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.
Most webmasters I know report huge increases in inbound traffic from Brazil so this should be know surprise. Four years ago we seen traffic spikes in India and the VCs went there now its Brazil. Just look at your traffic logs to see where the Vcs will show up next.
http://www.ebizmba.com
I think DFJ has the tendency to hit the right market at the right time. They backed ePlanet in the post bubble period and saw huge growth. But its good. Good to see VCs investing elsewhere.
Here (http://www.inte...s.com/top20.htm) are some interesting Internet usage stats (it shows Brazil as the 8th country when it comes to users on the net).
Don’t forget Brazilian sites in top 100 sites in Alexa stats!
Noteworthy also is Brazilian users in Orkut – about 70% of all users.
Internet penetration in Brazil is growing steadily and will skyrocket in the next years!
Keep your eyes on my country!
yeah I say this is great diversification; for the portfolio
– and “You dont find much new oil in texas..”
-RB
orolix
I’m pitching to these guys as soon as they leave the airport! Enough of theoretical beauty and journal papers. Me & my PhD students are dying for an opportunity to be heard over here in our jungles. Thanks for the post!