AI, Robotics & Automation

Building the foundational infrastructure to rewire how the world moves, builds, and operates.

Where Human Creativity Meets Machine Intelligence

AI and robotics are not replacing human ingenuity—they are amplifying it. These technologies are making work smarter, safer, and more efficient, enabling humans to focus on creativity, strategy, and problem-solving. From manufacturing to healthcare, logistics to precision engineering, we invest in companies building the infrastructure for an AI-driven future where intelligent machines augment human capabilities rather than replace them.

PORTFOLIO LEADERSHIP

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Over 40% of Draper-backed ventures focus on AI, ML, and robotics, including Tesla's autonomous driving ($1T+ market cap), Robinhood's algorithmic trading ($88B+ valuation), and cutting-edge companies like Otter.ai, Cruise, and Xanadu AI revolutionizing their respective industries.

40%+

Of Draper portfolio companies leverage AI, robotics, or automation technology

Artificial intelligence machine learning platform, AI technology automation innovation systems

BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION

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From Lucky Robots making robotics accessible to software engineers, to BioGrip's wireless nerve-machine interfaces enabling thought-controlled robotics, our portfolio companies are pioneering the next frontier of human-machine collaboration.

38.5%

Annual growth rate (CAGR) of the AI robotics market through 2030

EXPONENTIAL GROWTH

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The global AI robotics market is projected to reach $124.8 billion by 2030 with a 38.5% CAGR, driven by enterprise automation, autonomous vehicles, and intelligent manufacturing systems transforming every industry.

$124.8B

Global AI robotics market value projected by 2030

Robotics automation manufacturing, intelligent machines and human-robot collaboration

WE HAVE BACKED JUGGERNAUTS ACROSS AI, Robotics & Automation

Otter.ai

I'm incredibly grateful for Tim's support over the past 15+ years. From the very beginning, before there was even a product or prototype, Tim saw something in our vision that others didn't. After dozens of VCs passed on my first idea, Tim gave me the chance to be an entrepreneur in residence at DFJ in 2010, where I incubated my first startup. He later invested in the startup, and that journey eventually led to a successful acquisition. In 2016, when I came back with the ambitious (and admittedly crazy) idea to record and make all the conversations in the world searchable, most people walked away citing privacy concerns or doubting we could compete with the tech giants. But not Tim. He immediately resonated with the vision, backed us before anything was built, and was the very first to use our product for every meeting, and strongly recommended Otter to everyone he met. Tim's contrarian mindset, visionary outlook, and unconditional support have been a constant source of inspiration. I've always felt lucky to have him on our team and even more so as we continue building Otter into something truly game-changing.

Sam Liang

Cruise Automation

Tim has taken a chance on me with both Justin.tv and Cruise - two wildly ambitious ideas where it was absolutely not clear whether they'd work at all. Tim has an amazing ability to identify unique opportunities far before others see them.

Kyle Vogt

Colossal

As a five-time entrepreneur, I know it is impossible to succeed without great investment partners on your team. When I seek out investment, I'm looking for people who not only see the ROI but want to support the team and mission. Draper has always had a reputation as one of the best because of how they go above and beyond for their portfolio, and our experience with you all has proven out why that reputation exists. This relationship has been critical for the growth of Colossal and we are grateful for the continued support since day one.

Ben Lamm

ioNetworks

DA's financial support enabled us to take risks optimizing our product and invest R&D into chip partnerships with major players despite limited short-term revenue, while their U.S. network connections helped us go global. Draper Associates has been the visionary partner who recognized edge AI potential early and accelerated our journey to AIoT leadership across consumer electronics, automotive, healthcare, and smart city applications.

Erix Lin

Team Wildfire

While strategic and financial support is necessary, one of the most important aspects of working with investors like Draper is the moment that you, as a founder, realize you're not the only person crazy enough to believe in your vision. While founders are, of necessity, incredibly confident people, your confidence doubles when someone tells you they think you can make it happen, and backs that up with their money. Draper Associates is distinguished amongst investors in that they have not only a tolerance for risk, but an appetite for it, and they understand that the biggest payoffs require the greatest risk.

Steve Wolf

Torram

Draper Associates was one of the key early believers in our Bitcoin infrastructure and Lee and I as Cofounders, when not many were able to see our bold vision for the future of Bitcoin. Their bold backing, when others were doubtful, changed everything for us as a company.

Vakeesan Mahalingam, CFA

VVater

Draper didn’t just fund us; they opened doors. Their introductions refined our product-market fit and gave us critical business guidance. With Draper behind us, VVater captured the CES Best of Innovation and World Future Awards in 2025, and earned the title ‘America’s Next Water Company.’ Having Draper as a partner, not just a capital provider, is the catalyst for our success.

Kevin Gast

TrustMe

Draper Associates gave us far more than capital. They helped forge our founding team. I joined Tim Draper’s Hero Training and met the co-founder who now drives TrustMe forward with me. We’re in this for the long haul, and we couldn’t ask for a better partner than Tim and the Draper ecosystem.

Chingiz Dauletbayev

Webflow

Even after several setbacks with trying to start Webflow, Tim believed in us from the first few moments after hearing our story and our idea. He became our very first investor and helped us become the company we are today.

Vlad Magdalin

nVision

At Draper University, I learned to tell my story and make a business case at the same time. Tim taught me to be comfortable talking about my health scare and why I entered the healthcare space. As a first-time entrepreneur trying to find a detection mechanism for one of the most difficult diseases to diagnose early, ovarian cancer, I needed an (ad)venture capitalist to join me along my journey. Tim believed in the market and the problem we were trying to solve, and he supported me at every turn, from seed funding to acquisition. He asked tough questions, even hardware-related stuff. He was giving us design ideas. Tim is full service.

Surbhi Sarna

Wisecut

Draper's early trust, strategic advice, and credibility opened doors, accelerated our growth, and gave us the confidence to scale Wisecut's mission to build a self-scaling AI clips network empowering brands to reach millions organically. A true catalyst. Draper Associates has been the bold, visionary partner who empowers us to think bigger and reach milestones we once dreamed of.

Ivo Machado

Twitch

Without Tim, Twitch would probably not exist. He invested fearlessly when other investors only saw what was wrong with our business and could not imagine its potential.

Michael Seibel

TRAXyL Inc.

Identifying how our technology could be dual-use for commercial and government efforts was key to bringing in a substantial amount of non-dilutive funds. We have a capital-intensive hardware company, so we appreciate Tim for sharing our vision and investing at just the right time to help us close a government deal. We certainly appreciate his gentle approach to letting us figure things out. He's not heavy handed, yet we still feel firmly supported.

Daniel Turner

Unocoin

Tim Draper himself is a big believer of bitcoin. His mission of being a part of the industry globally and advice at crucial juncture of Unocoin's business has helped us to shape what is Unocoin today.

Sathvik Vishwanath

Robinhood

When we raised our seed round for Robinhood in 2013, many investors were skeptical of the idea. Tim took a bet on us and understood how technology could make finance accessible to a new generation. As a part of the deal for his seed investment (which was critical for the business), we agreed to forgo our salaries for a period of time. I'm grateful for Tim's early support!

Baiju Bhatt

Skype

We were building Skype from Europe in the wake of the dotcom crash and with a US lawsuit hanging over us from our previous company, Kazaa. It was a terrible environment for fundraising and we were starting to feel like we missed the boat. Amazingly, the first person to put money into our idea was Bill Draper. He wired us $100,000 before the documents had even been signed. That cheque made Skype possible from pretty much nothing and started a long-standing relationship with Draper Associates. Soon after we got to know Tim, who made it clear he wanted to invest in the next round - eventually he just asked, 'What are the terms you need?' Tim joined our board and became an important advocate for the Skype vision. In fact, he was the only board member against Skype's $2.6 billion acquisition by eBay. He correctly foresaw there was further upside. Draper Associates was essential to the inception and growth of a company that went on to help millions of people stay connected to loved ones and inspired a whole generation of new entrepreneurs. First and second order Skype alumni have created over 900 new companies.

Niklas Zennström

Roxom & Previously Lemon Cash

The biggest thing for me was shaping me with the right go-big or go-home mentality !!! Tim & Draper as a whole has been, mainly, my dream big, motivational partner. Besides that, you've always been my first check, which has nurtured a strong sense of confidence in myself.

Borja Martel Seward

Synaptic Bionics/Biogrip

It wasn't just the funding it was the trust. Draper gave us the space to dream big and the support to turn those dreams into something real, when it mattered most. Draper Associates has been that rare kind of partner who believes in you before it's obvious like having a teammate who sees the future with you, and won't let you give up on it.

Alan Hernandez

Roxom

Beyond capital, Draper gave us the strategic clarity to stay true to our mission: re-pricing the world in Bitcoin. Draper Associates has been a true conviction partner. Early, fearless, and aligned with our long-term mission to reshape global markets.

Nick Damico

Solo

Having Tim's name behind us gave us the confidence and the leverage to go from pitching strategic partners to acquiring talents to closing deals. Inspiring. After attending Draper's 40th Anniversary celebration in May, we felt even more confident that Tim is not just an investor, but a mentor and a supportive friend backing countless successful companies around the world, including Solo in the future.

Edison Siu

Otter.ai

Sam Liang

Cruise Automation

Kyle Vogt

ioNetworks

Erix Lin

Wisecut

Ivo Machado

Solo

Edison Siu

PTC

Tim Draper took a real risk on us when we got started with PTC. He is an ideal investor who thinks big, trusts the players, and has remarkable instincts.

Richard Harrison

MightyFly

Draper Associates opens doors that money alone can not. The strategic connections they provide are helping us turn our vision for global expedited aerial logistics into reality. A true signal booster. Draper Associates helps us cut through the noise, focus on what matters and chase our growth milestones with confidence.

Manal Habib

Dreamwell AI

Having someone like Tim, with a track record of identifying early stage companies that went on to become unicorns, believe in us gave us so much more confidence in our vision. Draper Associates has been the exact kind of lead investor we were looking for in our first VC round. They allow us to focus on building, but have facilitated relationships with their incredible network already, and I'm truly grateful to have them in our corner.

Kazzy Khazaal

Fivetran

Tim was the largest angel investor in Fivetran. He took a chance on two first-time founders and always did right by the company. Fivetran wouldn't be here without Tim.

George Fraser

AI Seer

Tim's reposting on X of our fact-checking of the US Presidential Debate in 2024 contributed to us being one of the 14 AIs to win TIME's Best Inventions of 2024 award. Draper Associates is an invaluable partner towards both my personal growth as a founder and our otherwise improbable attempt to create fact-checkers as a web3 and B2C product and sell contactless polygraphs to government clients.

Dennis Yap

AI automation technology infrastructure, machine learning and robotics development platform

The Intelligence Revolution

We are living through the most significant technological transformation in human history. AI and robotics are not just improving existing processes—they're creating entirely new categories of human capability and economic value. The convergence of AI, robotics, and automation is driving rapid advancements across every industry.

Advanced Manufacturing & Industrial Automation

Advanced manufacturing is at the forefront, leveraging AI to improve reliability, efficiency, and scalability in industrial production processes. Robots, which traditionally had to be hard-programmed, can now learn through AI and machine learning, allowing for real-time adaptability and rapid reprogramming. With AI-powered platforms and foundational models for robotics, machines can now understand context, process instructions dynamically, and optimize workflows faster than ever before.

Human-AI Collaboration

The future isn't human versus AI—it's human plus AI. We invest in technologies that amplify human intelligence, creativity, and capability. AI handles computation, pattern recognition, and optimization while humans focus on strategy, innovation, and complex problem-solving. Companies like Lucky Robots are making robotics accessible to software engineers by decoupling it from traditional complexities, enabling natural language-driven automation.

Brain-Computer Interfaces & Neural Engineering

Revolutionary companies like BioGrip are developing wireless nerve-machine interfaces that connect robotic systems directly to the human body, enabling single-thought control of natural, simultaneous movements. This represents the cutting edge of human-machine integration, where the boundaries between biological and artificial intelligence blur.

Our Investment Thesis

We back companies building foundational AI infrastructure, breakthrough robotics platforms, autonomous systems, and human-computer interfaces that push the boundaries of what machines can do while amplifying human potential.

Market-Defining Portfolio

Our AI and robotics portfolio includes category-defining companies including Tesla ($1T+ market cap, pioneering autonomous vehicles), Robinhood ($88B+ valuation, algorithmic trading), Cruise (autonomous transportation), Otter.ai (AI-powered speech recognition), Xanadu AI (quantum computing), Consensus (AI research), Alexi (AI legal tools), Webflow (no-code development), Lucky Robots (accessible robotics), and BioGrip (neural interfaces). These companies collectively represent the future of human-machine collaboration.

The Next Frontier

We're particularly excited about brain-computer interfaces, general-purpose robotics, AI-powered automation, decentralized AI models, quantum-enhanced machine learning, and intelligent systems that enhance human capabilities. The companies that master the convergence of AI, robotics, and human intelligence will define the next century of technological progress.