Darren Huston

Darren Huston is the Founder and CEO of BlackPines Capital Partners, which describes itself as a private holding company that owns portfolio companies, manages direct investments, and provides strategic long-term advice to companies. BlackPines says its mission is to “buy, build and strategically support companies to scale, deliver long-term sustainable profitability and compound capital over time.”

Before BlackPines, Huston held senior operating roles across technology, consumer, and travel. Priceline Group announced in 2013 that he would become President and CEO effective January 1, 2014, while continuing as CEO of Booking.com. He had joined Booking.com as CEO in 2011 after Microsoft, where he served as Corporate Vice President, Consumer & Online from 2008 and as President & CEO of Microsoft Japan from 2005.

Earlier in his career, Huston was a Senior Vice President at Starbucks, responsible for acquisitions and new product development, and worked at McKinsey & Company. His education includes an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MA in Economics from the University of British Columbia; Priceline’s 2011 Booking.com announcement also lists a BS in Economics from Trent University.

Since founding BlackPines in 2016, Huston has been active as a chairman, investor, and strategic advisor. BlackPines lists current or past board-chair roles and investments involving Allegro, Magento Commerce, Operto, GameAddik, Skyscanner, The Knot Worldwide, and Fora Travel. BlackPines credits him with helping guide Allegro through its 2020 IPO and Magento through its $1.7 billion sale to Adobe.

• BlackPines’ stated mission is to help owners and leaders of private and public companies “materially improve the outcomes of their investments” through “deep and committed engagements” in a select number of large-scale, high-profile, growth-oriented opportunities.
• Huston’s personal BlackPines page frames the firm as a “multi-strategy” owner and investor with “strategic, flexible and permanent capital” and a partnership-driven approach.
• The firm appears to favor situations where Huston and BlackPines can be more than capital: board chairmanship, consulting arrangements, majority ownership, minority co-investment, and founder partnerships recur across the BlackPines portfolio pages.
• Sector fit is strongest where Huston has operating pattern recognition: online travel, hospitality technology, marketplaces, e-commerce, gaming/adtech, and consumer internet.
• Check size is not publicly disclosed.