Amber Atherton is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur. A partner at venture capital firm Patron, Atherton was born in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

circa 1991, before moving to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In her youth, she started an online jewelry marketplace called My Flash Trash that she later sold, and other businesses. In 2011, she co-starred on the show

Made in Chelsea ''Made in Chelsea'' (abbreviated ''MIC'') is a British Scripted reality, structured-reality television series broadcast by E4 (TV channel), E4. ''Made in Chelsea'' chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London and South West a ...

and was featured in 19 episodes over the first three seasons. She started social media marketing business Zyper, which was acquired by

Discord Discord is an instant messaging and Voice over IP, VoIP social platform which allows communication through Voice over IP, voice calls, Videotelephony, video calls, text messaging, and digital media, media. Communication can be private or take ...

, before joining Patron.

Early life

Amber Atherton was born in

circa 1991. According to Atherton, her father was a pilot for

Cathay Pacific Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, or simply Cathay Pacific, is the flag carrier of Hong Kong, with its head office and main airline hub, hub located at Hong Kong International Airport. The airline's operations and its subsidiaries have schedule ...

and her parents encouraged her to be entrepreneurial early on. She started learning how to code when she was ten years-old. Atherton started selling books and CD ROMs on the internet as a child and did modeling as a teenager. She attended

Benenden School Benenden School is a private boarding school for girls in Kent, England, in Hemsted Park at Benenden, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Benenden has a boarding population of over 550 girls aged 11 to 18, as well as a limited number of day s ...

, a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England, where in 2021 she launched an annual entrepreneurship award for students.

Career

In high school, Amber Atherton started a blog where she posted photos of her and her friends with jewelry. This led to the founding of an online jewelry marketplace called My Flash Trash in 2007, when she was 16. According to Atherton, initially she was using the website to re-sell jewelry she bought on trips back to Hong Kong. Atherton spent two years at the

London College of Fashion The London College of Fashion is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art university in London, England. The college offers undergraduate and postgraduate study, short courses, study-abroad courses and business t ...

. She interned for

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

and

Hermès Hermès International S.A. ( , ) is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, silk goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Since the ...

, but left before earning a degree. In 2011, Atherton played one of the main roles in the first season of the TV show Made in Chelsea. Atherton was a co-creator of the show and was involved in casting decisions as well. The My Flash Trash business grew after the princess of Wales,

Kate Middleton Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982), is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Born in Reading, Catherine grew u ...

, bought seven pieces of jewelry from the site in 2012 and wore them on the royal tour. Atherton worked with angel investors and partnered with a factory in China. In 2016, she sold My Flash Trash to the manufacturer for about £2 million pounds. Atherton also started her own line of accessories that are sold in boutique fashion stores in London and served as one of the judges in a TV show called Pocket Money Pitch. After selling My Flash Trash, Atherton founded Zyper, initially through an incubator program called

Y Combinator Y Combinator, LLC (YC) is an American technology startup accelerator and venture capital firm launched in March 2005 which has been used to launch more than 5,000 companies. The accelerator program started in Boston and Mountain View, Californi ...

. Zyper was focused on facilitating advertising through fans of a product. Atherton moved the startup from London to the United States in 2017. She raised £750,000 pounds in funding in 2017 and £2 million pounds in 2018. Zyper was acquired by

in 2021. Atherton then worked for Discord, as Head of Strategic Communities. In 2021, Atherton created an entrepreneurial award called The Atherton Award that is awarded to young girls for entrepreneurship. She also published a book called ''The Rise of Virtual Communities'' and serves on the board of GBx Global, a Silicon Valley community of entrepreneurs from England. Atherton currently serves as a partner of the venture capital firm Patron. She has invested in more than 35 startups as of 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atherton, Amber 1991 births Living people 21st-century Hong Kong women 21st-century Hong Kong people 21st-century British businesswomen British female models British jewellers British people of Hong Kong descent British retail company founders British women company founders Hong Kong emigrants to the United Kingdom Made in Chelsea People from British Hong Kong