Zone Ventures

Zone Ventures is a Los Angeles-based venture capital firm founded in 1998 as a partnership funded by institutional investors to provide equity capital to young, high-growth companies. It is a network partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) and DFJ Frontier, situating it within the broader Draper Network ecosystem, and it has been instrumental in building the Southern California technology community. The firm pursues a people-focused approach to venture capital, backing entrepreneurs with the energy, vision, experience and desire to build great companies, and concentrates on information technology businesses with large market potential, and it is willing to lead. While many of its investments are centered in Southern California, its mandate is not strictly geographic. Zone Ventures is led by co-founder and Managing Director Frank M. Creer, with Tim Draper among its key associated members, and runs a small team. Over its history it has made roughly 67 investments primarily at the seed and early stages, with seed rounds averaging around $1.4M and later rounds in the $4.6M to $5.1M range. Its portfolio spans enterprise and B2B software, tech, aerospace and defense, business services, education and healthtech, with companies such as NeuroVigil, Lumexis and BiggerBoat. The firm has recorded at least five acquisitions among its exits, including Microfabrica, DivX and Vizional Technologies. In 2008 Zone Ventures, alongside DFJ and DFJ Frontier, awarded $250,000 to NeuroVigil in the Fourth Annual DFJ Venture Challenge. As a Draper Network partner, Zone Ventures has backed Southern California technology founders since 1998.