Jennifer Byrne is a General Partner at Grit Capital Partners, an early-stage venture fund investing in Applied AI across FinTech/InsurTech, Commerce, Media, and MarTech.
In 2024, she co-founded the Female Investors Club in Los Angeles and New York, a community of female investors (GPs, LPs, Angels Asset Allocators, Family Offices, Wealth Managers) dedicated to advancing women in tech investing through education, thought leadership & networking events, and sharing high-quality investment opportunities.
Previously, Jennifer co-founded and served as CEO of Quesnay Inc., a strategy and innovation firm known for its global startup accelerators and executive leadership programs. Quesnay partnered with major companies such as Farmers Insurance, Hearst, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Paramount, Prudential, Thomson Reuters, and Verizon. It launched the world’s largest Female Founders in FinTech & InsurTech accelerator, evaluating 500+ women-led startups across 78 countries, with over $1.8B raised.
Before founding Quesnay, Jennifer held executive roles at major corporations. As VP of Business Development at American Express, and earlier as Executive Director at Verizon, she led a multi-billion-dollar mobile and data services portfolio, launched Verizon’s innovation division, and drove the rollout of 4G services. She also identified strategic investments like Siri and Twilio, and established groundbreaking mobile partnerships with Amazon, Facebook, Google/YouTube, and Twitter.
Jennifer has been a technology investor for over a decade. She currently serves on the Duke University SoCal Board and co-chairs the Duke Women’s Forum.
She has been recognized as a top industry leader and speaker, named to the “53+ Must Follow Women Leaders in Investing”, Innovate Finance Powerlist (3 years), NYC Inspiring FinTech Females, and Female Founders Alliance Champions. Her work has been featured by AMBest, American Banker, Nasdaq TradeTalks, InsuranceJournal.tv, and the FNOInsurTech Podcast (Top 100), among others.
Jennifer is a Duke University graduate and speaks Spanish, Italian, and French.