Ian Hogarth

Ian Hogarth is an investor and entrepreneur. He co-founded Songkick in 2007 and Plural Platform in 2021. Hogarth is the current Chair of the UK Government's AI Foundation Model Taskforce, which conducts artificial intelligence safety research. Hogarth also spent time at Tsinghua University in Beijing, learning Mandarin Chinese. The same year, Hogarth won the British Council’s UK Young Music Entrepreneur of the Year award. He was also named one of Forbes magazine's 2012 music 30-under-30.

In 2013, Songkick launched Detour, a crowdfunding platform for concerts.

In June 2015, Songkick announced its merger with direct ticket vendor CrowdSurge and a $16.6m Series C investment round. Hogarth became co-CEO of the combined company, alongside Matt Jones, the former CrowdSurge CEO.

Silicon Milkroundabout In 2010, Hogarth and Songkick COO Pete Smith founded Silicon Milkroundabout, a career fair for high tech startups in East London. It was established in response to lack of interest from graduates hampering tech start-ups, according to Hogarth.

Plural Platform Hogarth co-founded Plural Platform in 2021, an early-stage venture capital firm. Hogarth has invested in more than 150 companies, including over 50 AI companies. He wrote a blog post entitled "AI Nationalism" about the rise of machine learning influencing a new kind of geopolitics. He also wrote an article in the Financial Times arguing that the "race to God-like AI" poses risks, and might lead to human extinction.