Kieran Lewis O'Neill (born 19 August 1987) is an English entrepreneur best known for founding several

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...

companies. He started one of the first video sharing websites, similar to

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

, when he was 15 and sold it aged 19 for $1.25M. He studied management at the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

before dropping out to pursue business interests. He subsequently co-founded Playfire, the largest social network for video games. Playfire raised $3.1M in funding from prominent investors including

Niklas Zennström Niklas Zennström (; born 16 February 1966) is a Swedish entrepreneur and technology investor. He is co-founder of the charity organization Zennström Philanthropies. Education Zennström attended high school at Katedralskolan, Uppsala. He ha ...

(the founder of

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

), Michael Birch (the founder of

Bebo Bebo ( ) was an American social networking website that originally operated from 2005 until its bankruptcy in 2013. The site relaunched several times after its bankruptcy with a number of short-lived offerings, including instant messaging and ...

), Chris Deering (the former chairman of

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

), William Reeve (the founder of

LoveFilm LoveFilm was a United Kingdom–based provider of DVD-by-mail and streaming video on demand in the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany. Acquired by Amazon.com in 2011, the service had reached 2 million subscribers. It claimed o ...

) and others. The company grew to over to 1 million users and was subsequently acquired by a games retailer in May 2012. O'Neill was a co-founder and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of fashion startup Thread.com. ''

British Vogue ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American Fashion journalism, fashion magazine Vogue (magazine), Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A ...

'' included Thread in their 2012 list of the top 100 fashion websites, saying the service offered personal styling online for free. In June 2016, Beringea led a £4 million funding round with participation from existing backer Balderton Capital and a number of angel investors, bringing total funding for Thread to around $16 million. Another funding round in October 2018 raised £17m, led by the fashion chain H&M which had also participated in the 2016 funding round. Thread ceased trading and was placed in

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in 2022; at the same time,

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

acquired Thread's brand and technology, and hired O'Neill alongside some former Thread staff. O'Neill was born in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

and moved to

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, England when he was 14.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:ONeill, Kieran 1987 births Living people Alumni of the University of Bath English businesspeople