Rob Lewis (entrepreneur)

Lewis spent two years after Cambridge as a researcher and economic advisor to Huddersfield Labour MP Barry Sheerman in the run-up to the 1992 general election.

While developing Cromwell Media in the years that followed, a chance meeting at a London party with a team of scientists from CERN in 1998 convinced Lewis of the power of IT publishing over the internet.

That same month, May 2000, aided by the ex-CEO of the Hoskyns Group (now Capgemini) Jim Feeney, Lewis sold Cromwell Media to InterX for £850m.

[22] Lewis also served as Chairman of streaming music service rara.com, launched across the US and Europe on 13 December 2011 on web and Android smartphones.

[26] Lewis raised over £11.6m ($15m) for ROXi by September, 2020, with early backing from former Take That member Robbie Williams, Grammy award-winning artist Sheryl Crow, Britain’s Got Talent judge, singer and presenter Alesha Dixon, and actor, writer and comedian Stephen Fry.

[27] Lewis also received investment for ROXi from former Formula One and McLaren Group executive Ron Dennis who took a 10% stake in the company alongside investors such as Henrik Holmark the former CFO of jewellery chain Pandora Henrik Holmark, and Saracens rugby club owner Nigel Wray, the former manager of Irish rock band U2 Paul McGuinness and TomTom co-founder Mark Gretton who invested in the company.

The letter, also featured in The Daily Telegraph,[33] warned of the dangers of a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition government, and its potential effects on entrepreneurial business activity in the UK.

The letter stated that "under Labour the UK is becoming hostile territory for entrepreneurial businesses" and urged the public to vote for the Conservative Party.

Lewis also authored an open letter which was sent to every Conservative and Liberal Democrat MP on 21 June 2010 warning of the economic dangers of significantly increasing Capital Gains Tax in the UK, stating that "any blanket increase in CGT could have a significant long-term detrimental effect on entrepreneurial activity in the UK.