A.J. Edwards

A.J. Edwards is the Managing Partner of Cayuga Venture Fund, an Ithaca, New York-based venture capital firm founded in 1994 that focuses on early-stage technology companies in Upstate New York and beyond. Edwards brings over 30 years of institutional investing experience spanning all major asset classes. Before joining Cayuga, he served as the Chief Investment Officer of Cornell University's endowment (approximately $5.3-7 billion in assets under management), where he led a team of 20 investment professionals and oversaw a budget exceeding $15 million. He joined Cornell in 2008 as a Senior Investment Officer from Northeast Utilities in Connecticut, where he had managed the corporate pension plan, and was promoted to CIO in May 2012. He stepped down from the Cornell CIO role in March 2016.

Edwards holds a BA in Economics and Political Science (1993) and an MBA in Finance (1997) from the University of Connecticut, as well as an MSc in Mathematics (2007) from Fairfield University. He is a CFA charterholder and a member of the CFA Institute and the New York Society of Security Analysts. In addition to his venture capital work, Edwards teaches practitioner courses in asset management and investments at Cornell University's S.C. Johnson College of Business, serving both undergraduate and graduate students.

After departing Cornell's endowment, Edwards joined Cayuga Venture Fund as a partner upon the close of CVF VI and became full-time with the firm. He is active in all aspects of operations, including fundraising, deal vetting, and portfolio company management. His institutional investing background -- encompassing experience as a CIO, buy-side investor, board member, VC investor, and company CEO -- provides a distinctive perspective that bridges large-scale endowment management and early-stage venture investing.

Cayuga Venture Fund under Edwards' leadership focuses on early-stage investments in technology-related companies, with a particular emphasis on the undercapitalized Upstate New York region, New York City, and Cornell University-affiliated ventures. The firm leverages its deep ties to Cornell University and Cornell Tech (the engineering campus anchored by the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute) to identify promising investees. CVF invests early alongside founders and entrepreneurs and supports companies through their lifecycle, from seed through later growth stages. Key sectors of interest include enterprise software, vertical SaaS, consumer technology, AgTech, semiconductors, and high-tech hardware. The fund's community development orientation aligns with its mission to build a thriving ecosystem of leading-edge startup companies in the Ithaca and Upstate New York corridor.