Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Last updated
Draper Fisher Jurvetson
Company type Private ownership
Industry Venture capital
Founded1985
Founder Tim Draper
John H. N. Fisher
Steve Jurvetson
Headquarters Menlo Park, California, United States
Products Investments
Total assets $5 billion
Website www.dfj.com

Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) is an American venture capital firm. In January 2019, DFJ Venture, the early-stage team, spun out and formed Threshold Ventures. [1] DFJ Growth continues to be managed by co-founder John Fisher and co-founders Mark Bailey, Randy Glein, and Barry Schuler. [2]

Contents

History

DFJ was founded in 1985 by Tim Draper. John Fisher became a partner in 1991 and Steve Jurvetson joined in 1994. [3] [4] [5]

In 2013, founding partner Draper announced his departure from future DFJ Venture funds, with John Fisher continuing in his role with DFJ Growth. [6] Draper announced he will continue investing out of an early stage venture fund Draper Associates V and assisting his son in running an incubator.[ citation needed ]

In November 2017, Jurvetson stepped down from his position at DFJ after allegations of sexual harassment. [7]

DFJ Growth's investments include Anaplan, [8] Coinbase, [9] Cylance, [10] Ring, [11] Sisense, [12] SpaceX, [13] Tesla, [14] Twitter, [14] Unity, [15] and Yammer. [16]

Organization

DFJ Growth is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and is currently investing DFJ Growth’s fourth fund of nearly $1 Billion which closed in 2021. [17] DFJ Growth partner Randy Glein has been named to the Forbes Midas List several times, most recently in 2019. [14] He was also named one of the world’s top venture capitalists in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019 by the New York Times/CB Insights. [18] Barry Schuler was named to the Forbes Midas List in 2022 and 2023. [19]

Affiliates

The DFJ Network was renamed the Draper Venture Network in 2015 and is operated by Tim Draper. [20]

Venture capital investments

Related Research Articles

Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Jurvetson</span> American entrepreneur and venture capitalist

Stephen T. Jurvetson is an American billionaire businessman and venture capitalist. Formerly a partner of the firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), he was an early investor in Hotmail, Memphis Meats, Mythic and Nervana Systems. He is currently a board member of SpaceX among others. He later co-founded the firm Future Ventures with Maryanna Saenko, who worked with him at DFJ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David O. Sacks</span> South African American entrepreneur (born 1972)

David Oliver Sacks is an entrepreneur, author and investor in internet technology firms. He is a general partner of Craft Ventures, a venture capital fund he co-founded in late 2017. Additionally, he is a co-host of the All In podcast, alongside Chamath Palihapitiya, Jason Calacanis and David Friedberg. Previously, Sacks was the COO and product leader of PayPal, and founder and CEO of Yammer. In 2016, he became interim CEO of Zenefits for ten months. In 2017, Sacks co-founded Craft Ventures, an early-stage venture fund. His angel investments include Facebook, Uber, SpaceX, Palantir Technologies, and Airbnb.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Draper</span> American businessman

Timothy Cook Draper is an American venture capital investor, and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Draper University, Draper Venture Network, Draper Associates and Draper Goren Holm. His most prominent investments include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, SolarCity, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, Ancestry.com, Twitch, Cruise Automation, PrettyLitter and Focus Media. In July 2014, Draper received wide coverage for his purchase at a US Marshals Service auction of seized bitcoins from the Silk Road website. Draper is a proponent of Bitcoin and decentralization. Draper was also one of the first investors in Theranos.

Barry Martin Schuler is an American Internet entrepreneur and former chairman and CEO of America Online Inc. He is best known for leading the AOL team that simplified the online service provider's user interface, making it possible for millions of consumers to gain easy access to the Internet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Index Ventures</span> European worldwide venture capital firm

Index Ventures is a European venture capital firm with dual headquarters in San Francisco and London, investing in technology-enabled companies with a focus on e-commerce, fintech, mobility, gaming, infrastructure/AI, and security. Since its founding in 1996, the firm has invested in a number of companies and raised approximately $5.6 billion. Index Venture partners appear frequently on Forbes’ Midas List of the top tech investors in Europe and Israel.

Norwest Venture Partners (Norwest) is an American venture and growth equity investment firm. The firm targets early to late-stage venture and growth equity investments across several sectors, including cloud computing and information technology, Internet, SaaS, business and financial services, and healthcare. Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Norwest has offices in San Francisco and subsidiaries in Mumbai, India and Tel Aviv, Israel. The firm has funded more than 700 companies since inception.

DFJ Frontier is an American venture capital firm with offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Santa Barbara, California as well as Portland, Oregon. The firm invests in seed and early-stage technology companies on the West Coast, initially funding companies with between $100,000 and $1 million. The firm has approximately $80 million under management in two funds, DFJ Frontier Fund I, LP and DFJ Frontier Fund II, LP. DFJ Frontier typically leads the first round of investment, with one of its partners serving on the board of the portfolio company.

Redpoint Ventures is an American venture capital firm focused on investments in seed, early and growth-stage companies.

Doximity is an online networking service for medical professionals. Launched in 2010, the platform offers its members curated medical news, telehealth tools, and case collaboration.

Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, UK, that invests in early-stage, technology and internet startup companies in Europe. It is considered to be among the four-biggest venture capital firms in the English capital.

Mimeo.com, Inc. is a privately held Print on demand and digital distribution document company. It was the first to offer online printing and overnight delivery of complex documents and marketing materials. The company refers to itself as a technology company that prints. Customers utilize a proprietary online workflow connected to multiple print production, warehouse and distribution centers. Customers include small, mid-sized and large companies. The company was named after the Mimeograph. Printing and distribution centers are located in Memphis, Tennessee, Berlin, Germany and Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shift Technologies</span> Shift was an online, peer-to-peer, marketplace for buying and selling used cars.

Shift Technologies, Inc. was an American company that sold used vehicles online and also maintained a consignment-based online marketplace for buying and selling used cars. Founded in 2014, Shift was based in San Francisco's Mission District. As of October 2022, the company offered its services in the San Francisco Bay Area, Greater Los Angeles, and Portland, OR. On October 6, 2023, Shift Technologies announced its intentions to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. As of that date, its final two locations in Oakland and Pomona, California, and its website is no longer in operation.

Josh Stein is an American businessman and venture capitalist. He is a managing partner at Threshold Ventures and was featured in the Forbes Midas List in 2013, 2014 and 2015 in recognition of his accomplishments as an investor. He was also the recipient of the 2015 Deloitte Fast 500 Venture Capitalist of the Year award. Stein holds board responsibilities at Box (company), Chartbeat, LaunchDarkley, LendKey, Lumity, and Talkdesk—and led Box’s first round of institutional investment. He is also an investor in AngelList, Doximity, Front, Loftium, Periscope Data acquired by Sisense, and Rippling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finian Tan</span> Singaporean venture capitalist

Dr. Finian Tan is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and the founder & chairman of Vickers Venture Partners. It is an international venture capital firm with a presence in Singapore, Shanghai, New York, Hong Kong, San Diego, San Francisco, and Kuala Lumpur. Before he started Vickers, Tan was Managing Director, and head of the Credit Suisse First Boston (“CSFB”) group of banks in Singapore and Malaysia, a role he took on after leaving his position as the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson ePlanet for Asia, where he made an early investment in Chinese tech giant Baidu.

Cylance Inc., is an American software firm based in Irvine, California, that develops antivirus programs and other kinds of computer software that prevents viruses and malware.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Fonstad</span> American venture capital investor

Jennifer Fonstad is an American venture capital investor and entrepreneur. She is the managing partner and a co-founder of the Owl Capital Group, a venture firm based in Silicon Valley. Fonstad was Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) for 17 years. She is also co-founder of angel investing network Broadway Angels. Fonstad has been recognized as a top 100 tech investor on Forbes’ Midas List twice and was named 2016 Venture Capitalist of the Year by Deloitte. She is also a Founding Member of All Raise.

VinaCapital is one of the largest investment management firms in Vietnam. As of 2023, the firm has more than $3.9 billion in assets under management.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molten Ventures</span> Venture capital firm

Molten Ventures, formerly Draper Esprit, is a venture capital firm, investing in high growth technology companies with global ambitions, with offices in London, Cambridge and Dublin. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

References

  1. "Venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson changes its name to Threshold Ventures". Axios. May 13, 2014. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  2. "People". DFJ Growth Venture Capital. 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  3. TrueBridge Capital (April 15, 2015). "The Investors Behind The Next Billion Dollar Startups". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  4. Venture firm DFJ denies report that co-founders Tim Draper and John Fisher are on the way out
  5. Deborah Perry Piscione (April 2, 2013). Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World. Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 129–. ISBN   978-1-137-32421-4.
  6. "Exclusive: Tim Draper is leaving DFJ". Fortune. November 19, 2013. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  7. Schleifer, Theodore (2017-11-13). "Steve Jurvetson is out at his own venture capital firm after allegations of sexual harassment". Recode. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  8. Chowdhury, Ahmed (2014-05-13). "Anaplan Raises $100 Million in Series D Financing Round Led By DFJ Growth". Anaplan. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  9. "Coinbase raises $75 million in largest-ever VC round for Bitcoin company". Fortune. January 20, 2015. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  10. "Cybersecurity Startup Cylance Raises $42 Million in Series C Round of Funding". Fortune. July 28, 2015. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  11. "Connected doorbell startup Ring raises $109 million from DFJ, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, others". VentureBeat. 2017-01-25. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  12. "SiSense Raises $30M More To Bring Big Data Analytics To Businesspeople". TechCrunch. June 12, 2014. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  13. "Randy Glein of DFJ Growth On Today's Crazy Late-Stage Market". TechCrunch. December 17, 2015. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  14. 1 2 3 "Forbes Profile: Randy Glein". Forbes. 2018.
  15. "Unity raises $181M monster round at a reported $1.5B valuation". TechCrunch. July 13, 2016. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  16. "Yammer Raises $85 Million in Financing Round Led by DFJ Growth". Microsoft 365 Blog. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  17. "DFJH Growth Closes 1BN Growth Fund Hires Justin Kao as Partner". Alt Assets. October 15, 2021. Retrieved 2024-01-22.
  18. "The Top 100 Venture Capital Partners & Firms". CB Insights Research. 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  19. "Barry Schuler".
  20. "Under Tim Draper, Draper Network Extends Reach, Eyes New Funding Model". TechCrunch. November 19, 2015. Retrieved 2020-01-12.