Harry Edelson

Considered by many a legend in both the technology and financial industries, and the dean of venture capitalists on the East Coast, Harry has accomplished a great deal with limited resources. Throughout his career, Harry has been known for his energy and outsized results. Without a supporting team, Harry was named an All Star Security Analyst by Institutional Investor magazine and was the most quoted analyst on Wall Street for a decade.

Harry’s career includes a long line of firsts. In the 1970’s he was the first wall street analyst to combine coverage of computers, software and telecommunications. He conducted the first video conference call on Wall Street bringing together CEOs and investors. In 1979, before hedge funds were popular, he started a hedge fund for CEOs of technology companies and had positive results in a severely down market. 

His venture capital performance over a 20-year span was rated number one of all venture capital firms in the Eastern United States by two of the four leading auditing firms. The annual return (IRR) for his funds averaged 27%, even though the disastrous stock market decline of 2000-2002. The Edelson Technology Partner funds were the first venture capital investor in eleven early stage companies that grew to have market capitalizations of more than $1 billion and up to $100 billion. This was accomplished in part by Harry’s instigation and support of numerous M&A transactions. Harry has served on over 150 boards, 12 as chairman. 

In 2007 Harry raised $40 million for a public Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) whose mandated goal was to merge with a Chinese company within two years. In 2009, against all odds, when 35 other SPACs failed to complete their mergers and had to dissolve, Harry successfully completed a merger,

•    Awarded highest professional designations for computers and software 
     - CCP (Certified Computing Professional) 
     - CDP (Certified Data Professional) 

•    All Star Securities Analyst for information technology industry while covering 20% of the value of all U.S. stocks for three leading investment banking firms: 
     - Merrill Lynch, Drexel Burnham Lambert, CS First Boston 
     - First sell-side securities analyst to combine coverage of computers and telecommunications 

•    Founder and Chairman of the China Investment Group

•    Past President of the Analyst Club, oldest surviving club on Wall Street, founded 1925

•    Member of Advisory Council of The World Policy Institute