Dayna Grayson is an engineer and product designer investing in digital platforms for consumer services and products. She has led many of the firms’ investments in industrial software, systems and additive manufacturing, including Desktop Metal, Formlabs, Onshape, Tulip and Upskill. Occasionally, she invests in vertically integrated consumer brands that leverage industrial or operations tech, such as Framebridge, Curalate and Glamsquad.
Prior to joining NEA, Dayna was an investor at North Bridge Venture Partners where she championed companies including Camiant (acquired by Tekelec) and Tapjoy. As an engineer, Dayna started her career at Eye Response Technologies, a startup spun out of the University of Virginia that commercialized eye gaze tracking technology and was later acquired by Dynavox Mayer-Johnson. As an operator and product designer, Dayna led product design of financial accounting products at Blackbaud (BLKB), the leading global provider of software to nonprofit organizations.
Dayna serves as a Harvard Business School Venture Partner, and is on the investment committee of the University of Virginia’s Seed Fund. She is a founding member of AllRaise, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of female investors and founders, leading the organizations’ east coast initiatives. Dayna has a BS from the University of Virginia in Systems Engineering and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
- Our Partnership with Formlabs NEA Blog
- The Age of Service : Connected Devices are Fueling a New Era of On-Demand Transactions NEA Blog
- Unlocking Human Potential: What we Learned from NEA's new Design Studio Format NEA Blog
- Startups by Design NEA Blog
- Joining NEA: Thoughts on New Geographies and Venture Capital NEA Blog
- Dayna Grayson & Liza Landsman featured at NRF
- Dayna Grayson featured at Tough Tech Summit
- Dayna Grayson featured at Forbes Under 30 Summit
- Dayna Grayson featured at The Nantucket Conference
- Dayna Grayson featured at The Atlantic’s Game Changers
- Dayna Grayson Discusses Investment Climate at Women’s Alternative Investment Summit
- Dayna Grayson featured at Venture Atlanta
- Dayna Grayson Panelist at Premoney Conference
- Dayna Grayson Panelist at Annual Nantucket Conference on Technology and Entrepreneurship
- Dayna Grayson Panelist at O’Reilly Design Conference
- July 8, 2018
- April 1, 2018
- January 10, 2018
- February 29, 2016
- December 29, 2014
- August 29, 2014
- July 13, 2014
- December 13, 2016
- August 27, 2014
- April 10, 2014
- June 19, 2013
Interests
Experience
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UVa
1995–1999 University of Virginia
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Design
2000–2005 Product Design Career
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Harvard
2004–2006 Harvard Business School
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Venture
2006–Current Venture Career
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January 1, 1998
First startup
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July 22, 2004
Blackbaud goes public
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November 1, 2012
Joined NEA