Richard Bruce Farleigh (born ''Richard Buckland Smith'',
/ref> 9 November 1960) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Au ...

private investor and

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

personality. He is currently a member of the ''

Business Review Weekly ''BRW'' (formerly ''Business Review Weekly'') was an Australian business magazine published by the Fairfax Media group. The magazine was headquartered in Melbourne. It regularly compiled lists which rank corporations and individuals according to ...

'' Rich 200 list, a list of the 200 wealthiest Australian individuals. In 2012, he took on the role as Chancellor of

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

. Farleigh featured in series 3 and 4 of BBC's ''

Dragons' Den ''Dragons' Den'' is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in 2001 in Japan, where it is k ...

''. He lives in London, United Kingdom. He previously lived in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

Early life

Born Richard Buckland Smith in

Kyabram, Victoria Kyabram is a town in north central Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Kyabram is located in the centre of a rich irrigation district in the Goulburn River, Goulburn River Valley, north of Melbourne. It is the second-largest town in the ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. His foster family gave him the surname Farleigh. He is a sixth generation Australian. His father was a labourer and sheep shearer. His parents sent him and his other siblings to foster homes when he was aged two. He was one of eleven siblings. Richard was taken into foster care by a family from

Peakhurst Peakhurst is a suburb in Southern Sydney, or the St George Area, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 21 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district. Peakhurst is in the local government area of the Georges River Counci ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He attended Narwee Boys' High School, excelled at maths and competitive chess, and then won a scholarship to study

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. After graduating with honours in the early 1980s, he worked at the

Reserve Bank of Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is Australia's central bank and banknote issuing authority. It has had this role since 14 January 1960, when the ''Reserve Bank Act 1959'' removed the central banking functions from the Commonwealth Bank. T ...

, then joined Bankers Trust Australia in Sydney when 23 as an

investment banker Investment banking pertains to certain activities of a financial services company or a corporate division that consist in advisory-based financial transactions on behalf of individuals, corporations, and governments. Traditionally associated with ...

and trader, where he stayed for ten years.

Business

Farleigh left Australia in the nineties. He was then hired to run a

hedge fund A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as sho ...

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

and moved there with his wife and baby son. There, he became friends with

David Norwood David Robert Norwood (born 3 October 1968) is an English businessman who runs an investment fund that finances spin-off companies from Oxford University science departments. He is also a chess grandmaster, chess writer, former captain of the ...

, a chess grand master, and three years later, he decided to retire, aged 34, and moved to

. He then spent much time with Norwood investigating research from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in the UK that had potential commercial applications. IndexIT was the company formed to fund some of these ventures; it was later sold to Beeson Gregory for £20m. At this time he invested his own capital in British technology companies. In 1999, Farleigh invested £2m in the renovation of the old French Embassy mansion in London's Portman Square, turning it into the private members club

Home House Home House is a Georgian town house at 20 Portman Square, London. James Wyatt was appointed to design it by Elizabeth, Countess of Home in 1776, but by 1777 he had been dismissed and replaced by Robert Adam. Elizabeth left the completed hou ...

. In 2005, he published a guide to personal investing entitled ''Taming the Lion: 100 Secret Strategies for Investing'' (). The Rich 200 list estimated his personal wealth at around A$160,000,000. He is ranked as the 876th on the

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

2006 with an estimated net worth of £66 million. Several companies Farleigh invested in include:

ClearSpeed ClearSpeed Technology Ltd was a semiconductor company, formed in 2002 to develop enhanced SIMD processors for use in high-performance computing and embedded systems. Based in Bristol, UK, the company has been selling its processors since 2005. ...

Evolution Group Evolution Group plc is a leading British-based financial services business. It is headquartered in London and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. It was acquired by Investec in 2011. History The Company, formed in 1999 as ''Evestme ...

, IP2IPO,

Proximagen Upsher-Smith Laboratories, LLC is a century-old American pharmaceutical company based in Maple Grove, Minnesota that brings brands and generics to a wide array of customers. Upsher-Smith is a part of Japan-baseSawai Group Holdings Co., Ltd. L ...

and Wolfson Microelectronics. In 2010 Farleigh launched H2O Markets, an advisory firm.

''Dragons' Den''

Farleigh was selected in 2006 to appear as an investor on the British version of the business-related TV programme ''

'' for the show's third series. Farleigh said he would be seeking further investments through the show, saying he was looking to "hopefully uncover the next big thing". It was announced on 21 May 2007 that Richard Farleigh had been dropped from the series. He was replaced by

James Caan James Edmund Caan ( ; March 26, 1940 – July 6, 2022) was an American actor. He came to prominence playing Sonny Corleone in ''The Godfather'' (1972) – a performance which earned him Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Academy Award an ...

Chess

Farleigh played for

in the

31st Chess Olympiad The 31st Chess Olympiad (russian: 31-я Шахматная олимпиада, ''31-ya Shakhmatnaya olimpiada''), organized by FIDE and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to both male an ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

1994 and for

in the

34th Chess Olympiad The 34th Chess Olympiad ( tr, 34. Satranç Olimpiyatı), organized by the Fédération Internationale des Échecs and comprising an openAlthough commonly referred to as the ''men's division'', this section is open to all players. and women's tourn ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

2000.

References

External links

* *The Telegraph (2006)
Business profile: From swagman to sapphires
Retrieved 2006-04-23. *The Times (2007)
Double blow for UK nanotech company
*The Telegraph (2007)
Farleigh's Oxonica in legal fight with supplier
*The Financial Times (2008)

*The Guardian (2008)
Court rules against firm backed by former Dragons' Den star
* *Business Matters (2010)
Interview with Richard Farleigh on success & failure in business
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farleigh, Richard 1960 births Living people Australian chess players Australian financial analysts Australian hedge fund managers Australian investors Stock and commodity market managers University of New South Wales alumni Chess Olympiad competitors Australian expatriates in Monaco Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom People associated with London South Bank University