# Draper Associates

> Draper Associates is a VC fund in San Mateo backing Software and FinTech. See 441 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: San Mateo, United States
- Total investments: 441
- Last investment: Aug 2026
- Lead investor: 28%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/draper-associates/
- X (Twitter): http://twitter.com/drapervc
- Website: http://www.draper.vc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Draper-Associates/100065544547827/

Draper Associates is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming companies. They invest globally, in great teams of people creating revolutionary companies in new media, gaming, SaaS, cloud, new finance, IOT, and mobile. Their portfolio companies disrupting markets in the tens of billions and are on a clear path tolater rounds of fundraising.Draper Associates encourages entrepreneurs to drive their businesses to greatness, to transform industries with new technologies, and to build platforms for extraordinary growth, jobs, and wealth creation. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, USA.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Draper Associates. Shizune tracks 9 team members at Draper Associates. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/draper-associates-2?utm_source=investor_profile

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Seed | $1M–$8.3M |
| Series A | $2.3M–$25M |
| Series B | $5M–$60M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 53 | 12% |
| FinTech | 32 | 7% |
| Information Technology | 29 | 7% |
| Blockchain | 28 | 6% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 26 | 6% |

285 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 120 | 27% |
| Series A | 82 | 19% |
| Series B | 35 | 8% |
| Funding Round | 35 | 8% |
| Pre-Seed | 22 | 5% |

13 stages tracked in total.

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| United States | 195 | 44% |
| Canada | 7 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 7 | 2% |
| Singapore | 5 | 1% |
| India | 4 | 1% |

27 countries tracked in total.

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Daniel Sangyoon Kim | Analyst | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/daniel-sangyoon-kim |
| Aamer Sarfraz | Venture Partner | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/aamer-sarfraz |
| Andrew Tang | Partner | 16 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/andrew-tang |
| James Walker | Associate Counsel and Investments | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/james-walker-4bfc |
| Kasha Akrami | Director of Scouts | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kasha-akrami-5337 |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Aurelius Systems | Aurelius Systems is a defense technology company pioneering the future of defense with the development of edge-deployed, AI-powered laser systems designed to counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS) threats. | $40M | Series A | Aug 05, 2026 |  |
| Aurelius Systems | Aurelius Systems is a defense technology company pioneering the future of defense with the development of edge-deployed, AI-powered laser systems designed to counter unmanned aerial systems (UAS) threats. | $40M | Series A | Aug 05, 2026 |  |
| Venus Aerospace | Venus Aerospace is a space company that provides an innovative approach to hypersonic transportation. Venus Aerospace is a startup aerospace company focused on engineering the future of hypersonic flight. We are making one-hour global transport possible to connect the world and make it safer.The company is an expert team of PhDs, rocketscientists, and engineers taking on the biggest challenges in aerospace at Mach 9 speed. The company also takes pride in being moms and dads, military veterans, and BBQ enthusiasts. | $91M | Series B | Jul 08, 2026 |  |
| Arpio | Arpio protects and eliminates downtime for AWS applications by making it easy to recover from any outage in just a few minutes. Founded by Doug Neumann and Shaw Terwilliger in 2018 and is based in Durham, North Carolina, United States. | $15M | Series A | Jun 03, 2026 |  |
| Apoha | Stealth stage start-up | $36M | Venture - Series Unknown | Jun 03, 2026 |  |
| AIsa | AIsa is the capability layer for the Agentic Economy. Everything AI agents need to reason, act, and transact. Pay per call. | $5M | Seed | May 31, 2026 |  |
| ChurchAI | The Intelligent OS For Churches. | $1.3M | Pre-Seed | May 21, 2026 |  |
| Darkhive | Autonomy for Everyone | $30M | Series B | May 07, 2026 |  |
| Scout AI | Scout AI is building the robotic foundation model for defense. | $100M | Series A | Apr 29, 2026 |  |
| Ivory | Ivory improves the aging process by promoting sharper thinking and better living. They assist in the early detection of neurodegenerative concerns and give tailored brain health solutions. | $1M | Seed | Apr 15, 2026 |  |

10 of 441 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Boost VC](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/boostfunder) — VC Fund, 32 deals together
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund, 21 deals together
- [500 Global](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/500-startups) — VC Fund, 14 deals together
- [Gaingels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/gaing) — VC Fund, 13 deals together
- [Y Combinator](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/y-combinator) — VC Fund, 13 deals together
- [Draper Dragon](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/draper-dragon) — VC Fund, 12 deals together

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## FAQ

### What does Draper Associates invest in?

Draper Associates invests primarily in Software, FinTech and Information Technology startups, most often at Seed and Series A stage. Most of the 441 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Draper Associates's check size?

Draper Associates typically joins rounds of $1M–$8.3M at Seed, $2.3M–$25M at Series A and $5M–$60M at Series B. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Draper Associates participates in.

### How do I contact Draper Associates?

Public channels for Draper Associates include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Draper Associates?

The team at Draper Associates includes Daniel Sangyoon Kim (Analyst), Aamer Sarfraz (Venture Partner) and Andrew Tang (Partner), among 9 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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