Draper Associates | Activity

New Fund

Draper Associates launched Fund 8 (DA8), its 12th year since relaunching the brand with outside investors. Tim Draper's 41st year in VC. Strategy remains backing iconoclastic founders early with deep technology.

Draper Associates

Draper AssociatesDraper Associates

draper.vcJUN 22, 2026

JUN 22, 2026

Investment

Co-led Scout AI’s $100M Series A to develop Fury, its foundation model for unmanned warfare.

Scout AI

Scout AI Draper Associates

prnewswire.comAPR 29, 2026 draper.vc

APR 29, 2026

Investment

Led HexemBio's $10.4M seed round to rejuvenate aging blood stem cells using a proprietary synthetic niche, without gene editing. First clinical target is blood cancer.

HexemBio

HexemBio Draper Associates

draper.vcAPR 7, 2026

APR 7, 2026

Investment

Participated in Satellites On Fire's Seed round (co-led by Dalus Capital).

Satellites On Fire

Satellites On Fire Draper Associates

twitter.comAPR 6, 2026

APR 6, 2026

Exit

Portfolio company SpotHero acquired by Uber.

Spothero

SpotheroDraper Associates

uber.comFEB 23, 2026

FEB 23, 2026

Investment

Led Natilus's $28M Series A. Natilus builds blended-wing-body aircraft (KONA freighter, Horizon passenger model). Order book of 570+ aircraft worth ~$24B.

Natilus

Natilus Draper Associates

draper.vcFEB 11, 2026

FEB 11, 2026

Investment

Led Radiant Nuclear's $300M+ Series D for portable nuclear microreactor manufacturing.

Radiant Nuclear

Radiant Nuclear Draper Associates

radiantnuclear.comDEC 17, 2025 draper.vc

DEC 17, 2025

Investment

Co-led NLPatent's $3M seed round (now Clerq). NLPatent uses NLP and patent-tuned language models to search prior art. Co-led with Mighty Capital.

NLPatent (Clerq)

NLPatent (Clerq)Draper Associates

draper.vcNOV 11, 2025

NOV 11, 2025

Exit

Portfolio company Bitwage acquired.

Bitwage

BitwageDraper Associates

bitwage.comNOV 7, 2025

NOV 7, 2025

Investment

Led Vermeer's $10M Series A extension. Vermeer builds visual positioning systems for drones that work when GPS is jammed, deployed with Armed Forces of Ukraine. Partners include US Army, USAF, Lockheed Martin.

Vermeer

Vermeer Draper Associates

draper.vcOCT 23, 2025

OCT 23, 2025

Investment

Led Ryder's $3.2M seed round. Ryder builds a hardware wallet that replaces the crypto seed phrase with TapSafe NFC tag recovery system for self-custody.

Ryder

Ryder Draper Associates

draper.vcOCT 21, 2025

OCT 21, 2025

Investment

Led Mappa's $3.4M seed round. Mappa analyzes 30+ vocal signals from short conversations to measure communication, ownership, empathy for hiring. Serves 100+ employers in US and Latin America.

Mappa.ai

Mappa.ai Draper Associates

draper.vcSEP 9, 2025

SEP 9, 2025

Investment

Led Midl's $2.4M seed round. Midl builds a native execution environment for smart contracts directly on Bitcoin. Co-led with Draper Dragon.

Midl

Midl Draper Associates

draper.vcJUL 30, 2025

JUL 30, 2025

New Fund

Closed Fund VIII with $200M from 37 investors.

Fund VIII

Draper Associates

bizjournals.comJUL 2025

JUL 2025

Draper Associates Activity

Draper Associates launched Fund 8 (DA8), its 12th year since relaunching the brand with outside investors. Tim Draper's 41st year in VC. Strategy remains backing iconoclastic founders early with deep technology.

Co-led Scout AI’s $100M Series A to develop Fury, its foundation model for unmanned warfare.

Led HexemBio's $10.4M seed round to rejuvenate aging blood stem cells using a proprietary synthetic niche, without gene editing. First clinical target is blood cancer.

Participated in Satellites On Fire's Seed round (co-led by Dalus Capital).

Portfolio company SpotHero acquired by Uber.

Led Natilus's $28M Series A. Natilus builds blended-wing-body aircraft (KONA freighter, Horizon passenger model). Order book of 570+ aircraft worth ~$24B.

Led Radiant Nuclear's $300M+ Series D for portable nuclear microreactor manufacturing.

Co-led NLPatent's $3M seed round (now Clerq). NLPatent uses NLP and patent-tuned language models to search prior art. Co-led with Mighty Capital.

Portfolio company Bitwage acquired.

Led Vermeer's $10M Series A extension. Vermeer builds visual positioning systems for drones that work when GPS is jammed, deployed with Armed Forces of Ukraine. Partners include US Army, USAF, Lockheed Martin.

Led Ryder's $3.2M seed round. Ryder builds a hardware wallet that replaces the crypto seed phrase with TapSafe NFC tag recovery system for self-custody.

Led Mappa's $3.4M seed round. Mappa analyzes 30+ vocal signals from short conversations to measure communication, ownership, empathy for hiring. Serves 100+ employers in US and Latin America.

Led Midl's $2.4M seed round. Midl builds a native execution environment for smart contracts directly on Bitcoin. Co-led with Draper Dragon.

Closed Fund VIII with $200M from 37 investors.