Elana Lian

TEAM

Elana Lian

Partner

The tenacity and persistency of founders are the biggest draw to early-stage investing for me. That someone is willing to spend a decade or more to see a vision through to create entirely new categories of technology is inspiring.

At DTC, Elana invests in early-stage technology companies in AI, enterprise software, and deep tech. She is driven by curiosity, and drawn to original thinkers with a pragmatic approach. Entrepreneurship is defined by not only the journey of category creation, but also the struggles and challenges along the way. Elana aspires to be the investor that her CEO would text first to tell her the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Elana is thrilled to join DTC to work with some of the brightest minds and innovative startups in the tech industry. She deeply appreciates DTC’s strong culture of innovation, collaboration, and excellence.

Before joining DTC, Elana spent more than a decade at Intel Capital, where she led investments from AI, Frontier Tech, IoT, to Robotics. Notable exits include Pixeom (acquired by Siemens), Rubikloud (acquired by Kinaxis), and Venafi (acquired by Thomas Bravos). Before Intel, she cofounded two startups and coupled those ventures with operational experiences spanning engineering, product development, and business development disciplines at software, cloud computing, and semiconductor companies.

Elana holds an MBA from Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management, Master of Electrical Engineering from Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Engineering Science from University of Toronto. She is also a Kauffman Fellow Class ’22.