Edward Tsai
Edward is a graduate of UCLA's Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, where he holds Bachelor's and Master's degrees in computer science.
Edward is Managing Partner at Alumni Ventures / Westwood Ventures, a firm of alumni-centric funds, with $600M under management. Hehas over 15 years of investment and strategy experience in the U.S. and China, including a successful track record with investments including Cruise Automation ($1B acquisition by GM), Life360 (IPO), Palantir (IPO), and Brave Software. He has deep operating experience at technology and cybersecurity companies 360 and Qianxin (IPO), and service on the LP advisory committees at Cendana Capital and Ten Eleven Ventures.
Most recently, he was Director of Investments at the enterprise security company Qianxin, where he led ¥5B RMB (~$700M USD) in fundraising, ran multiple M&A deals, and managed a large investment portfolio. He also served as Assistant GM for and incubated Qianxin’s ¥600M RMB cybersecurity spinout fund Security Capital. At 360, he led International Investments and Strategic Development.
Previously, Edward was a Senior Associate for DCM, a technology-oriented, early-stage venture capital firm based in Menlo Park, Beijing, and Tokyo. He was focused on consumer retail, next generation e-commerce, and China-based companies, and was active with a number of consumer internet, e-commerce, and telecom deals, including Life360 (IPO), Project Slice (acquired by Rakuten), RockYou, and uStream (acquired by IBM).
Prior to joining DCM, Edward was Product Director at 100du, a video-based local directory in China. At 100du, he led a team of product managers to launch new web products and properties focusing on rich-media advertising services.
Prior to 100du, Edward was a Senior Associate Consultant at Bain & Company in Palo Alto, California where he worked with a number of technology and private equity clients on strategic issues in the technology and retail industries. During his tenure at Bain, Edward completed a rotation at the Bridgespan Group, a non-profit consulting firm, working on strategic projects for Harmony Science Academy, a charter school management organization in Texas, as well as Larkin Street, a youth homelessness service provider in San Francisco. Previously, Edward held product development and technology roles at Cisco, HP, Neoteris, and Array Networks.
As a member of Class 15, Edward served his fellowship at DCM under the mentorship of DCM Co-founder and General Partner Dixon Doll and General Partner Peter Moran.