In 2023, Hermann Hauser, the co-founder of London-based Amadeus Capital Partners, was added to a WhatsApp group packed with billionaire US investors, including Mark Andreesen and Michael Dell.
“One of the first things they did, when they invited me to join the group, was lament the fact that Europe doesn’t have any hundred-billion tech companies,” Hauser tells me.
“Well, watch Arm,” he replied.
It was a good tip. A few months later, following Arm’s spectacular Nasdaq listing, the chip designer’s market cap rocketed past the $100bn mark – the first British tech firm to hit the milestone. It was a proud moment for Hauser, who had spearheaded spinning the business out of Cambridge-based Acorn Computers in the early nineties, following a small investment from Apple….