Avid Larizadeh Duggan

Avid Larizadeh Duggan
Avid Larizadeh Duggan at TechCrunch Disrupt Berlin 2017
Born	Dallas, Texas
Occupation(s)	entrepreneur and venture capitalist

Avid Larizadeh-Duggan OBE (born 1978 or 1979)^[1][2] is an Iranian-French-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. She is a managing director at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Innovation Platform, EMEA and is a non executive director of Barclays Bank UK.

She is a Mayfield Fellow^[3] and a Kauffman Fellow.^[4] In 2016 she was named one of the World Economic Forum's "Young Global Leaders" and in 2019 was appointed an OBE.^[5]

Early life

Larizadeh Duggan was born in Dallas Texas right before the Iranian Revolution. She has a sister, Roxanna Larizadeh. They are the grandchildren of Kazem Khosrowshahi, the cofounder of pharmaceutical conglomerate KBC – a company nationalized in 1980 after the Iranian Revolution. Kazem Khosrowshahi entered politics in August 1977 as Minister of Commerce, but his tenure was short lived due to the Revolution.^[6] Larizadeh Duggan's father, also an entrepreneur, and her mother had to leave Iran in 1979 and start over in Europe where they immigrated. Larizadeh Duggan and her sister grew up in Paris, France.

Education

Larizadeh Duggan attended L’Ecole Active Bilingue Jeannine Manuel before studying at Stanford University, where she graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2000 and master's degree in 2001 both in engineering. While at Stanford, Larizadeh Duggan was a Mayfield Fellow and a Member of Stanford's Women Honor Society, Cap and Gown.^[7]

Larizadeh Duggan also has an MBA from Harvard Business School where she graduated in 2006.^[8]

Career

While studying at Stanford University, she worked for Linkexchange (acquired by Microsoft in 1998) and Tellme Networks (Acquired by Microsoft in 2007).^[9]

After graduating from Stanford, she joined eBay on the product management team.^[10] She launched eBay's first suite of global online selling tools, Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro, for which she holds a patent.^[11] She also led the design and launch of eBay's picture services.^[12]

While at Harvard Business School, she also worked in product management at Skype Technologies.^[1] In 2006 after graduating from Harvard Business School, she joined Accel Partners in London as an Associate where she focused on software and Internet investments.^[12]

She left Accel Partners in 2009 to cofound Boticca, a global marketplace for independent brands of fashion accessories, where she was the COO, running product, engineering and editorial. Boticca was featured in Vogue, selected by Lady Gaga for her 2011 European tour, and worn by Kate Moss, Cameron Diaz and Jessica Alba. Boticca was acquired by Wolf & Badger.

In 2014 Larizadeh Duggan joined Google Ventures^[13] (now GV) as the only female General Partner when GV launched its European fund.^[14] She was an investor, director and advisor to a variety of businesses, most in the software and Internet domain, including Kobalt, Lost My Name, Yieldify, Resolution Games and Breather.

In February 2018, she left GV to join Kobalt, one of her portfolio companies as EVP Group, Chief Strategy and Business Officer.^[15] She now serves as Chief Operating Officer.

Larizadeh Duggan was appointed as a non-executive director of Barclays UK in 2017^[16][17]

In 2016 she was named one of the World Economic Forum's "Young Global Leaders".^[18]

Larizadeh Duggan has been named one of the 50 most inspiring female influencers, entrepreneurs, business leaders, academics and policy makers from across Europe three years in a row from 2015 to 2017.^[9][19][20] She has been named as “one of the most influential European female VCs” by Tech.eu^[21] “one of the 50 most influential women in UK IT” by Computer Weekly.^[22]

In 2019, she was appointed Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the economy, business and education.^[23]

In 2020, she was asked by the then Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May, to jointly lead a study on the competitiveness of the UK's tech sector.^[24] The report was published in May 2021.^[25]

In 2021, she joined Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan as managing director of their Innovation Platform EMEA^[26]

Interests

Larizadeh Duggan has been involved with various organizations linked to education. She is on the Harvard Business School European Advisory Board.^[27] She is also on the Board of Trustees of Founders4Schools.^[28] She led Code.org^[29] in the UK, founded by her cousins Hadi and Ali Partovi, and helped over 13 million people try an hour of code in the UK.^[30] She has contributed to Forbes^[31] and the World Economic Forum.^[32]

Personal life

She lives in London with her husband and two daughters.

References

1. "Style and Substance: Avid Larizadeh-Telegraph". Telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-02-12. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
2. "Schroders names King to new-look board". Sky News. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
3. "STVP Mayfield Fellows Program".
4. "Society News Update, 3 Nov. 2016 | Kauffman Fellows". www.kauffmanfellows.org. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
5. "5 people in finance under 40 who are changing the world". Business Insider. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
6. Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815609070.
7. "The Stanford Daily 9 June 2000 — The Stanford Daily". stanforddailyarchive.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
8. "New Art - Alumni - Harvard Business School". September 2005. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
9. "Hall of Fame - Inspiring fifty". Inspiring fifty. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
10. "DFJ Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders Program" (PDF).^{[dead link‍]}
11. "Avid Larizadeh Inventions, Patents and Patent Applications - Justia Patents Search". patents.justia.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
12. "Avid Larizadeh Duggan: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
13. Lomas, Natasha (10 July 2014). "Google Ventures Opens London Office As A Base For Investing $100M Across Europe". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
14. "Meet Avid Larizadeh Duggan, GV's Only Female General Partner". Fortune. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
15. "Avid Larizadeh Duggan, GV's sole female GP, leaves to join music tech startup Kobalt – TechCrunch". techcrunch.com. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
16. Arnold, Martin (30 November 2017). "Barclays announces eclectic board for new ringfenced bank". Financial Times. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
17. Withers, Iain (2017-11-30). "Barclays hires Alphabet and Timpson bosses for board of UK ring-fenced bank". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
18. "Meet the Young, Tech-Savvy, Civic-Minded Innovators Driving The Fourth Industrial Revolution". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
19. "Inspiring Fifty Europe 2016 - Inspiring fifty". Inspiring fifty. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
20. "Inspiring Fifty: Europe 2017 - Inspiring fifty". Inspiring fifty. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
21. "Women (who invest) in tech: a list of some of the most influential European female VCs - Tech.eu". Tech.eu. 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
22. "Computer Weekly reveals the 50 most influential women in UK IT 2015". ComputerWeekly. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
23. "Honorary British Awards to Foreign Nationals – 2019".
24. "PM celebrates UK tech industry at London Tech Week". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
25. "UK Tech Competitiveness Study". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2021-06-16.
26. "Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan appoints EMEA Managing Director". www.institutionalassetmanager.co.uk. 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2021-09-13.
27. Butcher, Mike (25 September 2014). "Disrupt In London To Showcase New Google Ventures Europe Partners". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
28. "Founders4Schools". www.founders4schools.org.uk. Retrieved 2017-05-16.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
29. "The UK Hour of Code is here". Code.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-28. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
30. "Disney joins Hour of Code to teach young people coding skills". ComputerWeekly. Retrieved 2017-05-16.
31. Larizadeh, Avid. "Avid Larizadeh". Forbes. Retrieved 2017-05-17.
32. "Avid Larizadeh Duggan - Agenda Contributor | World Economic Forum". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2017-05-17.