Eileen Burbidge | |
|---|---|
 Burbidge in 2023 | |
| Born | 16 June 1971 |
| Nationality | British-American |
| Education | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (BS) |
| Occupation | Businesswoman |
| Title | Founding Partner, Passion Capital |
Eileen Burbidge MBE (born 16 June 1971) is a British-American venture capitalist based in London, UK. She is a founding partner of Passion Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that has invested in Monzo, Go Cardless and Lulu, a private social network for single women. [1] [2]
Burbidge was born on 16 June 1971 in Chicago to a civil engineer father and a mother who worked in finance. [3] [4] She was educated at Naperville Central High School and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in computer science. [3] [5]
Burbidge started her career working as an engineering associate at GTE and Verizon Wireless. [5] She then worked in marketing roles at Apple and Sun Microsystems. She had brief stints as business development director at Openwave followed by the 12 Entrepreneuring incubator. [5] In 2004 she moved from the United States to London to pursue a career with Skype. [6] After working at Skype, Burbidge launched Passion Capital, an early-stage London venture capital firm, with Stefan Glaenzer in 2008. [7]
In 2015, Burbidge was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to entrepreneurship in the New Year honours list. [8]
In July 2015, Burbidge was appointed as the British Treasury's "special envoy" for fintech. [9] [10]
In November 2018, Burbidge was named to the Financial Times ' list of the 'Top 100 minority ethnic leaders in technology'. [11]
In January 2019, Burbidge joined the board of Currys plc as a non-executive director. [12]
In October 2020, Burbidge was added to Computer Weekly's Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. This list is published annually to recognise women who have had a long career in the tech sector and/or made a lasting contribution to the sector. [13]
Burbidge has also used the names Eileen Tso and Eileen Broch, her maiden name and her name from a previous marriage, respectively. [14]
Burbidge is twice divorced. She separated from her first husband around 2004. From her second marriage, she has three sons and a daughter, and with her current partner, she also has a stepdaughter. [3] [15]