American venture capitalist Tim Draper invests in SmartGateVC

American venture capitalist Tim Draper has invested in SmartGateVC.

Draper is a third-generation venture capitalist, whose grandfather co-founded the first VC firm in Silicon Valley and whose father helped form Sutter Hill Ventures. Some of his more notable investments have included Skype, Tesla, Baidu, Hotmail and Prosper Marketplace.

The investment amount is not disclosed for now.

Back in 2012 Tim initiated Draper University of Superheroes to ignite entrepreneurial spirit in people who would spread entrepreneurship and freedom around the world.

SmartGateVC is located in the Hero House co-working space. It is a micro VC with target size of USD 3m and ticket size of up to USD 100k, investing primarily in pre-seed companies, focused  on AI, Security and IoT. The company’s first bets include XCloud Networks and 2Hz startups.

SmartGateVC noted that Co-founder Hambardzum Kaghketsyan entered Draper University in 2015. Later Hambardzum, together with his friends Vazgen Hakobjanyan and Ashot Arzumanyan launched SmartGateVC fund.

Touching upon the investment, Tim Draper noted that they believe in their students and support them in their initiatives.

“We believe that our graduates will spread the Draper University culture around the world and make the world better. Investment in SmartGateVC represents my confidence in one of my students and what he plans to do for the Armenian ecosystem together with his team and the entrepreneurs around him,” Tim Draper remarked.

“We believe this is a life-changing event not only for us but also Armenian ecosystem. Today, the Draper Venture Network covers over 60 cities around the world, with USD 1,8 billion collective assets under management in more than 500 portfolio companies. Tim’s investment in SmartGateVC brings Armenia’s founders one huge step closer to this,” Hambardzum Kaghketsyan said.

SmartGateVC Co-founder Ashot Arzumanyan added that along with Tim Draper the fund is backed by network of entrepreneurs and technologists from U.S., Europe and the Middle East.