Wendy Tan White MBE is a British technology entrepreneur and technology investor. She is the former the co-founder and CEO of the Moonfruit DIY website builder, former General Partner at Entrepreneur First. She is a Partner at £200m early stage fund BGF Ventures. Board Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute and member of the Digital Economic Council. Named one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in European Tech in 2017 and Women in IT Awards Business Role Model of the Year 2017 and Entrepreneur of the Year in 2011, she is an advocate for women entering the technology and investment sector.
Video Wendy Tan White
Early life and education
Wendy Tan White was born in Salford, Lancashire, England. Her father is a Burmese emigre and her mother a native of Sarawak, Malaysia. The family moved several times to accommodate her father's work in IT, residing in Cumbernauld, Scotland, and in Reading, where her mother also worked in IT.
Tan earned her bachelor of engineering degree in computer science at Imperial College London in 1992. In 2008 she earned a master's degree in Future Textile Design at Central Saint Martins.
Maps Wendy Tan White
Career
Tan began her career as a tax analyst at Arthur Andersen from 1992 to 1994. She was a project manager at AIT Plc from 1994 to 1997. She worked as head of CRM development for Egg Banking, the first Internet bank, from 1997 to 1999.
In January 2000, she, Eirik Pettersen, and Joe White launched Moonfruit, a DIY website builder. The company experienced rapid growth, with 400,000 users signing on in the first six months. The business' lack of scalability, combined with the dot-com crash in 2000, caused it to fail. Tan and Pettersen trimmed the staff from 60 employees to just the two of them. Moonfruit's co-founder and Tan's future husband Joe White resigned to work at McKinsey & Co. They also switched from an advertiser-supported service to a subscription-based service. By 2004 the company achieved profitability.
From 2004 to 2008 Tan White took a break from the company to start a family, and Joe White returned to the business to take her place as CEO. During her time away from Moonfruit, Tan White earned her master's degree in textile design, launched the Zopa peer-to-peer lending website, and worked as marketing director at Gandi.
In 2012 Moonfruit was acquired by Yell Group for £23 million. Tan White stayed on as CEO while White is the chief operating officer and chief financial officer, and Pettersen is the chief technology officer.
In 2015 Tan White became a General Partner of Entrepreneur First along with her husband Joe White helping to raise EF's £40m Next Stage Fund and mentoring 21 deep tech companies which have been funded including OpenCosmos, CloudNC, Automata, CleoAI, Xihelm and Brolly.
In October 2017 Tan White joined Simon Calver, Rory Stirling and Harry Briggs as a Partner for £200m early stage fund, BGF Ventures part of BGF, £2.5bn patient capital fund.
In March 2018 Tan White, Stirling and Briggs left BGF Ventures to pursue pure tech investment particularly in 'Deep Tech'. BGF Ventures is expanding to different sectors and regions with more capital. Tan-White will remain an adviser to BGF until 2019.
Other activities
Tan White is an advocate for women entering the technology and investment sectors. Moonfruit accommodates employees who are mothers with scheduling such as "a later start to accommodate the school run, or flexi-home working".
Affiliations
Tan White is a Board Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute, board member of TechNation(TechCityUK), member of the Digital Economic Council, advisory board Imperial College, Dept of Computing and advisory board Dyson, Design School of Engineering (Imperial College and Royal School of Art).
Honours and awards
Tan White was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to technology businesses. and Women in IT - Business Role Model of the Year 2017.
In 2015 and 2017 Tan White was named one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in European Tech by the Inspiring Fifty organisation. In July 2015 Tan White and Joe White were ranked 5th on Business Insider India's list of the "13 Coolest Power Couples in London". In 2017 they were voted into the Europas, Hall of Fame.
In 2013 Computer Weekly named Tan White a "Rising Star" as part of their "Most Influential Women in UK IT" campaign.
In 2011 she was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the CWT Everywoman in Technology Awards.
Personal life
She married her co-founder, Joe White, in 2002. They have one son and one daughter. The family resides in West London.
Selected articles
- "Entrepreneurialism Isn't Just a Man's World". HuffPost. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
- "'Geeky and not for girls': Technology's big image problem". The Guardian. 19 June 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2015.
References
External links
- Wendy Tan White on Twitter
- "Inspiration from Moonfruit Founder Wendy Tan White". Women Unlimited, 15 September 2009.
Source of article : Wikipedia
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