Venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson has announced its entry into the Brazilian startup and investment market, joining with early stage Brazil focused venture capital firm FIR Capital Partners to form the DFJ FIR Brazil Fund.
The new fund starts with $40 million, focused on funding Brazilian based entrepreneurs with a vision to build global new technology companies.
The partnership is the latest addition to the Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Network. Existing partnerships in the DFJ Network include 100 venture capital professionals across 27 regions worldwide, with investments in over 500 companies valued at $5 billion.
As part of the agreement the two new partners will also launch a $100 million fund, DFJ FIR Brazil Fund II, targeting offshore investors wanting to invest in Brazilian companies in high-growth industries.
It’s easy to forget in our industry that there is a world outside of Europe and the United States, indeed a world outside of even the West Coast. There are 370 million people in South America, with in excess of 70 million internet users and growing. Brazil is the largest country in South America and has a population of 186 million people with 32 million people online. The Brazilian figures may not be as large as the United States or China, but compare well to the United Kingdom, which has 37.6 million people online without the same potential for growth as does Brazil. Internet penetration in Brazil is a low 17.2% vs. the UK at 62.3%
Draper Fisher Jurvetson is best known for its funding of startups including DivX, Skype, Mobile365 and Baidu
Statistics from InternetWorldStats.