Tim Cook Draper is an American capital investor and legend of venture capital. He was born in 1958 in New York City. Cook is also an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and philanthropist to various causes.

Tim Draper has been investing in technologies since his mid-twenties. He co-founded the software company, Systems Two in his 20s. By age thirty, he had already set up a successful investment firm known as Venture Capital Management Company. In its early days, Venture Capital Management Company was a joint venture with other partners.

Presently, it functions as a family business and is responsible for managing all the investment activities of Draper and his family members. Moreover, the Venture Capital Management Company (VCMC) has been involved in many projects. The projects include investments in Internet-related firms, software development companies to e-commerce marketplaces among others.

In recent years, Tim Draper has made significant investments in various startups. His latest investment is in the bitcoin startup, CoinLab. He also invests in companies that provide digital financial services to low-income families and consumers who are underserved by the current banking system around the world.

In May 2014, he announced that he would be investing $150,000 into every single start-up at BoostVC.

Background and Education

As the third in the family to hold the Draper name, Tim is a third-generation venture capitalist. His father Bill Draper was the founder of Draper & Johnson Investment Company and former chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.

As for his educational background, before Stanford University, he attended Phillips Academy. He graduated in electrical engineering with a B.S degree.

Furthermore, he is an active philanthropist who has donated large sums of money to various organizations including Teach for America and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT).

Draper University of Heroes

Draper also helped set up the “Draper University of Heroes” which helps prepare promising youngsters for leadership roles and careers in entrepreneurship. He also supports the “CyberCenter” at Draper University of Heroes. In fact, CyberCenter is actually an incubator for technology companies.

Tim Draper’s Personal Life

Currently, Tim Draper lives in San Mateo County. Tim is married to his wife (Cheryl) and they have 5 children together. His family home was once listed for USD 18 million but was later dropped to USD 4.9 million. He has been quoted as saying that, “I like horses and I like cars – my favorite car is a Bentley” (CNN Fortune).

Over the years, he has grown his family’s investment business, Venture Capital Management Company (VCMC) to oversee all investment activities of his family members around the world. Tim has been married to his wife, Cheryl for over 30 years, and together, they reside in San Mateo County. They have 5 children: Adam (married to Julie Draper), Christie (married to Scott Birnbaum), Billy, Laura, and Harry.

Tim Draper is also an active philanthropist who donates generous funds to various organizations. They include Teach for America and Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT). He also helps set up the “Draper University of Heroes” which prepares promising youngsters for careers in entrepreneurship.

Tim Draper’s Education

Venture Capitalist Tim Draper has invested successfully in many companies including Skype before it got sold to Microsoft for USD 8.5 billion. He graduated from Stanford University with a degree in electrical engineering. In 2014, Draper University launched a free online course on entrepreneurship to help students start their own businesses.

Tim Draper Family

Tim Draper is married to Nancy Draper and has four children from his previous marriage with Toni Carpenter.

His younger son Adam won the 2015 and 2016 worldwide Master in High Stakes Poker and in 2013 bought 17 BTC when they were worth USD 700 for USD 750 in an auction which turned out to be a great investment since one bitcoin is now worth over USD 5000.

He also recently bought 30,000 XRP (Ripple) coins when they were only worth 0.2 cents each which he claims will yield massive returns in coming months as more banks begin using Ripple payments systems.

Draper has been involved in numerous lawsuits and is currently dealing with a legal battle against the estate of his former son-in-law. His daughter, who married and subsequently divorced Kholberg, is also suing him for USD 600 million.

The Venture Capital Fund

This center provides seed money and financing opportunities to all companies associated with VCMC.

The Cyberfuture center:

Deals with all innovative software and hardware engineering, as well as internet and digital media management.

The Cybersecurity Center :

This center is responsible for the development of new security systems and ideas that can be used to protect companies and consumers from attacks and data theft.

The Cyber Accelerator:

This center provides entrepreneurship training to all students who want to pursue a career in technology, international business, or finance.

The Draper University of Heroes:

This organization offers opportunities for young professionals around the world by preparing them for leadership roles and careers in entrepreneurship. They do so through courses such as “Pentagon Bootcamp” which helps students become entrepreneurs, effective leaders.

Tim Draper Career Milestones:  

Since its establishment in 1985, VCMC has made several investments across different organizations within California. Most of their investments have been in the technology, energy, and healthcare sectors. They have invested over $125 million in more than 30 companies with most being based in Silicon Valley. Recent deals include:

Involvement with the Indian School of Business (ISB)

Tim Draper has taken up a role on the board of governors at ISB after his father donated funds to set up an entrepreneurship center at this prestigious institution. He is currently involved in helping young business leaders from all over India learn about entrepreneurship and management skills by providing them with various resources, mentorship opportunities as well as potential investment opportunities both within the country and abroad.

Tim Draper Investments

After VCMC made its first major investment (USD 5 million in Skype), it has since invested in many other ventures. He has invested USD 150,000 in Snapchat which is now worth USD 2 billion. His son Adam recently claimed that he still hoped to make a profit off the investment by selling his share for USD 4-5 million before its IPO.

Tim Draper also invested USD 400,000 in CoinLab which was intended to be used as compensation for those who had pre-ordered bitcoin mining equipment from Butterfly Labs (BFL). The company went bankrupt and after much negotiation between CoinLab and BFL, Tim Draper received around 3000 BTC (at the time worth about USD 450).

Tim Draper Philanthropic Work 

As part of their focus on entrepreneurship education, Draper has been involved in many philanthropic activities which include providing free online classes to students looking to become entrepreneurs through the University Ventures program as well as donating money towards scholarships at universities such as Stanford and Harvard. He has donated over $4 million worth of bitcoins to SENS Research Foundation’s Project Alive which is aimed at finding cures for diseases that affect the human body at a cellular level. The project will be testing whether reversing biological aging can prolong the lives of mice.

Politics

Free markets and entrepreneurship has been Draper’s focus through the organizations he has founded. These include Draper University which provides students with training in entrepreneurship, software development, and design thinking as well as various resources to help them build their own companies. Furthermore, he is also a donor for The B Team which focuses on advancing ethics in the tech industry.

Tim Draper Honors And Awards

Draper has received several honors throughout his career including being named Dealmaker of the Year by TechCrunch in 2013, Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine in 2014, and voted best venture capitalist by Forbes at one point during his career. More recently, Draper was appointed to be part of President Trump’s transition team last year but withdrew before taking office to conflict of interest laws related to his other ventures.

Tim Draper Books: Tim Draper is the best-selling author of ‘The Startup Game’. He has also authored several articles. Draper wrote for publications such as Forbes Asia, Entrepreneur, and TechCrunch. Most of his writings were based on his views on entrepreneurship, venture capital, and current affairs.

Draper has made over 30 angel investments in various companies looking to take advantage of market opportunities. The VC has invested in companies including Bancor, which operates a cryptocurrency exchange network; Qtum, which aims to provide blockchain solutions to enterprise businesses; Wyre, which offers cross border payment APIs for companies; Big Data Block, which focuses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven microservices for Blockchain technologies; KryptoSeek, anator of cryptocurrency prices in real time.

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