Tony Askew - Managing Director

Tony was one of the founding partners of Reed Elsevier Ventures in late 2000 and manages the fund.

Tony joined Reed Elsevier Ventures from the SOFTBANK/News Corporation European joint venture fund, eVentures, after a period in consulting where he led the Arthur Andersen eBusiness service line in Europe.

Before venture capital, Tony held an executive position at BT Cellnet (now O2). He was part of the original team that launched the world’s first commercial wireless internet service provider, ‘Genie’, which grew to more than four million users. Prior to that, Tony ran the New Media division at Random House UK, where he launched early brand names in consumer electronic media, such as Knowledge Adventure. Tony started his career with PriceWaterhouseCoopers in London.

Tony currently serves on the boards of Babylon and Siperian. Previously, Tony served with AllBusiness.com (acq: Dun and Bradstreet), Business.com (acq: RH Donnelly), iPhrase (acquired by IBM), Intraspect (acquired by Vignette), Netli (acq: Akamai) and SRD (acq: by IBM).

Tony holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, graduating with honours from the University of London.

Kevin Brown - Partner

Kevin was one of Reed Elsevier Ventures founding partners in late 2000, joining from SOFTBANK/News Corporation's European joint venture fund, eVentures.

Prior to that he was an entrepreneur, having founded a risk management technology company selling derivative pricing and management software to the banking and energy industries.
Previously, Kevin had spent a number of years at Arthur Andersen's European strategy consulting practice where he specialised in helping many of the world's largest energy and utilities companies formulate merger and acquisition and growth strategies, helping them seek opportunities in markets that were being liberalised.

Whilst at Reed Elsevier Ventures, Kevin has overseen a number of important deals including iPhrase (acquired by IBM), Babylon (TASE: BBYL), Intraspect (acquired by Vignette), SRD (acquired by IBM), Inxight (acquired by Business Objects) and AllBusiness (acquired by Dun and Bradstreet). He is currently active on the boards of Healthline, Fina Technologies, Intelligize, Recruiting.com and Martini Media and led the fund’s investment in Palantir. 

Kevin has a Master Of Arts degree in Social and Political Sciences from King’s College, Cambridge.

Tom Drummond – Associate

Tom joined Reed Elsevier Ventures in early 2004.  Based in San Francisco, Tom is an active member of the investment team and is responsible for sourcing new opportunities, assessing potential investments and conducting due diligence.  In addition, Tom works with the partners to manage and support the fund's portfolio companies.

Tom holds a Master of Engineering and Information Sciences degree from Clare College, Cambridge.

Isabella Thomas – Research Analyst

Isabella is responsible for maintaining a 360 degree scan of market developments, fundraisings and deal activity in REV’s industry focus areas, as well as undertaking in-depth sector research and analysis of trends and companies. Isabella supports REV’s investment strategy and decisions by understanding market dynamics, identifying gaps and highlighting investment opportunities. Prior to this, Isabella was the lead digital media analyst at StrategyEye, a boutique media intelligence company. She holds a degree in History from Edinburgh University, and is studying for an MSc in Finance at LSE.