Barber served as Editor of the Financial Times from 2005 to 2020. During his tenure, the Financial Times grew its paid subscriptions to over one million readers and successfully transitioned to a predominantly digital format, with digital accounting for 75% of the total circulation. At the end of Barber’s editorship, the publication was reaching 15 million readers worldwide.

Barber was appointed Chairman of the Wincott Foundation for quality economic, financial and business journalism in 2021, and is the author of several books on global economics, transatlantic relations, and foreign policy, including The Powerful and the Damned, and his latest, Gambling Man, a biography of SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.

Competitive intelligence in private markets

Barber led the Financial Times newsroom through some of the most turbulent and significant moments in the economic history of the 21st century, including the global financial crisis of 2008, the rise of the Web, and the start of the AI boom.

Having navigated global private markets news throughout his career, Barber’s experience in analysing market developments as well as his deep connections across the financial world make him uniquely positioned to help guide Deckmatch's growth, including in the US market.

Deckmatch raised a $3.1 million seed round in Q4 2024 and expanded its footprint to Palo Alto, where the company has its US headquarters. The funding came with the launch of AlphaLens, a product-level competitive analysis tool for the private markets database, which combines product-level AI search with traditional firmographic data.

Lionel Barber comments: “I’m excited to be helping Leo, Walid, and their team with this venture. They have a great track record as entrepreneurs, and I have huge admiration for their aim of building a Google-like instrument for private markets.

“My own interest in startups is longstanding but was especially stimulated through writing my book on Masayoshi Son, the CEO of SoftBank. SoftBank, as one of the most prolific backers of startups in history, is well-known for its ambitious investment strategy. Tools like Deckmatch and AlphaLens will only help investors take increasingly informed risks going forward.

“Since the financial crisis, private markets have played an ever more important role compared to their public counterparts. AI-enabled tools like Deckmatch and AlphaLens are well-positioned to capitalise on this trend.”

“Few understand better than Lionel that the real story in private markets lies beneath surface-level metrics,” adds Leo Gasteen, CEO and Co-Founder of Deckmatch, “which is why we’re excited to have him join us as we rewire how private markets see innovation by shifting the focus from firmographic data to the products themselves. As we grow our presence in the US market, his guidance will be instrumental in ensuring our platform delivers the nuanced, contextual intelligence that investors and founders seek.”

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