# Eric Chen

> Eric Chen is a seed investor in San Francisco backing E-Commerce and Travel. See 6 investments, round sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Oct 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: San Francisco, United States
- Total investments: 6
- Last investment: Dec 2014
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Oct 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/eric-chen/0/848/b12

Eric Chen is a seed investor in San Francisco focused on E-Commerce and Travel. Eric Chen joined Silver Lake in 2008 and is a Managing Director. Prior to Silver Lake, Dr. Chen was a Senior Vice President and Executive Committee member of ASML, a global leader in semiconductor technology. Dr. Chen joined ASML following its acquisition of Brion Technologies in 2007, the company he co-founded in 2002 and served as the CEO sinceinception. He was formerly a Senior Vice President at J.P. Morgan, where he coordinated the global research effort in the electronics sector and conducted equity research for a number of technology segments. Earlier in his career, Dr. Chen conducted theoretical physics research at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire ("CERN") and at the Advanced Product Research Development Laboratory and MOS-13 facility for Motorola. Dr. Chen is currently on the board of Allyes Online Media Holding and Hillstone Networks. Previously, he served on the boards of Nobao Renewable Energy Holdings Limited and Varian Semiconductor. Dr. Chen was born and raised in China and is bilingual in English and Chinese (Mandarin). He represented China in the International Physics Olympics in Germany, earning the Silver Medal. Dr. Chen studied Physics at Peking University and received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Eric Chen: work email, personal email, work phone, personal phone and socials. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-email/eric-chen-5?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| E-Commerce | 3 | 50% |
| Travel | 2 | 33% |
| Hospitality | 2 | 33% |
| Apps | 1 | 17% |
| News | 1 | 17% |

19 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 4 | 67% |
| Series A | 2 | 33% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Round size | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| ZingBox | ZingBox is a U.S.-based company that provides security for Internet of Things infrastructure. It is based in Mountain View, California. | $1.5M | Seed | Dec 12, 2014 | http://www.zingbox.com |
| Sold | With a few pictures and a description of an item you wish to sell, Sold will price the item, sell it, handle the shipping, and deposit the customers funds directly into their bank account. |  | Seed | Jun 01, 2012 | http://usesold.com |
| Triptrotting | Triptrotting is a venture backed travel company that matches travelers and locals based on similar interests. It is an online community and its application “Wist” helps its users feel like locals anywhere they go, whether in an unknown neighborhood in their own city or far away land.This new application of Triptrotting uses a combination ofcontextual, personalized, and social data to create unique and most relevant recommendations for every user.Triptrotting is headquartered in San Francisco, C.A. with additional offices in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington D.C., Boston, and Chicago. It was founded in 2011. | $1M | Series A | Mar 08, 2012 | http://www.getwist.com |
| Guestmob | Guestmob is a next generation discount hotel booking platform.One of Guestmob's innovation is offering customers the ability to book clusters of hotels that are equivalent in location, quality, ratings, at prices significantly lower than the published rates of each of these hotels. These discounted prices are determined via a learningalgorithm that anticipate how much a hotel is likely to discount.Customers are guaranteed a room at one of the top hotels selected in the collection, and these rooms are secured via last minute mob auctions, where hotels sell in bulk the rooms they expect to stay empty. | $800K | Seed | Aug 01, 2011 | http://www.guestmob.com |
| Tout | Tout is the TV network for the Internet. A spin-out from the Stanford Research Institute (SRI International), Tout's Personalized TV Technology is the first patented AI technology that delivers targeted video programming based on who you are and where you are across the web. Tout works with more than 300 leading content producers and over3,500 publishers to significantly grow online video revenue and drive deeper engagement with consumers. Delivering over 400MM video streams to 85MM unique viewers every month, Tout provides unprecedented scale and brand-safety to hundreds of Fortune 1000 advertisers who want to align their brands with the highest quality and contextual relevant video content. Headquartered in San Francisco, Tout works with top media brands like CNN, Fox Sports and Time Inc. to deliver personalized TV across the Web. | $2M | Series A | Dec 15, 2010 | http://www.tout.com |
| 500Friends | 500friends is the trusted provider of next generation loyalty marketing solutions to over 40 of the Internet Retailer 1,000 brands. 500friends is backed by leading institutional investors including Crosslink Capital, Intel Capital, and YCombinator. | $1.4M | Seed | Dec 15, 2009 | http://www.500Friends.com |

6 of 6 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Boston Seed Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/boston-seed-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Golden Seeds](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/golden-seeds) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Google Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/google-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Greylock](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/greylock) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Idealab](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/idealab) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Matrix](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/matrix-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## Featured in investor lists
- [Hospitality Angel Investors in United States](https://shizune.co/investors/hospitality-angel-investors-united-states)

## FAQ

### What does Eric Chen invest in?

Eric Chen invests primarily in E-Commerce, Travel and Hospitality startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 6 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Eric Chen?

Public channels for Eric Chen include LinkedIn. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### When did Eric Chen last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Eric Chen closed in Dec 2014. Shizune tracks 6 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Oct 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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