An early stage VC based in the Pacific Northwest

Managing Director @ Board member, advisor and investor in seed- and early-stage companies focused on software, cloud infrastructure, robotics and cognitive technologies From October 1998 to Present (17 years 3 months) Board Member, Investor @ Voyager co-led the first round with US Venture Partners; other co-investors include Norwest Venture Partners, TCV and Trinity Ventures; marketing automation SaaS From November 2010 to Present (5 years 2 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager invested with Highland, Oak and North Bridge; big data, analytics software for communications providers From June 2009 to Present (6 years 7 months) Greater Boston AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; social loyalty platform SaaS From April 2012 to Present (3 years 9 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor, Co-Founder @ Voyager led the first venture round; capital-as-a-service for small businesses From June 2010 to Present (5 years 7 months) Greater Seattle AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager co-led the first round with Rembrandt and Comcast Ventures; customer data hub SaaS for consumer companies From July 2013 to Present (2 years 6 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager co-led the first round with Dubilier; search marketing SaaS From September 2014 to Present (1 year 4 months) Board Member, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; commerce verification software and services From September 2015 to Present (4 months) Eugene, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; security, compliance and navigation software and services for drones From June 2014 to Present (1 year 7 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Observer, Investor @ Voyager led the seed round of a predecessor; enterprise information management SaaS From December 2009 to Present (6 years 1 month) Board Observer, Investor @ Voyager co-invested in the seed round with Frost Data Capital; Spark-based cloud data science as a service From February 2014 to Present (1 year 11 months) Orange County, California AreaInvestor @ Voyager invested in the seed round; Etsy.com alternative From September 2008 to Present (7 years 4 months) Greater Seattle AreaInvestor @ Voyager invested initially in the seed round; virtual reality technology From April 2015 to Present (9 months) Greater Seattle AreaInvestor @ Voyager invested in the seed round; mobile-first travel and expense management From March 2015 to Present (10 months) Vancouver, Canada AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; software-defined video processing; acquired by Amazon Web Services (AWS) From May 2008 to October 2015 (7 years 6 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Observer, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; managed private cloud provider built on OpenStack; acquired by IBM From November 2012 to June 2015 (2 years 8 months) Greater Seattle AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager co-led the first venture round; acquired by Dentsu (Aegis/iProspect) From January 2007 to September 2014 (7 years 9 months) Greater San Diego AreaInvestor @ Voyager invested in the seed round; acquired by Esri From September 2011 to September 2012 (1 year 1 month) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager led the first venture round; acquired by Surescripts From May 2003 to August 2012 (9 years 4 months) Portland, Oregon AreaBoard Member, Investor @ Voyager co-led the first venture round; acquired by HCL Technologies From January 2006 to December 2008 (3 years) Greater Seattle AreaInvestor @ Voyager invested in the first venture round; IPO'd in 2000; acquired by Microsoft in 2007 From January 1999 to June 2004 (5 years 6 months) Greater Seattle AreaEIR @ I evaluated technology spin-offs and tech transfers from the University of Washington From April 1998 to October 1998 (7 months) Greater Seattle AreaCEO @ I ran a motion capture software startup serving the 3D-gaming industry From September 1997 to April 1998 (8 months) Associate @ I worked for Jimmy Lee in acquisition finance, high yield bond origination, loan trading, and private equity From June 1991 to July 1995 (4 years 2 months)

MBA, Business Administration and Management, General, Second Year Honors @ Harvard Business School From 1995 to 1997 BA, Economics, Cum laude @ Pacific Lutheran University From 1986 to 1990 Burlington-Edison High School From 1982 to 1986 Erik Benson is skilled in: Venture Capital, Start-ups, Entrepreneurship, Business Strategy, Private Equity, Mergers, Due Diligence, Executive Management, Financial Modeling, Strategic Planning, Social Media, Go-to-market Strategy, Product Management, Fundraising, Corporate Development