Canaan Partners has named Dan Ciporin, the former chief executive of Shopping.com, to the post of general partner with the firm. Ciporin joined the firm in 2007 as a venture partner focusing on emerging technology companies.

PRESS RELEASE

Canaan Partners, a multibillion-dollar global venture capital firm, announced today that Dan Ciporin has been named General Partner. Formerly Chairman and CEO of Shopping.com, Ciporin joined Canaan in 2007 as a Venture Partner to invest in emerging technology companies and has played an integral role in helping to expand the firm’s presence in New York City.

“Dan has shown a true ability to spot the next leaders in e-commerce, digital media, and fintech, and Dan’s extensive operating experience as a CEO has been a tremendous value-add for Canaan’s portfolio companies,” said Warren Lee, General Partner at Canaan Partners. “I look forward to continuing to work with him to identify and fund even more emerging global technology leaders here in New York City and elsewhere.”

Ciporin led Canaan’s investments in Lending Club, the global leader in peer-to-peer lending that was recently named a 2012 World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer; OpenSky, an innovative social commerce company founded by former CEO of Ford Models and President of About.com John Caplan; and Gemvara, a fast-growing, customizable high end jewelry ecommerce platform that has raised over $45M in funding.

Canaan successfully raised its ninth fund, Canaan Partners IX, with $600M in funding in January 2012 and is actively investing in digital media, consumer internet, enterprise, mobile and communications, biopharmaceuticals, and healthcare infrastructure companies in the U.S., India, and Israel. Canaan has been investing in disruptive technology companies in New York and the Northeast Corridor since 1997, when it became one of the earliest investors in advertising pioneer DoubleClick, and opened its New York office in 2010. With other offices in Silicon Valley, Israel, and India, Canaan uniquely provides entrepreneurs and portfolio companies with access to an extensive global network of partners, customers, and advisors.

“I am delighted to be named a General Partner based in Canaan’s New York office, where I will continue to seek out the most innovative emerging companies in e-commerce, fintech, and digital media, especially those that utilize social media tools to grow their businesses globally,” said Ciporin. “Having helped build and lead one of the earliest e-commerce success stories, I’m committed to leveraging that operational background to fund and support the next generation of social commerce and other high growth disruptive companies.”

Ciporin has over two decades of executive-level operational and investment experience. He was the former Chairman and CEO of Shopping.com, the pioneer in online comparison shopping, where he oversaw growth from zero to over $100M in revenues in just five years, culminating in the company’s IPO in October 2004 and later acquisition by eBay in 2005. Previously, Ciporin served as chairman of the Internet Lab, a US-Israeli incubator for early-stage consumer Internet startups, as Senior VP of MasterCard International, where he was responsible for the marketing and product management of all online global debit products, and as a strategy consultant for both Mars and Co. and Corporate Value Associates. He earned an AB from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and an MBA from Yale University.

About Canaan Partners

Canaan Partners invests in entrepreneurs and works alongside them to turn visionary ideas into valuable companies. Since 1987, the firm has catalyzed the growth of disruptive technology startups and healthcare companies revolutionizing the practice of medicine. With $3.5 billion under management and more than 85 acquisitions and 53 IPOs to date, Canaan has funded technology companies such as SuccessFactors, DoubleClick (acquired by Google), Match.com (acquired by IAC), Acme Packet, Active Network, ID Analytics (acquired by LifeLock) and SandForce (acquired by LSI), as well as notable healthcare companies such as Advanced BioHealing (acquired by Shire); Advance PCS (acquired by Caremark), BiPar Sciences (acquired by Sanofi); Calixa Therapeutics (acquired by Cubist); Cerexa Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Forest Labs) and Peninsula Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Johnson & Johnson). Current technology investments include Tremor Video, KABAM, Lending Club, blip, Zoosk and Blurb in the US; BharatMatrimony, Loylty Rewardz, Naaptol and UnitedLex in India; and PrimeSense, LiveU and CallmyName in Israel. The Canaan healthcare portfolio includes emerging leaders such as Liquidia Technologies, Theraclone Sciences, Durata, Civitas Therapeutics, Elevation Pharmaceuticals and DICOM Grid. Canaan maintains a presence in the global innovation hubs of New York, Silicon Valley, India and Israel.