BURDA PRINCIPAL INVESTMENTS - Key Persons


Alejandra Otero Arenzana

Job Titles:
  • Investment Manager
Alejandra joined Burda in 2022 and is an Investment Manager of Burda Principal Investments in the London office. She previously worked as an Investment Banking Associate at Goldman Sachs in London, focusing on both the Consumer Retail and Healthcare industries. Alejandra holds a MEng degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Imperial College London.

Amelia Townsend

Job Titles:
  • Principal
Amelia joined Burda in 2018 and is a Principal of Burda Principal Investments in London. Previously she was an Investor at Unilever Ventures from 2015-2018 whose portfolio includes consumer investments such as Gousto, True Botanicals, Blow Beauty, and Instacart. Amelia was actively involved with the portfolio serving as Board Observer to seven of the companies across Europe and the US. Prior to this, she was a Strategy Consultant within the M&A practice at Accenture for four years focussing on technology and consumer goods. Amelia completed a BA Hons degree in Philosophy at Durham University and previously founded a consumer domestic services marketplace, and a non-profit organisation focussed on women in work.

Christian Teichmann

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director & CEO at BPI
Christian Teichmann joined Burda in 2015 and is CEO and Managing Director of Burda Principal Investments. Prior to joining Burda and helping to set up Burda Principal Investments, he was at Solon Management Consulting for over a decade as Partner and Head of the London office. Christian focused on business building as well as growth and investment strategies in TMT industries. Before that, he worked for investment banks Lazard and Greenhill covering European tech and semiconductor industries. Christian holds degrees in economics from Universidad Pontificia Comillas in Madrid and ESB Reutlingen and is a Harvard Business School Alumnus.

Clare McCartney Beer - COO

Job Titles:
  • COO
Clare joined Burda Principal Investments as Chief Operating Officer in 2021. Prior to this, she led Impact Management Strategy & Investor Relations at nebenan.de in Berlin. Clare previously worked in financial markets at Nomura in Sydney and Macquarie in London before moving into the Impact Investment space in 2016. Following this, she spent time working at the in-house impact fund of RBS (NatWest Group), at a boutique social impact consultancy in London and with a social enterprise incubator in India. Clare studied at University of Bologna and holds a Master of Commerce in Corporate Finance & International Business from the University of Sydney.

Daniela Liebischer

Job Titles:
  • Investor Relations Manager
Daniela joined Burda in 2018 and is an Investor Relations Manager of Burda Principal Investments in the Munich office. Before joining Burda Principal Investments, she was as a Corporate Controller in the holding company of Hubert Burda Media and an Investment Controller at Burda Digital for four years. Daniela holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Technical University of Applied Sciences in Regensburg and a bachelor's degree in International Management from the University of Applied Sciences in Augsburg.

Edwin Mak

Job Titles:
  • Principal
Edwin joined Burda in 2017 and is a Principal of Burda Principal Investments in the Singapore office. Previously, he spent a year at online fashion retailer Tokyo Fashion, where he focused on partnerships and market expansion in Southeast Asia for its multi-label portfolio. Prior to that, Edwin completed internships across multiple industries and at companies such as GREE Ventures, Wilmar International and APL. He graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a business degree and major in finance.

Elis Kwek

Job Titles:
  • Investment Associate
Elis joined Burda Principal Investments in 2023 as an Investment Associate in the Singapore office. Prior to joining, she spent 2 years on the Corporate Strategy & Planning team of Nanofilm Technologies International, a deep tech company listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange. During her time with Nanofilm, she worked on corporate M&A, joint ventures, venture capital investments and sustainability reporting. Prior to that, she spent 2 years as a Management Associate with Singtel, one of Asia's largest telecommunication groups listed on the Singapore Exchange, where she rotated within the Finance Planning & Analysis and the Group Strategy teams. Elis graduated from Nanyang Technology University with a Bachelor of Accountancy and is a CA (Singapore) holder.

Francesco Moro

Job Titles:
  • Principal
Francesco joined Burda Principal Investments in 2022 and is a Principal in the London office. He previously worked as Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) across the Dubai and London offices, leading strategy and technology projects in the Financial sector. Prior to BCG he worked at Google in Milan where, as Analytical Consultant, he supported large Telco players in developing their digital marketing strategies. Francesco holds a BSc in Business Administration from Bocconi University, a MSc in International Management from ESADE Business School, and a CEMS Master in Management which he completed between Barcelona and Hong Kong.

Friedrich von Wulffen

Job Titles:
  • Investment Manager
Friedrich joined Burda in 2020 and is an Investment Manager of Burda Principal Investments, in our office in Munich. Before graduating with a M.Sc. in Management from WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, Friedrich spent three years at The Nunatak Group, during which the company grew from 10 to 40 consultants. His primary focus was on digital transformation strategies and M&A advisory within the media and entertainment industry. Friedrich has also completed internships at BMW and multiple startup companies. In addition to his master's degree from WHU, Friedrich holds a B.Sc. in business administration from LMU Munich.

John Greger

Job Titles:
  • CPO & Portfolio Partner
John Greger joined Burda in 2019 and is Portfolio Partner and Chief Product Officer at Burda Principal Investments. Before joining Burda, he was CPO at Vinted, leading the product and IT teams during a successful turnaround phase. Prior to this, he worked as CPO or Head of Product for Rocket Internet, Mister Spex and Immobilienscout24. His earlier experience as Strategy Consultant includes positions at Lexington and Lexta Consulting. John studied at the WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management, San Diego State University, CERAM Sophia Antipolis, and the EBS University.

Julian von Eckartsberg

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director Europe
Julian von Eckartsberg joined Burda in 2021 and is Managing Director Europe of Burda Principal Investments. Previously, Julian was the CEO of Stylight, a leading platform for fashion and furniture with more than 100m users worldwide owned by ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE and General Atlantic. Prior to joining Stylight, Julian served as Senior Vice President at ProSiebenSat.1 where he was responsible for the Strategy of the Group. Before that, he was an entrepreneur himself and sold his startup after founding and building it up. Julian started his career as strategy consultant at Solon Management Consulting where he spent 4 years focusing on digital transformation and commercial due diligence in TMT industries. Julian studied Business Administration at Technical University Munich and HEC Paris.

Laura Keilhofer

Job Titles:
  • Associate
Laura joined Burda in 2021 and is an Associate of Burda Principal Investments. Previously, she completed the Hubert Burda Media Management Trainee Program during which she undertook the role of Project Manager in multiple projects throughout different Burda businesses. Before joining Burda, Laura interned at various companies including Hugo Boss and took part in strategy consulting projects for startups. Laura holds master's degrees in International Management from Bocconi University and Darla Moore School of Business, as well as a bachelor's degree in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau.

Luisa Frank

Job Titles:
  • Investment Manager
Luisa Frank joined Burda in 2018 and is an Investment Manager of Burda Principal Investments. Prior to joining Burda Principal Investments, she took part in Burda's Management Trainee Program where she completed a wide range of different projects across the company's portfolio. Her earlier experience includes various positions in the operations departments of companies like ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Knorr-Bremse Group. Luisa holds a Master's Degree in Management from Technical University of Munich and a Bachelor of Science in Food Technology from Weihenstephan University of Applied Sciences.

Monika Waizmann

Job Titles:
  • Executive Assistant
Monika joined Burda in July 2021. Prior to joining Burda Principal Investments she worked as an Executive Assistant in various media companies. Monika holds a Master's degree in English and Italian Linguistics from the University of Augsburg.

Natalie Schmitke

Job Titles:
  • Principal
Natalie joined Burda in 2017 and is a Principal of Burda Principal Investments in London. Previously she was the CFO of a technology start-up company focused on natural language processing in New York City. Prior to that, she worked in the investment banking / M&A teams at J.P. Morgan in London. Natalie studied at WHU - Otto Beisheim School of Management (Business) and completed her MBA at Harvard Business School.

Neil Fong

Job Titles:
  • Managing Director Asia
Neil joined Burda Principal Investments in 2021 and is heading the APAC region from the Singapore office. He started his career at Black Rock in New York City, where he spent eight years working with Central Banks and Sovereign Wealth Funds building multi-asset portfolios, before taking on a role as an investment strategist within the Real Assets Private Equity team. Prior to joining BPI, Neil led growth and pre-IPO investments for Sinarmas Gear Innovation Network, where he managed a portfolio that included GoJek, Tokopedia, Traveloka and Airbnb. Neil also led early-stage investments at Agape Ace, a Singapore family office whose portfolio includes Ohmyhome, Madeviral, Glife and Allegro Aqua. He completed his MBA at Insead and BSc at NYU's Stern School of Business with dual degrees in Finance and Economics. Neil is a CAIA charterholder.

Peter Kennedy

Job Titles:
  • Senior Adviser
Peter Kennedy joined Burda Asia in 1998, where he was tasked with developing the company's various businesses in Asia. He is currently Senior Adviser to Burda Principal Investments. Previously, Peter developed and oversaw joint ventures in Taiwan with SPH, Indonesia with the Alisjahbana family, and Korea with Design House Inc. He was also closely involved in the set up of a print joint venture with the Hindustan Times Group in Delhi and helped to acquire one of the regions most successful luxury publishing companies, Prestige. In the digital space, he has worked on the company's investment into contextual advertising in Korea and most recently in the investment into Vietnam's leading browser based search business, CocCoc. Prior to joining Burda, Peter worked in New York for the Economist, where he developed the magazine's US market penetration strategy, now its largest market, and for Scientific American. He has extensive Asian business experience in Japan, Korea, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong. Peter received his BA in business studies from the City of London University and served in the Special Air Service (SAS) while in the UK military.

Thomas Juvin

Job Titles:
  • Principal
Thomas joined Burda in 2017 and is a principal of Burda Principal Investments. He previously spent four years in the investment banking division of Nomura in London, advising on a variety of M&A and capital market transactions within the consumer & retail sectors. His earlier experience includes positions at Apax Partners and Deloitte in Paris. Thomas holds an MSc in Management from EM Lyon Business School.

Tim Cheah

Job Titles:
  • Investment Associate
Tim joined Burda Principal Investments in 2022 as an Investment Associate in the Singapore office. Prior to joining, he spent four years at UBS, where he focused on Real Estate & Private Markets investments. Previously, Tim completed internships at PwC in Los Angeles, and Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong. Tim also holds a portfolio of angel investments in the US and Asia, across EdTech, FinTech, HealthTech and F&B. Notably, he was an early backer of F&B group Ebb & Flow, as well as TutorMe, an EdTech tutoring platform that was acquired in 2019. Tim graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with a double degree in Business Administration and Accounting, and is a CFA Charterholder.

Vincent Rose

Job Titles:
  • Investment Manager
  • Burda in 2019 As an Investment Analyst
Vincent Rose joined Burda in 2019 as an Investment Analyst of Burda Principal Investments after completing a summer internship in 2018.Prior to joining Burda, he gathered experience through internships in various industries, most recently with Bayer Inhouse Consulting focusing on technology evaluation & integration. His earlier experience includes Operations Management at the Berlin start-up Movinga, as well as practice in the field of private equity. Vincent studied business administration at Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, American University Washington D.C. and University College Dublin.

William Sarjant

Job Titles:
  • Investment Associate
Will joined Burda in 2022 and is an Investment Associate of Burda Principal Investments in the London office. After a few years in Investment Banking at Merrill Lynch, he worked on strategy at a Fintech scale-up in London before leaving to co-ordinate the Wise direct listing. Will holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BA in Politics, Philosophy & Economics from Oxford University.

Yuhan Xie

Job Titles:
  • Investment Analyst
Yuhan joined Burda in 2022 and is currently an Investment Analyst of Burda Principal Investments in the Singapore office. Prior to BPI, she spent two and half years in SeaMoney, a fintech arm of Sea Group, where she worked on projects on credit and insurance businesses in the South East Asian market. She graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2020 with a Master in Management, during which she completed two internships in an impact investment fund and a long-only asset manager. Yuhan is currently working towards becoming a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).