Eric Young

Eric Young co-founded Canaan Partners in 1987, and since then he has led investments in numerous market-leading tech companies, helping them grow from inception to exit. Eric has partnered with startups that have defined their industries: Argon Networks, Capstone Turbine, Copper Mountain Networks, Cortina Systems, Diffusion Software, Enpirion, Frame Technology, International Network Services, Kalpana, ONI Systems, SandForce, Spectrian and Visigenic Software.

Currently, Eric serves on the boards of Lancope, the global leader in network behavior analysis for security; Ebates, number one in online shopping loyalty programs; Verance, solutions that track, manage and enhance the use of media content; and Xirrus, an innovator in high performance enterprise Wi-Fi systems.

Before starting Canaan, Eric was a Senior VP at GE Venture Capital, where he led successful investments in companies such as Nellcor and Octel Communications. Eric also held a variety of sales, marketing and operations management positions at GE in two power-related industrial product businesses.

Eric earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Northwestern University. He’s a member of the Advisory Council of Cornell University’s entrepreneurship initiative, Entrepreneurship@Cornell, and actively promotes the transformative power of entrepreneurship within the broader Cornell community. In addition, Eric serves on the steering committee for SINET, the IT security industry group dedicated to promoting innovation in the public and private sectors.