Bill Draper, Pioneer of Silicon Valley Venture Capital, Dies at 98
Bill Draper began backing tech startups in the early 1960s, when Silicon Valley was still farmland. He was 98.
Bill Draper, one of the earliest venture capitalists to fund technology startups in what would become Silicon Valley, has died at age 98, the New York Times reported.
Draper began investing in fledgling companies in the early 1960s, a era when the Santa Clara Valley in California was defined more by apricot orchards than by semiconductors or software. His career predated the very terminology and infrastructure that would later define the global technology industry.
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His early bets placed him among a small cohort of financiers who recognized the commercial potential of emerging technology before it captured mainstream attention or spawned the sprawling venture capital ecosystem that exists today. Draper's decades-long career bridged the agricultural origins of the region and its transformation into the world's foremost technology hub.
The breadth of his influence extended across generations of entrepreneurs and investors who followed, shaping how startup funding would evolve from a niche practice into a dominant force in American business and innovation.
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