Debu Purkayastha

Debu Purkayastha is the Managing Partner at 3rd Eye, a Venture Capital and Private Equity firm investing globally in the technology, media and telecoms sectors.

Debu was formerly the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Octopus Investments (AUM $8B+), a global investment firm focusing on early stage technology venture capital investments.

Previously, he spent almost six years with Google, spearheading their global Mergers & Acquisitions and investment efforts, which included several landmark acquisitions in the US and Europe. Prior to Google, he headed Sabre’s Corporate Development team and was a Technology/Media/Telecomms M&A banker with Salomon Smith Barney/Citigroup in Wall Street, Silicon Valley and London.

Debu is a founding member of Google ‘Campus’, a co-working space for start-ups in London – an initiative that led to the formation of the ‘Google for Entrepreneurs’ program.

Sitting on the boards of University Hospitals Birmingham (largest NHS hospital trust in the UK), MercyCorps (global NGO) and Tadaweb (Cyber), he also sits on the advisory boards of Unilever, London Business School, Sadara Ventures and Tech London Advocates. Additionally, Debu is a Senior Advisor to EQT (global private equity firm – AUM $30B+).

Previous board directorships or advisory boards include Veon, DataFlow, Fon, Mobile Planet, Reevoo and HTL/Scandic Hotels, among others.

Debu spends much of his personal time working with leading NGOs and governmental institutions in several politically-sensitive conflict zones including Palestine, Iraq, Syria and Kashmir, focusing on economic development initiatives aimed primarily on helping fund and build small businesses.

Debu has a MBA from London Business School and is a Chartered Accountant.