot that's fully programmable, wifi-enabled, and really customisable and upgradeable. Perfect for kids, makers and educators to get stuck into robotics. | Seed / Feb 26, 2021 | |
Mallzee
|
Mallzee started as a Tinder style Shopping app to help consumers find clothes quickly on mobile. In the last 3 years we’ve grown to be the biggest multi retailer shopping app in the UK with nearly 1m users. Consumers love our simple approach to browsing and now swipe tens of millions of products every month. As we developed this incredibly engagedcommunity we used this swipe data to improve our business.We're now opening up this data source to our partners to help improve their marketing, merchandising and buying - all whilst showcasing their products and brand hundreds of thousands of times each month. | $220.4K / Venture - Series Unknown / Apr 27, 2020 | |
Encore Musicians
|
Encore is the UK's fastest-growing marketplace for hiring outstanding musicians. Trusted by thousands of customers ever year, who have written reviews for our musicians with an average score of 4.96 out of 5. | $103.9K / Angel / Apr 15, 2020 | |
Stampede
|
Our mission is to empower physical businesses with world-class digital tools Since 2015, Stampede provided businesses with customer insights, enabling them to create effective automated marketing campaigns, while also delivering WiFi users a safe and fast connection, without the need for passwords. | $638K / Seed / Nov 12, 2019 | |
DragonflAI
|
Phone-Based AI Moderation Moderate user-uploaded images and videos before they leave mobile devices and reach the internet. Keep your platform and servers free from indecent or illegal content. | Seed / Jun 26, 2019 | |
DevicePilot
|
DevicePilot Service Monitoring for connected devices provides a single pane of glass for Product, Operations and Customer Support teams, driving up customer satisfaction and growth while reducing operational costs. | $1.8M / Seed / Apr 30, 2019 | |
Machines With Vision
|
Transforming the maintenance of linear infrastructure using millimetre-accurate mapping. | $1.7M / Pre-Seed / Dec 14, 2018 | |
Pufferfish
|
Pufferfish are world leaders in digital display technology, designing unique visualisation and engagement solutions for a global customer base, including, among others, AT&T, Audi, Babcock, The BBC, Honeywell, Kodak, IBM, Shell and UNEP. The story began with wowing audiences in the events industry. Since then, not only has the incrediblePufferTouch technology grown in scope but the product family has expanded to include the world’s first commercial interactive sphere, hemispherical displays, and a powerful proprietary software platform. Pufferfish have an unrivalled reputation for premium solution provision including application and content development services. Their customers sit across many diverse industries and span the globe, with solutions already having been sold into 40 countries. | $720K / Oct 01, 2018 | |
| See all 22 investments → | |||
Co-Investors
About Float
Float is a cloud-based cash management and forecasting platform that helps you manage your business with real-time insights, keeping on top of your future cash flow. By projecting your future cash in the bank businesses, scenario planning and managing payments - we help businesses make the right decisions for their business.
Float Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Alastair Jardine
Head of Product
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Colin Hewitt
Co-Founder & CEO
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Jennifer Given
COO
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Rob Dobson
Director
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1 more contact available
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FAQ
What does Rob Dobson invest in?
Rob Dobson invests primarily in Software, SaaS and E-Commerce startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 22 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is Rob Dobson's check size?
Rob Dobson typically joins rounds of $638k–$1.8M at Seed and $39k–$1.7M at Pre-Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Rob Dobson participates in.
When did Rob Dobson last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Rob Dobson closed in Dec 2021. Shizune tracks 22 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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