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Burr, Egan, Deleage
Burr, Egan, Deleage, founded 1979, ran one of the first bicoastal venture firms, backing Ciena and Altera in early-stage tech.
Burr, Egan, Deleage
Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. was founded in 1979 by Craig Burr, Bill Egan, and Jean Deleage — a trio that brought together Harvard Business School training, operational experience, and transcontinental ambition. The firm established offices in San Francisco and Boston from the start, a deliberate two-coast structure that let it access East Coast medical and biotech innovation alongside West Coast semiconductor and networking startups during the personal-computer era. Strategy spans early-stage venture and growth equity across enterprise software, semiconductors, communications, and life sciences. The firm has historically operated as a direct venture investor rather than a fund-of-funds, building concentrated positions from early company formation through IPO. Its most recognized successes include Ciena, the optical-networking company that went public in 1997 and briefly commanded a market capitalization exceeding $30 billion, and Altera, the programmable-logic semiconductor firm acquired by Intel for $16.7 billion in 2015. The partnership also maintains a legacy in biotech, with former portfolio company Genetics Institute playing a formative role in recombinant protein therapeutics. Team size and current assets under management are not publicly disclosed. The firm has remained private and partnership-owned across multiple decades, which is unusual for a venture franchise of its vintage. In September 2023, the firm's domain and operational entity persisted under bedvc.com, indicating a maintained, if quieter, investment presence relative to peers that have either dissolved or institutionalized into large multi-product platforms. Burr, Egan, Deleage endures as one of the few remaining early-generation venture partnerships that never converted to a traditional 10-year closed-end fund manager or publicly traded vehicle. Its indefinite-life partnership model, established in an era when venture capital was a cottage industry, allowed general partners to hold assets through full maturity cycles — a structural differentiator that at its peak produced multi-decade return horizons that modern fund-cycle economics rarely accommodate.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
1979
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
San Francisco
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Craig Burr
Co-Founder
Bill Egan
Co-Founder
Jean Deleage
Co-Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
What is Burr, Egan, Deleage best known for in venture capital?
The firm is best known for early-stage technology and biotechnology investments that date to the firm's 1979 founding, notably Altera and Ciena. Altera, a programmable-logic semiconductor company, returned billions of dollars across multiple liquidity events — most recently Intel's $16.7 billion acquisition — making it a foundational venture return. In life sciences, Genetics Institute advanced the field of recombinant protein therapeutics before being acquired by Wyeth.
How does Burr, Egan, Deleage's partnership structure differ from a standard venture firm?
Unlike most modern venture firms organized around 10-year closed-end funds, Burr, Egan, Deleage originally deployed capital through an indefinite-life partnership model. This structure allows the general partners to hold portfolio companies well beyond a standard fund's liquidation date, capturing full-company lifecycle returns rather than returning shares to limited partners upon a fund's scheduled wind-down. It remains one of the most structurally deviant models in US venture, shared by very few active firms.
Who were the founding partners at Burr, Egan, Deleage?
The founding partners are Craig Burr, Bill Egan, and Jean Deleage. All three brought strong academic and early-industry networks to the launch in 1979. Jean Deleage, the French-born partner with a doctorate in economics, was particularly instrumental in sourcing cross-border life sciences and European semiconductor opportunities during the firm's formation era.
Does Burr, Egan, Deleage still actively invest today?
The firm maintains an active web presence and corporate entity, but current deal activity is poorly documented in public record. The partnership has not disclosed a recent fundraise or new investment vehicle. Given the indefinite-life structure, the entity could hold legacy assets without requiring fresh deployment to remain operational.
What sectors does Burr, Egan, Deleage concentrate on?
Historical concentration spans enterprise software, semiconductors, networking, and biotechnology. Portfolio evidence places the firm in direct company-formation-stage deals across AI/ML infrastructure (via semiconductor architecture), enterprise communications, digital health, fintech, and industrial technology broadly. The dual-office San Francisco/Boston footprint allowed parallel coverage of West Coast hardware and East Coast life sciences.
Is Burr, Egan, Deleage a single-family office or a fund manager?
It is neither. Burr, Egan, Deleage is a direct venture investment partnership that historically operated on its own balance-sheet capital rather than institutional limited partner fund-of-funds commitments. While functionally a venture capital asset manager, its indefinite-life partnership design with very limited external reporting means it structurally resembles a private investment company more than a modern registered investment adviser.
What is the relationship between Burr, Egan, Deleage and the firm 'Alta Partners'?
Alta Partners is a direct descendent. Jean Deleage founded Alta Partners in 1996 with several colleagues after Burr, Egan, Deleage wound down its active fund cycle. Alta carried forward the life sciences franchise and continued operating from San Francisco, while the original partnership retained Burlington and Boston roots under the legacy Burr, Egan, Deleage banner.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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