Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) — and successors Threshold Ventures, DFJ Growth and Future Ventures
The third-generation Draper family venture firm that coined "viral marketing" with Hotmail, built the industry's first global franchise network of affiliated funds, backed Baidu, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX and Box — and then broke apart in 2017–19 after Steve Jurvetson's departure, splitting into Threshold Ventures (early stage), DFJ Growth (late stage), Jurvetson's Future Ventures and Tim Draper's Draper Associates / Draper Venture Network.
At a glance
- Founded
- 1985, Menlo Park area, California (as Draper Associates); renamed Draper Fisher Jurvetson in the mid-1990s as John Fisher (partner from 1991) and Steve Jurvetson (joined 1994–95) became name partners
- Founders
- Timothy C. Draper; name partners John H.N. Fisher and Steve Jurvetson
- Headquarters
- Menlo Park, California (Sand Hill Road); historically dozens of affiliate offices worldwide through the DFJ Network
- Ownership / structure
- Private partnership. From 2019 effectively three independent successor platforms: Threshold Ventures (the former DFJ Venture early-stage team), DFJ Growth (independent late-stage affiliate that kept the DFJ name) and Draper Associates / Draper Venture Network (Tim Draper's family-run vehicles). Jurvetson runs Future Ventures separately
- Leadership (2026)
- Threshold: Josh Stein, Emily Melton, Heidi Roizen, Mo Islam (partner roster may have changed — verify). DFJ Growth: co-founders Randy Glein and Barry Schuler plus partners (verify current roster). Draper Associates: Tim Draper and Adam Draper (Boost VC). Future Ventures: Steve Jurvetson and Maryanna Saenko
- AUM / capital raised
- DFJ-branded funds and affiliates historically reported at several billion dollars combined (~$7bn across the network at its peak, reported). DFJ Growth: ~$535m Fund III (2017), ~$1bn Fund IV (2021), ~$1.2bn Fund V (May 2025). Threshold: Fund III targeting ~$250m (2019); Threshold IV plus Threshold Select >$450m combined (May 2022). Future Ventures: three ~$200m funds (2019, 2021, 2023)
- Stage focus
- DFJ: seed to Series B, with a strong deep-tech, energy and space bent under Jurvetson; DFJ Growth from 2006 for later-stage rounds. Threshold: Series A/B. DFJ Growth: growth equity
- Signature investments
- Hotmail, Baidu, Skype, Tesla, SolarCity, SpaceX, Box, Planet Labs, Yammer, Anaplan, Coinbase, Unity, Cylance, Ring; disappointments and controversies: a long tail of 2000s cleantech, SolarCity's bailout by Tesla, the network model's uneven affiliates and, outside the DFJ funds, Tim Draper's personal backing of Theranos
10 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
1996
Hotmail
Seed / First Institutional Round
2000
Baidu
Series B
2004
Skype
Series B
2006
Box
Series A
2006
Tesla
Series C
2007
SolarCity
Early Venture Round
2009
SpaceX
Venture Round
2013
Planet Labs
Series A
2014
Anaplan
Series D
2015
Coinbase
Series C