The Draper Round Table symbolizes a milestone in the Draper Network's journey towards syndicating deals, but it's far from being their first rodeo. I hear A LOT of stories about deals we’ve done or passed on prior to me joining the DVN.

This was the deal that heavily inspired the Draper Round Table

Back in 2018, Europe's Draper Esprit (now called Molten Ventures) was determined to seal a $75MM Series B investment round for Ledger, a company disrupting the blockchain and cryptocurrency landscape with their hardware crypto wallets of which they had released millions in over 150 countries.

Ledger’s products are underpinned by an operating system specifically designed to run on any secure hardware and to support any cryptocurrency. Yet this technology secures more than just the latest ICO’d token at the time. It will eventually accelerate advancement in a wide variety of industries, from the internet of things to driverless cars. But for the time being, cryptocurrency has kept them plenty busy. They are soon launching a new solution for financial institutions, the Ledger Vault, which enables banks, hedge funds and family offices to manage their crypto assets.

A few emails and a phone call later, and Draper Esprit was face to face with Tim Draper and the Draper Network at Hero City in San Mateo, with a mission to win Tim and Draper Associates over to the deal. Tim was captivated by Ledger's technology prowess (even owning one himself) but had reservations about the company's brand and business scale.

Little did he know, the solution to his reservations was just a mere staircase away. While Tim was in the meeting room with Draper Esprit, Adam Draper and his cofounder Brayton Williams was busy running his fund from the basement. BoostVC was already heavily invested in the crypto world, with a portfolio that included Coinbase, Snapshot Labs, and Aragon Project (some of my personal faves).

As Adam made his way up the stairs to grab a quick refreshment and wash his hands after a meeting that ran over, he couldn't have imagined the impact that this seemingly mundane act would have. With his mind focused on getting back to his packed schedule, he hardly gave a second thought to the meeting room where Tim and Draper Esprit were deep in conversation.

However, little did Adam know that in a moment of serendipity, the opportunity of a lifetime would present itself. As Tim caught sight of Adam walking by, he made a split-second decision to seek out his opinion on the ongoing discussion.

Tim saw Adam outside the doorway and stopped him.

"We're thinking of doing the Ledger deal - what are your thoughts on them?"

Without skipping a beat, Adam exclaimed, "I love those guys! Any way Boost can participate?"

That was all Tim needed to hear.

And just like that, Draper Associates, Molten Ventures, Draper Dragon, and BoostVC teamed up to invest a staggering $75MM into Ledger.