Tim Steiner

Tim Steiner is best known as the co-founder and long-serving CEO of Ocado Group, which he helped establish in 2000 alongside Jonathan Faiman and Jason Gissing. Under his leadership, Ocado evolved from a pure-play online grocery retailer in the UK into a global technology licensing business, selling its proprietary Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) technology and Ocado Smart Platform (OSP) to major grocery retailers worldwide including Kroger, Sobeys, Aeon, and Casino Group. His vision of positioning Ocado as a technology company rather than simply a grocer has been central to the company's identity and valuation. Steiner's career prior to Ocado was rooted in investment banking, having worked at Goldman Sachs in the late 1990s before co-founding the company. His financial background informed Ocado's capital-intensive but high-barrier-to-entry technology strategy, which involves highly automated warehouse robotics, machine learning-driven logistics, and proprietary software platforms. The company's Ocado Technology division has grown into one of the most sophisticated retail automation operations in the world, attracting significant institutional investment and international partnerships. While Steiner is not a traditional AdTech figure, Ocado's retail media and data monetization capabilities have become increasingly relevant to the AdTech ecosystem. Ocado's first-party shopper data and closed-loop measurement capabilities position it as a retail media network operator, intersecting with programmatic advertising, audience targeting, and commerce media trends that are reshaping digital advertising. His influence in this space is indirect but growing as retail media becomes a dominant force in AdTech.

Last updated Jul 10, 2026 by ATDb automated enrichment