# John Hegarty

> John Hegarty is a seed investor at The Garage Soho (London) backing Mobile and E-Commerce. See 7 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [The Garage Soho](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/the-garage-soho)
- Location: London, United Kingdom
- Total investments: 7
- Last investment: Feb 2019
- Lead investor: 43%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-hegarty-296309b9/

John Hegarty is a seed investor at The Garage Soho in London focused on Mobile and E-Commerce. John Hegarty is one of the world’s most awarded and respected admen. Over six decades he has been at the forefront of the creative advertising industry from the early days of Saatchi and Saatchi to Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the global company he runs today.In 1982 he founded Bartle Bogle Hegarty with partners John Bartle and Nigel Bogle. The agencyswiftly became one of the most talked about and awarded advertising agencies in the world. BBH has won every Agency of the Year accolade and every creative award possible and has been at the forefront of the industry for twenty nine years.John has been responsible for campaigns for Levi’s such as the ground breaking commercial starring an unknown model called Nick Kamen who stripped off down to his boxer shorts in a launderette. He introduced the British to the phrase 'Vorsprung Durch Technik' for Audi and picked a young model/actor called Brad Pitt to star in a commercial for Levi’s. He pioneered the importance of music in commercials which has earned BBH nine number 1 hits. John also oversaw the first viral phenomenon to hit the headlines, the furry yellow puppet Flat Eric for Levi’s, who kicked Eminem off the number 1 singles slot in 1999.BBH now has offices in London, New York, Singapore, Sao Paulo, Shanghai and Mumbai and John oversees the creative output of all these offices. This unique global structure also contributed to the company winning the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement twice, in 1996 and 1997.John has won golds at every industry awards including D&AD, Cannes and British Television. He has been given the D&AD President's Award for outstanding achievement and was admitted to the US One Show Advertising Hall of Fame. He has also been voted as one of the most influential people in fashion thanks to his work with Levi’s.In 2006, he was awarded honorary doctorates from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College and Middlesex University and sits on the Board of Trustees of the Design Museum.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1.1M–$3M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Mobile | 2 | 29% |
| E-Commerce | 2 | 29% |
| CRM | 1 | 14% |
| Video | 1 | 14% |
| Retail | 1 | 14% |

21 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 4 | 57% |
| Series A | 1 | 14% |
| Series B | 1 | 14% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ChargedUp | Europes first mobile charging network - Over 2500 locations to rent a portable charger and return anywhere | $1.6M | Seed | Feb 15, 2019 |  |
| Popsa | Popsa sits at the intersection of AI, photos and B2C. According to Deloitte, it is one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech startups, and in both 2022 and 2023 the Financial Times ranked Popsa in the Top 20 fastest-growing software companies in the whole of Europe. Popsa is developing generative AI technology and AI agents that generate personalisedproducts for consumers based on the data contained in their own photos, therefore removing countless anxieties and manual tasks usually associated with personalisation, and empowering everyday people with professional storytelling techniques for the first time.Its award-winning app has made printing memories so easy and accessible that anyone can do it. As a result, the company receives 18,000 orders every week, increasing to 80,000 during Q4.Popsa's native iOS and Android apps are available in 12 languages – attracting more than 8 million users to date – and they ship to 50 countries around the world. Only 15% of Popsa’s revenue comes from the UK (France is their top market whilst the US is the fastest growing).People come to Popsa to create photobooks and other products, but what Popsa really does is help them process their lives and relationships through reflection on their photos. The company's longer term ambition is to become a global destination; a space to explore all of life’s moments and the emotions that come with them – not just the highlights. So holidays, but also lazy days and sad days too. Popsa believes the more you reflect, the better you understand yourself and your connections with others. | $3M | Seed | Mar 15, 2018 |  |
| Popsa | Popsa sits at the intersection of AI, photos and B2C. According to Deloitte, it is one of the UK’s fastest-growing tech startups, and in both 2022 and 2023 the Financial Times ranked Popsa in the Top 20 fastest-growing software companies in the whole of Europe. Popsa is developing generative AI technology and AI agents that generate personalisedproducts for consumers based on the data contained in their own photos, therefore removing countless anxieties and manual tasks usually associated with personalisation, and empowering everyday people with professional storytelling techniques for the first time.Its award-winning app has made printing memories so easy and accessible that anyone can do it. As a result, the company receives 18,000 orders every week, increasing to 80,000 during Q4.Popsa's native iOS and Android apps are available in 12 languages – attracting more than 8 million users to date – and they ship to 50 countries around the world. Only 15% of Popsa’s revenue comes from the UK (France is their top market whilst the US is the fastest growing).People come to Popsa to create photobooks and other products, but what Popsa really does is help them process their lives and relationships through reflection on their photos. The company's longer term ambition is to become a global destination; a space to explore all of life’s moments and the emotions that come with them – not just the highlights. So holidays, but also lazy days and sad days too. Popsa believes the more you reflect, the better you understand yourself and your connections with others. | $1.1M | Seed | May 01, 2017 |  |
| Simba Sleep | Simba Sleep is an e-commerce company that offers a variety of mattresses. It brings together thousands of super-light comfort springs and support from precision-engineered foam in perfect harmony.The company is driven by a mission is to bring the importance of sleep back into focus, and help everyone wake up winning. Simba Sleep was founded in2015 and is headquartered in London, England. | $1.5M | Series A | Feb 10, 2016 |  |
| The Dots | The professional network for people who don’t wear suits to work. Build your community. Land your dream freelance, full time or remote dream job. Upskill at virtual events. Get advice & find collaborators. Download via the App Store!“The Dots can help you make those all important connections. It’s networking for the modern world” – Apple, Appof the Day“Makes LinkedIn look pretty stuffy” – TechCrunch“The Next LinkedIn?” – Forbes | $2M | Seed | Oct 22, 2015 |  |
| Scoota | Scoota is an online advertising technology company that enables advertisers to create, activate, measure and optimise brilliant brand campaigns at scale.We offer a single programmatic platform for the creation and delivery of rich, high-impact formats via open real-time bidding and private marketplaces, without compromising creative executionor brand safety.Our technology includes a unique campaign delivery system that pre-reads an ad space in real-time so that the right creative is delivered into the right ad unit without the need for pre-testing and independent site integration.We care about and invest in an open and long-term approach, enabling partners to work with us through integration with their own systems of choice, or via our platform whether as a self-serve solution, or a fully managed service.Scoota was founded in London in 2008 and employs more than 40 people. In 2015, we won best overall programmatic technology at The Drum Digital Trading Awards and Silver for Best Ad Tech Provider at the 2015 British Media Awards. |  | Series B | Sep 10, 2015 |  |
| JustUs.co | JustUs.co is an electronic system in relation to lending. |  | Seed | Mar 01, 2014 |  |

7 of 7 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Coral Reef IO](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/coral-reef-io) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Guinness Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/guinness-asset-management) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Guinness Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/guinness-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [JamJar Investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jamjar-investments) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [octopus investments](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/octopusinvestments) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Pembroke VCT](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pembroke-vct) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About The Garage Soho

VC Fund · London, United Kingdom

The Garage Soho is an early stage investor and brand builder. They invest £100K - £500K into companies pre-series A with a focus on technology enabled consumer brands.

5 contacts available at The Garage Soho.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| John Hegarty | Co-Founder | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sir-john-hegarty |
| Andy Betton | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andy-betton |
| Kevin Brown | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kevin-brown-2d3a |
| Kiko Duffy | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kiko-duffy |
| Nick Kendall | Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/nick-kendall |

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## FAQ

### What does John Hegarty invest in?

John Hegarty invests primarily in Mobile, E-Commerce and CRM startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 7 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 John Hegarty's check size?

John Hegarty typically joins rounds of $1.1M–$3M at Seed. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds John Hegarty participates in.

### When did John Hegarty last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for John Hegarty closed in Feb 2019. Shizune tracks 7 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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