Rebecca joined Octopus Ventures in 2012, and focuses on the assessment of investment opportunities, deal origination and ongoing portfolio management within the Consumer pod. Rebecca has experience of working with a number of early stage businesses across a range of different sectors and has led investments into and served on the boards of a number of investee companies including Depop, Elliptic, Trouva, Uniplaces, Outfittery, Tails.com and AppearHere amongst others.
Prior to joining Octopus, Rebecca spent five years working in the Corporate Finance department at Deloitte, firstly in the Transaction Services department and later in the Corporate Finance Advisory division, where she was involved in a diverse range of M&A and capital market deals across a range of sectors.
Rebecca is a qualified chartered accountant, and has a first class honours degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Southampton.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given
Trust your intuition. This has helped me out a number of times in life from difficult career decisions and how to navigate becoming a new mum. I think at times we are taught to use logic and analysis to make decisions but its too easy to forget that your “gut” is more often right than wrong. The second was something my dad used to say to me as a child – “be fearless, you will be judged not on your successes but how you rise from your failures.”
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given
“Try to be more feminine”. I think what the person was trying to tell me was that I didn’t fit their/the wider companies view on the role a woman should play.
3. What would you tell your younger self?
Always be your true self. If you feel that you are holding back or trying to fit the expectations otherwise then you will never be your whole self. Also, I would want my younger self to not be afraid to be vulnerable. This can be hard when you work in very male dominated industries but I have seen the power of opening up as it allows others to be themselves too.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
Where to start! I feel so fortunate to work in the technology industry. Tech is literally the driving force behind so much that is changing in our world and we are starting to see that the combination of human intelligence, compute power and limitless imagination and drive can achieve. I am a strong advocate in tech for good and hope that it will continue to power transformation of industries for the better of society and the planet.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
Hard one! My day to day inspiration and energy comes from the amazing entrepreneurs I work with on a daily basis. Their passion, dedication and fearlessness is so infectious!
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