TIM Draper purchased 30,000 Bitcoin in 2014 at just $632 apiece.
But what is the story behind the venture capitalist and what is his net worth?
Who is Tim Draper?
Timothy Draper was born in East Chicago, Indiana, on June 11, 1958.
Draper comes from a long line of entrepreneurs and public servants.
His father, William Henry Draper III founded The Draper & Johnson Investment Company, while his grandfather Willian Henry Draper II was chosen to serve as NATO’s first ambassador.
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Tim Draper spent his early years in Atherton, California.
From a young age he aspired to start his own business and first sold apples along the highway.
Draper attended Phillips Academy Andover to study Electrical Engineering but changed schools and enrolled at Stanford University, where he helped develop the renowned board game Stanford – The Game.
He received his diploma in 1980 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1984.
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In 1985, Draper left the investment bank Alex. Brown & Sons to start his own venture capital firm. Former colleague John H.N. Fisher became a partner in 1991, and business student Steve Jurvetson became the third partner in the firm in 1994.
One of Draper’s first investments was Hotmail which was purchased by Microsoft in 1997 for $400 million,
Draper went on to invest in Twitch, Tesla, SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, Baidu, Focus Media, and Skype.
He was also an early investor in Elizabeth Holmes’s Theranos, a health technology startup that failed in 2018.
What is Tim Draper’s net worth?
Tim Draper avoids questions about his net worth, however, is believed to be worth $1.2 billion.
Tim Draper made a fortune from Skype alone, as when eBay bought the firm for $4.1 billion in 2005, Draper’s investment company DFJ owned 10 per cent of it, allowing him to pocket more than $400 million.
Peter Vincennes, chief executive at Coinlab, first introduced Draper to Bitcoin in 2011 and it didn’t take long until the American venture capitalist purchased $250,000 worth of Bitcoin on Mt. Gox.
Draper then purchased a further 30,000 BTC when the U.S. Marshall’s office auctioned off Ross Ulbricht’s cryptocurrency he made from The Silk Road in 2014.
Draper bought these at $632 apiece – $14 above the going rate on spot exchanges. He spent a total of $18.74 million on Bitcoin.
If he still has them, the value of the 30,000 Bitcoin has increased to nearly $600 million.
Draper believes Bitcoin will surpass $250,000 by 2023. He said: “I’m a believer. I think it’s happening – adoption it’s coming. It’s so important for the world, and I want the world to know it, and I want other people in the world to get on board.”
