Draper Associates
Early-stage venture firm backing founders in AI, crypto, biotech, space and unconventional ideas.
🇺🇸 San Mateo, California · Founded 1985
Pre-seed to Series A·Leads or follows
Draper Associates is a venture capital firm based in San Mateo, California. Tim Draper founded it in 1985. It later became Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and he relaunched Draper Associates in 2008. It opened to outside limited partners in 2015. The firm invests mainly from pre-seed to Series A, in companies around the world. Its focus areas are AI and robotics, crypto and blockchain, healthcare and biotech, aerospace and space, and what it calls unconventional ideas.
What they invest in
We back bold, visionary founders building transformational businesses. We are industry-agnostic and stage-agnostic, moving early from pre-seed to Series A across all sectors and geographies.
- Stage
- Pre-seed to Series A
- Role in a round
- Leads or follows
- Fund
- Draper Associates Fund 8 · $300M
- Closed 2026
- AI & Robotics
- Crypto & Blockchain
- Healthcare & Biotech
- Aerospace & Space
- Unconventional Ideas
- Global
How to pitch
They read inbound pitches that match the criteria above.
Open to
- Pitches from founders
Founders can send a pitch through a multi-step form on the firm's contact page. The form asks for company, traction, fundraising and team details, plus a PDF deck. The site also has an AI pitch coach tool that gives feedback on a deck.
Portfolio
The firm says it has backed 400+ companies since 1985, mostly from pre-seed to Series A. Its focus areas are AI and robotics, crypto, healthcare and biotech, and aerospace. Most recent deals are in the United States, with some in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Some of the companies they have backed
The portfolio at a glance · 60 companies · 2013–2026 · 7 exits · led 12
Sectors
- Aerospace7%
- Bitcoin Infrastructure5%
- Autonomous Vehicles3%
- Crypto3%
- Other65%
Stage when they invested
- Pre-seed3%
- Seed27%
- Series A12%
- Series B2%
- Series C+3%
Where the companies are
- 🇺🇸 United States42%
- 🇦🇷 Argentina2%
- 🇨🇳 China2%
- 🇪🇪 Estonia2%
- Other3%
60 of 400+ companies, from the firm's site and newsroom, CB Insights and Seedtable, as of Oct 2026. The firm's own portfolio page has the full list.
Co-investors and partners
Funds that invested in the same rounds.