Rob Dobson
Angel Investor
Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Rob Dobson is a seed investor 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 to PE 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:
- 58
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 28%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Rob Dobson invests in
Stages Rob Dobson invests in
Countries Rob Dobson invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Type | Contact | Validation |
|---|---|---|
| Work email | ||
| Personal email | ||
| Work phone | ||
| Personal phone | ||
| Socials |
Round size
- Seed
- $378k–$1.8M
- Angel
- $104k–$1.7M
- Pre-Seed
- $41k–$1.6M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Software 16 (28%)
- SaaS 6 (10%)
- Robotics 5 (9%)
- Marketing 5 (9%)
- E-Commerce 5 (9%)
Stage
- Seed 21 (36%)
- Pre-Seed 11 (19%)
- Angel 9 (16%)
- Venture - Series Unknown 4 (7%)
- Series A 1 (2%)
Country
- United Kingdom 35 (60%)
- United States 1 (2%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 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™ 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 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 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 | ||
| Drinkly offers an on-demand service of alcoholic drinks to its customers in Edinburgh, UK. Its online platform lets its customers to purchase their favorite alcoholic drinks, like crafted beers, spirits, and wine, conveniently from their home and offices. | $348.2K / Equity Crowdfunding / Dec 16, 2019 | ||
| 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. | $643.4K / Seed / Nov 12, 2019 | ||
| Orders Made Simple is a B2B wholesaler system for SMEs within the hospitality industry. They offer to improve the way food service operators order their stock. They use a system that allows chefs, owners, and managers to place orders quickly while also ensuring that the prices are reasonable. | $73.7K / Pre-Seed / Oct 07, 2019 | ||
| 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 | ||
| 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 / Jun 20, 2019 | ||
| See all 58 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does Rob Dobson invest in?
Rob Dobson invests primarily in Software, SaaS and Robotics startups, most often at Seed and Pre-Seed stage. Most of the 58 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United Kingdom. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What round sizes does Rob Dobson invest in?
Rob Dobson typically joins rounds of $378k–$1.8M at Seed, $104k–$1.7M at Angel and $41k–$1.6M at Pre-Seed. These are whole funding-round sizes, not Rob Dobson's own check, which is rarely disclosed: the 10th–90th percentile of the confirmed public funding rounds Rob Dobson took part in.
How do I contact Rob Dobson?
Public channels for Rob Dobson include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
When did Rob Dobson last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Rob Dobson closed in Dec 2021. Shizune tracks 58 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 Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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