Billy Draper: new $190m seed fund has eyes for India and Indonesia

Billy Draper will co-lead this new fund.

After investing in hundreds of companies over decades, famed venture capitalist Tim Draper is trying something a bit different with a new US$190 million seed fund from Draper Associates. Historically “a personal investment vehicle for Draper,” in the firm’s own words, it has brought in partners for the first time this week to debut the new early-stage venture fund.

“Draper Associates will invest about 75 percent of the fund in Silicon Valley and the US, and about 25 percent internationally,” says Billy Draper, 27-year-old son of Tim and an at the California-based firm. The seed fund is co-led by Billy, Tim, and Andy Tang.

It’ll be looking at entrepreneurs building things in fintech, govtech, healthcare, education, insurance, and logistics.

The VC has backed some huge names in tech like Tesla, Baidu, Twitch, and Skype.

“Asia will certainly be a focal point of international investment given our history, and in recent years we have seen talented entrepreneurs tackling enormous market opportunities there,” Billy tells Tech in Asia.

The Draper seed fund will mostly be looking at entrepreneurs building things in fintech, govtech, healthcare, education, insurance, and logistics.

That syncs nicely with boom areas among Asia’s tech startups. Biotech was the fastest growing sector in the region so far this year, according to data from the Tech in Asia database, although the deal volume is low. It’s mainly ecommerce and transportation and logistics-related startups that pull in the big money in Asia. Others are growing steadily – like fintech.

“With the growing middle class across Asia, we expect to see enormous opportunities for new financial tools and services. Everything from retail banking to exchanges to private investing to alternative assets will be transformed. Finance is changing everywhere, and we expect to see Asia at the forefront of that change,” observes Billy.

A teen girl who codes apps in India. See story: Girl coders in Indian slum fight back after fire destroyed their workshop. Photo credit: Nawneet Ranjan.

While the new seed fund has not yet placed a bet in Asia, Billy professes enthusiasm for what he sees people are building in India – a place of “visionary entrepreneurs” – and also fast-growing Indonesia.

“Indonesia in particular presents an incredibly exciting opportunity for venture capitalists right now with exploding growth of smart devices and internet usage, and we hope to make the most of that,” he says.

We expect [China] prices to come back down to earth at some point.