Wendy Tan White

Wendy Tan White was born in Salford, Lancashire, England. Her father is a Burmese émigré and her mother a native of Sarawak, Malaysia.{{cite web|last=White|first=Michael|author-link=Michael White (journalist)|date=24 August 2002|title=Diary|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1P3-158311861|url-access=subscription|access-date=29 September 2015|work=The Spectator}} 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.{{cite web |url= http://www.sramanamitra.com/2012/03/15/a-successful-husband-wife-team-moonfruit-co-founders-wendy-tan-white-and-joe-white-part-1/|title= A Successful Husband-Wife Team: Moonfruit Cofounders Wendy Tan White and Joe White (Part 1)|date=15 March 2012|access-date=29 September 2015|publisher=sramanamitra.com}}

Tan White studied at Kendrick Grammar School before earning a bachelor of engineering degree in computer science at Imperial College London in 1992. In 2008 she completed a master's degree in Future Materials Design at Central Saint Martins.

Tan White began her career at Arthur Andersen.{{cite web |url=https://uk.linkedin.com/in/wendytanwhite|title=Wendy Tan White|year=2015|access-date=29 September 2015|publisher=LinkedIn}} She was a software project manager at AIT Plc from 1994 to 1997 then worked as head of CRM software development for Egg Banking, the first U.K. Internet bank.

In January 2000, she, Eirik Pettersen, and Joe White launched Moonfruit, the first SAAS website builder.{{cite web |url= https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2000/jan/20/onlinesupplement|title=Will the moon bear fruit?|date=20 January 2000|access-date=28 September 2015|work=The Guardian}} The company experienced rapid growth, with 400,000 users signing on in the first six months.{{cite web |url= http://startups.co.uk/moonfruit-wendy-tan-white/|title=Moonfruit: Wendy Tan White|date=4 April 2011|access-date=28 September 2015|publisher=Startups}} The business' lack of scalability, combined with the dot-com crash in 2000, caused it to fail in this incarnation. Tan White and Pettersen trimmed the staff from 60 employees to just the two of them.{{cite web |url= http://www.managementtoday.co.uk/news/1004480/Decisions-Wendy-Tan-White---Moonfruitcom/|title= Decisions: Wendy Tan White – Moonfruit.com|first=Hannah|last=Prevett|date=1 June 2010|access-date=28 September 2015|work=Haymarket Media Group}} Moonfruit's co-founder and Tan White’s future husband Joe White resigned to work at McKinsey & Co. They switched from an advertiser-supported service to a subscription-based service, customers resuscitated the business. By 2004 the company started to scale and achieved profitability.

From 2004 to 2008,{{cite web |url= http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sramana-mitra/love-and-startups_b_3230133.html|title=Love and Startups|first= Sramana |last=Mitra|date=7 May 2013|access-date=29 September 2015|work=HuffPost}} 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 and continue to scale the business. During her time away from Moonfruit, Tan White completed a master's degree in design, helped launch the Zopa peer-to-peer lending website, and worked as a director at Gandi.{{cite web |url= http://www.stylist.co.uk/stylist-network/lunchtime-masterclass/lunchtime-masterclass-wendy-tan-white|title=Wendy Tan White|work=Stylist|year=2015|access-date=29 September 2015}}

In 2012, Moonfruit was acquired by Yell Group for £37  million.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/windfall-for-founder-as-yell-buys-moonfruit-7758159.html|title=Windfall for founder as Yell buys Moonfruit|date=17 May 2012|access-date=28 September 2015|first=Lucy|last=Tobin|work=The Independent}} Tan White stayed on as CEO while White was the chief operating officer and chief financial officer, and Pettersen was the chief technology officer.{{cite web |url= http://www.sramanamitra.com/2012/03/21/a-successful-husband-wife-team-moonfruit-co-founders-wendy-tan-white-and-joe-white-part-7/|title=A Successful Husband-Wife Team: Moonfruit Cofounders Wendy Tan White and Joe White (Part 7)|date=21 March 2012|access-date=29 September 2015|publisher=sramanamitra.com}}

In 2015, Tan White became a general partner of Entrepreneur First{{Cite news|title=Entrepreneur First bags the Moonfruit founders as GPs in its new $56M fund|last=Butcher|first=Mike|work=TechCrunch|language=en}} along with her husband Joe White helping to raise EF's Next Stage Fund{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/26/asdasd/|title=Startup veteran founder/investor Wendy Tan White joins BGF Ventures|last=Butcher|first=Mike|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en}} and mentoring 21 deep tech companies which have been funded including PassFort, OpenCosmos, CloudNC, Automata, CleoAI,{{Cite web|url=https://beta.techcrunch.com/2017/01/25/cleo/|title=Skype's Niklas Zennström backs London fintech startup Cleo – TechCrunch|website=beta.techcrunch.com|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-07}} Accurx, Xihelm and Brolly.

In October 2017, Tan White joined Simon Calver, Rory Stirling and Harry Briggs as a partner for early stage BGF Ventures{{Cite news|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/wendy-tan-white-joins-bgf-ventures-as-partner-2017-6|title=The cofounder of Moonfruit is joining a £200 million VC firm as the first female partner|work=Business Insider|access-date=2018-03-07}} part of BGF, £2.5bn patient capital fund.

Tan White, Stirling and Briggs left BGF Ventures to pursue pure tech investment{{Cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/26/bgf-flux/|title=BGF Ventures in flux as three partners are departing|last=O'Hear|first=Steve|work=TechCrunch|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/article/techies-go-own-way-2th0xdscm|title=Techies go own way|last=Evans|first=Peter|date=2018-03-04|work=The Sunday Times|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en|issn=0956-1382}} particularly 'Deep Tech'.{{Cite news|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/moonfruit-cofounder-wendy-tan-white-bgf-ventures-2018-2?IR=T|title=Moonfruit cofounder Wendy Tan White is exploring an AI and 'deep tech' fund|work=Business Insider|access-date=2018-03-07}} BGF Ventures is expanding to different sectors and regions with more capital. Tan White remained an adviser to BGF.

In January 2019, Tan White joined Alphabet's moonshot company X as Vice-President. In July 2021, Tan White and team launched Intrinsic, a new Alphabet company spun out of X that she would lead. The company develops software for industrial robotics.{{Cite web|last=Ridden|first=Paul|date=2021-07-23|title=Alphabet launches Intrinsic to make industrial robots easier to use|url=https://newatlas.com/robotics/alphabet-intrinsic-software-industrial-robots/|access-date=2021-07-28|website=New Atlas}}

Tan White is on the board of [https://www.planet.com/pulse/tech-entrepreneur-wendy-tan-white-joins-planets-board/ Planet Labs], a board trustee of the Alan Turing Institute,{{Cite news|url=https://www.turing.ac.uk/media/news/julie-maxton-wendy-tan-white-join-board-trustees/|title=Julie Maxton and Wendy Tan White join The Alan Turing Institute Board of Trustees - The Alan Turing Institute|date=2016-11-23|work=The Alan Turing Institute|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en-GB}} board member of TechNation (TechCityUK),{{Cite news|url=https://www.techcityuk.com/blog/2018/01/start-scale-exit-wendy-tan-white-mbe/|title=How to start, scale and exit, with Wendy Tan White MBE - Tech City UK|date=2018-01-30|work=Tech City UK|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en-US}} member of the Digital Economic Council,{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/digital-economy-council-and-digital-economy-advisory-group|title=Digital Economy Council and Digital Economy Advisory Group - GOV.UK|website=www.gov.uk|language=en|access-date=2018-03-07}} advisory board Imperial College, Dept of Computing and advisory board Dyson, Design School of Engineering (Imperial College and Royal School of Art).

Tan White was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to technology businesses.{{London Gazette

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}} and Women in IT - Business Role Model of the Year 2017.{{Cite news|url=http://www.information-age.com/women-awards-2017-winners-revealed-123464155/|title=Women in IT Awards 2017: winners revealed - Information Age|date=2017-01-26|work=Information Age|access-date=2018-03-07|language=en-GB}} She was awarded an honorary doctorate by Salford University in July 2018.{{cite news |author= |date=September 4, 2018 |title=How to Mentor: Part Two of the Six Stage Process of Investor Wendy Tan White |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwelsheurope/2018/09/04/how-to-mentor-part-two-the-six-stage-process-of-investor-wendy-tan-white/#2560f6e82e4e |work=Salford University |location= |access-date=}}

In 2015 and 2017, Tan White was named one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in European Tech by the Inspiring Fifty organisation.{{cite web |url=http://www.inspiringfifty.com/50-inspiring-women-list-2015-eu/|title=Meet the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in European Tech|publisher=Inspiring Fifty|year=2015|access-date=29 September 2015}} 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".{{cite web |url=http://www.businessinsider.in/The-13-coolest-tech-power-couples-in-London/5-Moonfruit-cofounders-Wendy-Tan-White-and-Joe-White/slideshow/48237021.cms|title=5. Moonfruit cofounders Wendy Tan White and Joe White|first=James|last=Cook|date=27 July 2015|access-date=27 September 2015|work=Business Insider}} In 2017, they were voted into the Europas, Hall of Fame.{{Cite web|url=https://theeuropas.com/2017/06/16/the-hottest-tech-startups-of-2017-rocked-london-at-the-europas-awards/|title=The hottest tech startups of 2017 rocked London at The Europas Awards – The Europas 2017|website=theeuropas.com|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-03-07}}

In 2013, Computer Weekly named Tan White a "Rising Star" as part of their "Most Influential Women in UK IT" campaign.{{cite web |url= http://www.computerweekly.com/photostory/2240187857/Rising-Stars-Most-Influential-Women-in-UK-IT-2013/3/Wendy-Tan-White-co-founder-of-Moonfruit|title= Rising Star: Wendy Tan-White, co-founder of Moonfruit|first=Kayleigh|last=Bateman|date=11 July 2013|access-date=28 September 2015|work=Computer Weekly}}

In 2011, she was named Entrepreneur of the Year at the CWT Everywoman in Technology Awards.{{cite web |url= http://www.thegoodwebguide.co.uk/lifestyle/shopping/guest-edits/wendy-tan-white/14209 |title=Wendy Tan White|publisher=The Good Web Guide|date=20 March 2012|access-date=27 September 2015}}

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."{{cite web |url=http://realbusiness.co.uk/article/26048-wendy-tan-white-technology-has-a-bit-of-an-image-problem|title=Wendy Tan White: 'Technology has a bit of an image problem'|first=Shane|last=Schutte|date=16 June 2014|access-date=28 September 2015|work=Real Business}}

She married Moonfruit co-founder, Joe White, in 2002. He is HM Tech Envoy to the US and Consul General of San Francisco.{{Cite news|date=2020-12-04|title=Joe White: UK appoints entrepreneur as first tech envoy to US|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55181842|access-date=2021-08-23}} They have two kids — one son and one daughter. Tan White and her family live in Silicon Valley.

• {{cite web |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendy-tanwhite/entrepreneurs-women_b_3822634.html|title=Entrepreneurialism Isn't Just a Man's World|date=4 September 2013|access-date=29 September 2015|work=HuffPost}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/women-in-leadership/2013/jun/19/geeky-technologys-image-problem|title='Geeky and not for girls': Technology's big image problem|date=19 June 2013|access-date=29 September 2015|work=The Guardian}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Twitter}}
• [http://www.women-unlimited.co.uk/inspiration-from-moonfruit-founder-wendy-tan-white/ "Inspiration from Moonfruit Founder Wendy Tan White"]. Women Unlimited, 15 September 2009.

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Category:1970s births

Category:Living people

Category:British women chief executives

Category:British chief executives

Category:British technology chief executives

Category:Alumni of Imperial College London

Category:Alumni of Central Saint Martins

Category:People from Salford

Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire

Category:English people of Malaysian descent

Category:English people of Burmese descent

Category:British chief operating officers

Category:British chief financial officers

Category:Alphabet Inc. people