Dan Cobley

Drawing from a career at the cutting edge of technology businesses, Dan Cobley helps audiences grasp the imperative for change and navigate future opportunities. With rich and entertaining examples from Google, his startup portfolio, and elsewhere, Cobley brings a fresh perspective to any audience, helping energize them towards action with a blend of inspiration and practical, usable advice.

Dan is an entrepreneur and investor in innovative tech startup businesses, focusing on financial services. He leads the FinTech portfolio for Blenheim Chalcot, a long-established London venture builder. Through this role, he has co-founded a number of fast-growth FinTech companies including: Salary Finance, Koodoo Mortgages, OpenWrks, and ClearScore, and he is on the boards of Liberis, Modulr, and Tully.

Cobley is also an investor and advisor to a number of companies including Brompton Bicycle, Personal Boardroom, Onfido, Qubit, Fospha, and Hive Learning.

Until late 2014, Cobley spent over eight years at Google. For the last three years, he was Managing Director, UK & Ireland - the biggest market for Google outside the U.S. and the most advanced major country in terms of e-commerce and online advertising spending. Cobley was promoted to the UK MD role after five years in Google marketing, first as Marketing Director, UK, Ireland and Benelux and then as VP Marketing, EMEA.

Previously, Cobley was VP of Brand and Marketing for Capital One Europe, Marketing Director for Ask Jeeves, and Marketing Director at Pepsi/Walkers.

Cobley is a regular keynote speaker at conferences, speaking on the disruptive power of FinTech, technology, innovation, and Google's unique approach to business. He is also an accomplished moderator, interviewer, and after-dinner speaker. Cobley has shared his thoughts on Physics and Marketing at the TED conference and with over 1.4 million people online. He was named as number three in Wired UK top 100 list 2012 and among the Maserati 100 Innovators of the Year in 2018. He appeared on BBC's Tomorrow's World as a technology commentator and helped Alan Sugar choose his 2014 Apprentice.