Dave Blundin
Founder & General Partner, Link Ventures · Serial Entrepreneur · AI Pioneer
B.S. Computer Science — MIT
Dave studied AI and computer science at MIT's AI Lab, conducting foundational research in neural networks. As a sophomore, he joined the Theta Delta Chi (TDC) fraternity, where he met many lifelong friends and future co-founders. Working overnight on MIT's Connection Machine — the most powerful parallel supercomputer of its era, reserved for doctoral researchers and faculty during the day — Dave trained neural networks and pioneered techniques for quantization in assembly language. This work enabled neural networks to be deployed onto dedicated inference chips built by Adaptive Solutions, laying the groundwork for what would become his career-defining contribution to AI.
Neural Networks AI ResearchFounding Engineer
After graduating from MIT, Dave joined MicroStrategy as a founding engineer. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy's founder, was Dave's fraternity brother and roommate at TDC — a connection that led directly to this early role. Dave gained formative experience in data and analytics software before turning toward entrepreneurship.
Founding Engineer Data / AnalyticsPresident & CEO
Dave founded Cirrus Recognition Systems in 1991 to commercialize innovative pattern recognition software developed during his research at the MIT AI Lab — one of the first commercially successful machine learning companies. In 1996, recognizing that enterprise data mining represented a far larger opportunity than Optical Character Recognition (OCR), the Cirrus team pivoted to form a new company: DataSage.
Founder OCR / Pattern Recognition"Godfather of Quantization"
While at Cirrus Recognition Systems, Dave pioneered neural network quantization deployed on custom hardware through a licensing relationship with Scan-Optics — dramatically reducing computational overhead and enabling neural network scalability. Decades later, quantization became the foundational technique powering modern AI inference — earning Dave the above title.
Quantization Machine LearningFounder & CEO
Dave founded DataSage in 1996 alongside his fraternity older brother and fellow TDC fraternity brothers, building on the core Cirrus team. DataSage directly leveraged Dave's MIT neural network research to commercially scale the technology for tasks including optical character recognition, medical image classification, and consumer data mining — applying it to the enterprise data analytics and online marketing market. The company was acquired by Vignette Corporation in January 2000 for a sum worth over $1 billion in today's dollars.
Founder Acquired by Vignette (~$1B+ today)Chief Technologist
Following the DataSage acquisition, Dave served as Chief Technologist at Vignette, integrating data-driven personalization technology into the company's enterprise content platform.
Chief Technologist PersonalizationFounder, Chairman & Founding CEO
Dave founded Vestmark with many of the same people from the DataSage team — a portfolio management solutions platform that would become one of fintech's defining success stories. He served as CEO through 2008 and has remained Chairman. Today Vestmark manages over $2 trillion in U.S. assets, making it one of the most impactful fintech companies in the country.
Founder ChairmanCo-Founder & Chairman
Dave co-founded what began as Cogo Labs in 2005 — a data-driven venture studio built to systematically co-found and scale technology companies. Dave served as CEO from 2006 to 2016, during which time the studio evolved and eventually became known as Link Studio, a continuous organization that grew into a broader platform. In its early Cogo Labs years, Dave co-founded CourseAdvisor (online education marketplace, acquired by The Washington Post), LeadKarma (data-driven lead generation, acquired), Autotegrity (automotive marketplace, acquired), and Jobcase (workforce social platform, acquired). As the studio matured, Dave went on to co-found EverQuote (online insurance marketplace, IPO on NASDAQ), SmarterTravel (FMR Cognius/Hopjump — AI-powered travel platform with 7M+ subscribers), and Datalign (data-driven consumer matching platform). Today, the studio hosts 25+ companies.
Co-Founder Venture Studio Multiple Acquisitions EverQuote IPOFounder & Managing Partner
Dave founded Link Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on data-driven technology startups. The funds managed by Link Ventures back founders applying AI and machine learning to large markets. Dave now leads the Link-XPV fund — the newest vehicle under Link Ventures focused on AI-driven exponential technologies, closing April 2026. He views the current AI platform shift as "the greatest thing that ever happened to humanity," a moment he's been waiting for since age 14.
Founder VC / Investing AI Investing 12 Active ChairmanshipsCo-Founder & Chairman
Dave co-founded EverQuote, an online insurance marketplace that uses data science to match consumers with insurance providers. He has chaired the board since August 2008. EverQuote went public on NASDAQ, becoming one of Dave's most prominent success stories.
Co-Founder IPO · NASDAQ: EVER ChairmanCo-Founder & Managing Partner
Co-founded Vestigo Ventures in 2016, a fintech-focused venture capital firm backing early-stage financial technology companies.
Co-Founder Fintech VCInstructor — "AI for Impact: Venture Studio"
Dave returns to his alma mater as an instructor, teaching a heavily oversubscribed course (~100 students) that blends AI development with entrepreneurship. He mentors the next generation of founders building AI-driven companies for positive societal impact.
Educator AI / Entrepreneurship