Rate this Company

1 Votes, Rating: 4

Write a Review of this Company

Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Profile

You know those annoying “signatures” at the bottom of you free email accounts? Well, you have DFJ-founder Tim Draper to thank for those. The oft-called prince of Silicon Valley claims to have been the one responsible behind that early form of viral marketing.

Draper, also known for his antics (see video below), founded the fund at the age of 28, after a stint at Alex.Brown. His father, Bill Draper of Draper Richards, was himself following in his father’s VC footsteps (General William H. Draper, Jr. got into the business in 1958).

DFJ’s investing interests include information technology, nanotechnology and life sciences and clean energy technologies. Also, Vietnam is an area of focus and the firm has a JV with VinaCapital called DFJ VinaCapital. DFJ’s other 20+ Network Partners include DFJ FIR Brazil and DFJ DragonFund China.

Here’s a list of their portfolio companies, including famed hits like Hotmail, Skype and Baidu. For more research check out this interview of Tim Draper as well as this profile by Venture Capital Journal.

Also, anyone interested in DFJ should probably become very familiar with the Riskmaster, a song Draper wrote the lyrics to (music by Anon!). Riskmaster was also the name of a book that DFJ put out on their 20th anniversary.