Healthtech/Femtech/News/

Passion Capital founder Eileen Burbidge to lead UK femtech Fertifa

Burbidge will not be leaving early-stage Passion Capital.

By Eleanor Warnock

Eileen Burbidge, Passion Capital

One of the UK’s most well-known early-stage VCs, Eileen Burbidge, has stepped in to lead early-stage femtech company Fertifa.

Burbidge is a founding partner of early-stage firm Passion Capital, launched in 2011, which has backed UK tech successes like Monzo and GoCardless. Passion backed Fertifa, which lets companies give employees reproductive health and fertility benefits, in a £1m seed round in 2020. 

Burbidge’s LinkedIn says that she has served as Fertifa’s executive director since January and is still employed at Passion. 

People with knowledge of her role say that she is not leaving Passion Capital. Taking a role at a portfolio company is not unheard of for Burbidge; she held an interim C-suite role at digital bank Tide in 2018.  She was also chair of Tech City UK, which became Tech Nation, the UK’s entrepreneur support network, for five years until 2020, and has held various other roles as an advisor and ambassador to the government. 

Fertifa’s founder, Tony Chen, who previously served as CEO, is now listed on LinkedIn as board director. 

Burbidge declined to comment. 

Fertifa has also recently raised a round from Speedinvest, led by investor Deepali Nangia, according to people with knowledge of the investment. Speedinvest declined to comment. 

Eleanor Warnock is Sifted’s deputy editor and cohost of The Sifted Podcast, and writes Up Round, a weekly newsletter on VC. She tweets from @misssaxbys