Draper Fisher Jurvetson raises $350m for tenth technology fund

20 July 2010

Draper Fisher Jurvetson, one of the oldest Silicon Valley venture investors, has raised $350m for its latest fund, which will target the cleantech, science and IT sectors.

The firm had previously cut the fund’s total target from $600m in response to the ‘financial malaise’ to $400m, which it fell slightly short of.

Tim Draper, a managing director and founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, said, ‘Technology has no borders, and the emerging global markets continue to show entrepreneurship is not limited to Silicon Valley. While we recognise that the economic times are challenging worldwide, we look forward to investing this new fund and believe it’s a great time to be in venture capital.’

Draper Fisher Jurvetson previously backed Tesla Motors, the electric-car manufacturer that recently listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, raising just over $225m in its IPO.

A venture veteran, it has also invested in a number of high-profile businesses, including Baidu, China’s leading search engine; and internet telephone phenomenon Skype, picked up by eBay.

In 2009, venture capital fundraising was hit, dropping 55 per cent to $13bn across 120 funds, compared to $28.7bn collected by 204 funds in 2008, making it the slowest year since 2003.

Two of the big winners in 2009, however, were New Enterprise Associates, which raised $1.2bn, and Norwest Venture Partners, which closed its eleventh fund in the fourth quarter after raising $1.2bn.

Draper Fisher Jurvetson has been investing for 25 years and manages a total of $7bn across its entire global network.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: energy efficiency

This story was published on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 12:45 pm and is filed under North America, energy efficiency, funds. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply