Q&A with Richard Farleigh

Richard Farleigh

Richard Farleigh's Biography

There are not too many nice guys in the cut-throat world of big business. But Richard Farleigh is the undisputed 'Mr Nice' of hit BBC show Dragons' Den. Not that it's hard to look nice among the panel of scary millionaire 'dragons' whose put-downs break the hearts of wannabe tycoons each week in front of five million viewers.

But as Britain's leading 'business angel', he's just as likely to make their fortune as shatter their dreams. Take Levi Roots, the West Indian guy with the spicy sauce who got his sums just a little bit wrong by a factor of 1,000. Just weeks after Richard stepped in to back him, thousands of bottles of 'Reggae Reggae Sauce' are on the shelves of 600 Sainsbury stores around Britain.

A self-confessed 'deal junkie,' Richard has backed more than 70 small start-up British companies in the past 12 years - more than any other private investor in Britain - and taken 16 of them to the Stock Market, 27 are ongoing businesses, 4 have been acquired and only 11 have failed.

That�s a 'hit rate' of one in four way ahead of the one-in-ten score of the average venture capitalist. And it's not bad for a man who grew up as one of 11 children of a violent, alcoholic Australian swagman, and went on to make his first million at the age of 30.

What�s his secret? 'I got into business thinking it's all about numbers and markets,' he says. 'But over the past twelve years I've realised it's all about people.'

With a fresh focus on inventors with ideas that most investors would not touch, he's busy backing a bunch of British scientific projects that could change the world. The range of his businesses is vast from software and semiconductors to games development and drug research to nanotechnology.

'I can't hope to understand the technology but I back the person,' he explains. 'If the people involved are genuine, and committed to what they do, then I'll trust them. They can try to explain how stem cells work but I can't expect to understand all of the science. So long as they have the track record and are willing to put their time into it, I'll know if they've got something worth investing in.'

Recently he has put a team in place to help assess the potential viability of inventions and to assist with finance, patents, production and marketing.

'I am fascinated by inventions and this new team will help people who need expertise in bringing their product to market. It is my aim to establish a network of links with inventors' clubs to pursue this area of interest.'

Through his involvement with Dragons' Den, Richard has not only backed Reggae Reggae Sauce probably the fastest supermarket launch in history but also Bak-jak (back support for mechanics), First Light ('man overboard' alarms for boats) and the refrigerated food trucking company Igloo Thermo-Logistics which is on the way to being the first million-pound company to be launched on the programme.

Companies in Richards growing and diverse portfolio include

Oxonica Plc An AIM-listed Oxford University spin-out that has grown into one of Europe's leading nanotechnology company's creating a fuel additive, 'Envirox', that can reduce fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by between five and ten per cent. 'This is one of the most exciting companies in Britain,' says Richard who has invested 5m in the company. The company has also created an additive to sun cream which reduces skin damage caused by ultra violet radiation.

Net-A-Porter Ltd The online fashion store for upmarket women's designer clothes has become a fixture on the internet. Now It could now be worth up to 500 million. Richard backed it from the start, investing a small amount to help a friend out but the percentage return has been unbelievable.

Capsant Ltd - Dedicated to finding better ways to conduct drug research, the company expects soon to announce that it can 'grow' cells from human organs, a move that would end the need for animal experimentation. 'It will revolutionise the health and pharmaceutical industries,' predicts Richard.

Eco Chemical Enterprises plc Is developing a fire-retardant chemical for clothing that may be greener and cost less than the price of its competitors. 'This could capture a huge share of the Global market and should be in production in the UK this Summer' says Richard.

Clearspeed Technology Plc Have developed the world's fastest microchip the CSX600, which dramatically increases computing speed with little need for extra electrical power. The company was going broke until Richard saved it with a 500,000 investment in 2002. Staff halved their salaries for months to buy shares in the company, which was then valued at 1m it is now worth 60m and has just raised a further 20m for expansion. Richard is the biggest shareholder with a 19 per cent stake.

Coe Group Makers of video surveillance systems, they were funded by Richard in 2006 and have just seen their share price quintuple. Business is growing with the announcement of a trial to crack down on graffiti on trains.

Cmed Group Limited Small drug research company started by one man in his bedroom, funded by Richard in 2005. Now about to announce a major software deal with a major pharmaceutical company in the US.

RICHARD'S BACKGROUND

'Rain, rain, go away we're going to get a house some day.' Thats what Richard's older brothers would sing whenever it rained when he was a baby, growing up in the Australian Outback. 'My father was a violent alcoholic swagman with 11 children,' he explains. 'We slept in a tent and lived in a truck as he moved around the country in search of work as a sheep shearer and opal miner anything he could get.'

One of Richard's sisters had already died, from drinking contaminated river water, by the time he was born in 1960. Two years later he was taken into care when his father, in a drunken rage, attacked his mother with an axe.

Growing up in a foster home with one of his brothers, Richard was diagnosed as 'backward' and put in remedial class but quickly discovered a special talent for maths and went on to win an economics scholarship to university, as well as becoming a Chess Master. It was through chess that he discovered his apparently natural ability for making money, 'hustling' older players in a Sydney park 'My first venture into making money out of the market'. However, he believes backgammon teaches better business skills than chess, 'because it's dependent to some degree on the dice and life has an element of chance.'

After graduating with honours from the University of New South Wales, Richard turned down the chance to study at Princeton University to start work on the trading floor. He spent ten years as a highly successful derivatives trader in Sydney before leaving Australia for the first time in 1992, with his first wife and baby son, to run a private hedge fund for an Austrian billionaire in the tax haven of Bermuda.

Two years later he had earned enough money to retire 'more than I could possibly have imagined making' and moved to Monaco where he began to invest in small companies, initially as a hobby. One of his first successes as a private investor was IndexIT, a scientific research company formed at Oxford University, later sold for 20 million.

Richard invested 2m to restore a large Georgian property in Portman Square, which had once been the French Embassy mansion and had previously been one of the 100 most endangered buildings in the world, into a private members club. Home House has since been sold at a healthy profit. And that's not to mention his ownership of possibly the worlds largest private sapphire collection the happy result of a rare deal that turned sour which currently resides in a US bank vault.

He has shared some of his investment secrets in a self-penned book, Taming The Lion 100 Secret Strategies For Investing coming out in paperback in later his year.

Richard lives in London with his children Jasmine, five, and two-year-old Lucas.

He relaxes by playing tennis and chess he has represented both Bermuda and Monaco at the chess Olympics.