GCA People

Mr Ed Holroyd Pearce
Associate Fellow of Global China Academy
Mr Ed Holroyd Pearce, co-founder and president of Virtual Internships in the UK, has a rich background in the intersections of education, technology, entrepreneurship, and Asia. He is fluent in Mandarin and has studied at the University of Cambridge, Peking University, and SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies), University of London, and completed his Executive MBA at Bayes Business School, City, University of London. He has served as a board member of the China–Britain Business Council and as Chair of the 48 Group Club Young Icebreakers, and he is also an adviser to several companies and charities. He regularly shares his insights in the fields of employability and the future of work, covering topics such as entrepreneurship, venture capital, skills development, and social mobility.
He has founded two companies. The first, CRCC Asia, focuses on providing in-person internship programmes in Asia for students from the UK, the US, and other non-Asian regions. The company has grown organically to achieve annual revenues of $5 million and has supported over 10,000 students. The second company, Virtual Internships, has followed a venture capital and private equity funding route, with a recent Series A valuation of $43 million, including investment from Sequoia Capital. Together, the two companies have delivered over 20,000 in-person and online internship programmes globally, mainly through partnerships with over 200 universities and governments. These programmes focus particularly on providing opportunities for marginalized populations or those furthest from the job market, and operate in China, Vietnam, and several other countries around the world.
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