About Draper Frontier
Draper Frontier is a venture capital firm founded in 2002. It is primarily based out of Los Angeles, United States. As of Mar 2022, Draper Frontier has invested in 83 companies. It primarily invests in Series A round in United States based startups. Its investments are spread across a wide range of sectors from Enterprise Applications to High Tech and FinTech. Most recently it participated in the $***** Seed round of Fonbnk Overall, Draper Frontier portfolio has seen 1 unicorn, 1 IPO and 29 acquisitions including key companies like DailyPay, Shift Technologies and Netpulse. A lot of funds co-invest with Draper Frontier, with names like RPM Ventures sharing a substantial percentage of its portfolio. Draper Frontier has team of 4 people including 2 partners.Key Metrics
Team Members
Portfolio Sectors
Portfolio Locations
Rounds of Entry
Series A, Seed & 1 more
Portfolio IPOs
Portfolio Acquisitions
Portfolio Unicorns
Portfolio Soonicorns
Draper Frontier's List of Top Investments
Draper Frontier has a portfolio of 83 companies, one of which is a Unicorn. Their most notable investments are in SwinkTV and Seismic Games.Their portfolio spans across United States, Australia, Kenya and 1 more locations. They have invested in Enterprise Applications, High Tech, FinTech and 28 other sectors, across stages such as Series A, Seed and 1 more. Here is the list of top investments by Draper Frontier:1. d light
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Key facts about d light
- Founded Year: 2004
- Location: Nairobi (Kenya)
- Stage: Series E
- Total Funding till date: $118M
- Employee Count: 107 as on Feb 28, 2025
- Investors: Shell, Nexus Venture Partners and 38 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Feb 20, 2024, $*****
2. DailyPay
Developer of an online platform for employee financial benefits. It offers an on demand pay solution that enables employers to provide earned wage access to employees. Employees must add the required information, amount, and request for the loan. Once approved by the employer, the funds are transferred to the registered bank account.
Key facts about DailyPay
- Founded Year: 2015
- Location: New York City (United States)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series D
- Total Funding till date: $264M
- Employee Count: 710 as on Dec 31, 2024
- Investors: Section Partners, Access Industries and 46 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Conventional Debt, Feb 20, 2026, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of software solutions for digital workspace management. It provides users with a platform to simplify the administration of several email accounts and online apps with a single interface. It connects to multiple web programs, including Dropbox, Gmail, Outlook, and more, enabling access without requiring frequent log-ins and log-outs. Additionally, it facilitates the organisation of tabs, bookmarks, and inboxes, which helps in switching between business and personal accounts.
Key facts about Shift Technologies
- Founded Year: 2013
- Location: San Francisco (United States)
- Stage: Public
- Total Funding till date: $243M
- Employee Count: 340 as on Dec 07, 2025
- Investors: TriplePoint Capital, Goldman Sachs and 47 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series D, Apr 11, 2019, $*****
- Highlight: Public
4. ROLI
Developer of digital instruments and music learning systems for consumers. They provide a range of instruments, including keyboards and related software. The company also offers educational resources designed to help individuals learn to play music. These resources include applications and learning systems tailored for various skill levels.
Key facts about ROLI
- Founded Year: 2009
- Location: London (United Kingdom)
- Valuation: $*****
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $79.4M
- Employee Count: 119 as on Sep 30, 2019
- Investors: TriplePoint Capital, Index Ventures and 73 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Jun 04, 2018, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Provider of cloud-based air quality monitoring and emissions detection for upstream and midstream oil & gas. It offers environmental monitoring IoT devices that record emissions in real-time via the cloud. Product offerings include Canary X - a solution to track methane emissions, Canary S - a solar-powered air quality & meteorological monitoring system, and Suma Canister - a gas analytics solution.
Key facts about Project Canary
- Founded Year: 2018
- Location: Denver (United States)
- Stage: Series B
- Total Funding till date: $121M
- Employee Count: 78 as on Mar 31, 2026
- Investors: Brookfield Asset Management, Colorado Impact Fund and 9 Others
- Latest Funding Round: Series B, Feb 24, 2022, $*****
- Highlight: Editors' Pick
Draper Frontier's Year-on-Year Investment Trends
Draper Frontier has invested in 83 companies over the last 23 years, with an average of 1 new investment annually in the last 10 years. Its most recent first time investment was in Fonbnk and most recent follow-on round was in MomentFeed.Year | No. of Investments | ||
|---|---|---|---|
1st Round | Follow-on | Total | |
2026 (YTD) | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2025 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2023 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2022 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
2021 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2020 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
2019 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
2018 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
2017 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
Draper Frontier's Investments by Stage
Draper Frontier has made 23 investments in Series A stage with an average round size of $3.42M, 13 investments in Seed stage with an average round size of $2M and 4 investments in Series B stage with an average round size of $13.6M.Stage of entry | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Series A | 23 |
Seed | 13 |
Series B | 4 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Draper Frontier's Investments by Sector
Draper Frontier has a diverse portfolio, with companies operating in the Enterprise Applications, High Tech, Consumer, FinTech and Media & Entertainment. Notably, it has invested in 65 Tech companies, 51 Enterprise (B2B) companies, 51 Software companies and at least 28 companies focusing on Consumer (B2C).Sector | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
Enterprise Applications | 16 |
High Tech | 10 |
Consumer | 8 |
FinTech | 6 |
Media & Entertainment | 6 |
Others | 45 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Draper Frontier's Investments by Geography
Draper Frontier has made most investments in United States (40), followed by Canada where it has made 1 investment.Country | No. of Investments |
|---|---|
United States | 40 |
Canada | 1 |
Note: We have considered here, only first round of investments
Draper Frontier's recent investments
Draper Frontier has not made any investment in 2026 so far.Here are the most recent investments by Draper Frontier:
Filter this listDate | Company | Location | Round Details | Round Amount | Co-Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mar 01, 2022 | United States | Seed | 6887 | [+17] | |
Sep 15, 2020 | United States | Seed | 5148 | [+2] | |
Jul 29, 2020 | United States | Series B | 5943 | [+2] | |
Mar 26, 2020 | United States | Series A | 6103 | [+4] | |
Mar 20, 2020 | United States | Series A | 1009 | [+5] |
Unicorns in Draper Frontier's Portfolio
Draper Frontier has 1 unicorn in its portfolio - DailyPay. The most recent unicorn in their portfolio is DailyPay which became a unicorn in 2021, 4 years before Draper Frontier first invested in it.Here is a list of unicorns in Draper Frontier's portfolio:
Tracxn Score | Company | Short Description | Founded year | Sector | Location | Company Stage | First Investment/ Acquisition Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
76 | Developer of an online platform for employee financial benefits | 2015 | New York City | Series D | fhschrt |
IPOs and Publicly Listed companies in Draper Frontier's Portfolio
1 of Draper Frontier's portfolio company became public - Shift Technologies. It got listed on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ), in Jun 2019 at marketcap of $10Here are Draper Frontier's portfolio companies that went public:
Company | IPO Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jun 04, 2019 | - | - | 9086 |
Acquired companies in Draper Frontier's Portfolio
29 companies from Draper Frontier's portfolio have been acquired. The most recent acquisition was Haawk in Oct 2024 by Sesac Performing Rights for $*****.Here are Draper Frontier's portfolio companies that got acquired most recently:
Company | Acquisition Date | First Invested on | First Round of Investment | Round Size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Oct 23, 2024 | Sep 20, 2017 | Seed | 1260 | |
Jul 10, 2024 | Feb 21, 2008 | Seed | 7860 | |
Apr 30, 2024 | - | - | 8603 | |
May 09, 2023 | - | - | 9436 | |
May 03, 2023 | Sep 10, 2007 | Series B | 8521 |
Team profile of Draper Frontier
Draper Frontier has a team of 4 members including 2 Partners and 2 Venture Partners located in United States and Ireland. Draper Frontier's team does not sit on the board of any company as of now.Here is a list of all team members in Draper Frontier:
Name | Designation | Location | Board Memberships | Contact Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Partner | Los Angeles | - | - | |
Partner | Ireland | - | - | |
Venture Partner | Los Angeles | - | - | |
Venture Partner | Santa Monica | - | - |
Co-investors of Draper Frontier
Over the past 23 years, 185 investors have co-invested in Draper Frontier's portfolio companies. This includes funds and angels.
- Invested before Draper Frontier: Bally Fitness, Greenlight Re and 7 others have invested in rounds before Draper Frontier. There is 1 company where Bally Fitness has invested before Draper Frontier and 1 company where Greenlight Re has invested before Draper Frontier.
- Top Co-investors of Draper Frontier: 96 investors entered a company along with Draper Frontier. These include investors like RPM Ventures (4 companies).
- Invested after Draper Frontier: A total of 80 investors have invested in Draper Frontier's portfolio after their investments. Top Investors include Greycroft (2 companies), DFJ (2 companies) and August Capital (1 company).
Recent News related to Draper Frontier
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Finch Raises $1.8M in Seed FundingFinSMEs•Sep 15, 2020•Finch, Mendoza Ventures, Techstars, Draper Frontier and 1 other
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Syndio: Raises $7.5m In FundingFintechinshorts•May 17, 2020•Syndio, Emerson Collective, Voyager Capital, Contour Venture Partners and 3 others
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Syndio Raises $7.5M in FundingFinSMEs•May 15, 2020•Syndio, Emerson Collective, Voyager Capital, Sirius XM and 2 others
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Coterie raises $8.5m in Series A fundingVerdict•Mar 26, 2020•Coterie, RPM Ventures, Allos Ventures, Western & Southern Financial Group and 3 others
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Coterie raises $8.5M to build 'commercial insurance as a service'TechCrunch+•Mar 20, 2020•Coterie, Intercept Ventures, The Hartford, RPM Ventures and 5 others
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Livekick raises $3M to use live video for one-on-one trainingTechCrunch+•May 24, 2019•Livekick, Firstime, Draper Frontier, Rhodium
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Lucid Sight raises $6 million to take blockchain games to traditional platformsVentureBeat•Apr 02, 2019•Lucid Sight, Salem Partners, EOS, Digital Currency Group and 6 others
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Insurtech Geared to Autonomous Vehicle Coverage Grabs $5 Million in FundingInsurance Journal•Jan 30, 2019•Avinew, Crosscut Ventures, American Family Ventures, Draper Frontier and 1 other
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