The Estonian American National Council (EANC) is pleased to announce Steve Jürvetson as its 2016 Outstanding Achievement Award recipient.
Mr. Jürvetson will be honored at EANC’s awards gala on Saturday, November 5 at the San Francisco Marriott Union Square in San Francisco, California.
The 2016 Outstanding Achievement Award recognizes Jürvetson’s many successes in the realm of venture capital investment, where he was an early investor in Hotmail, in Tesla, and of course, in Estonia’s own Skype.
He is currently a partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and is known for his investments in “disruptive companies,” funding startups in electronics, space technology, clean technology, nanotechnology and life sciences.
Jürvetson’s most recent investments have been in early-stage technology companies, among them Agradis, an agricultural biotech company, and Gen9, a gene synthesis company, and his current board responsibilities include SpaceX, Synthetic Genomics, and Tesla Motors (TSLA) – Jürvetson was the first Tesla Model S owner.
Born to Estonian parents Tõnu and Tiiu in 1967, Jürvetson graduated at the top of his Stanford University class as the Henry Ford Scholar, finishing his degree in electrical engineering in only 2.5 years. He worked at Hewlett-Packard as an R&D engineer, and also with Bain & Company, where he developed executive marketing, sales, engineering and business strategies for a wide range of companies in the software, networking, and semiconductor industries.
He returned to Stanford to earn an M.S. in electrical engineering and an M.B.A., joining a firm founded by Tim Draper and John Fisher after finishing business school (in the top 10% of his class) and becoming a name partner at the firm within six months.
DFJ is now investing its 12th venture fund, having raised more than $5 billion and invested into more than 300 companies.
Jürvetson has won many honors. Forbes named him to its “Midas List” of Tech’s Top Investors in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. Deloitte named Jürvetson “Venture Capitalist of the Year” in 2012, and Business 2.0 put him on the cover, naming him “The Valley’s Sharpest VC”.
Jürvetson is keenly aware of his Estonian heritage, and can claim longtime Estonian leader Konstantin Päts as an ancestor. He has given back to Estonia and to the Estonian-American community in a variety of ways.
– 2006: He was instrumental in helping fund and produce James and Maureen Tusty’s award-winning film “The Singing Revolution.”
– 2013: He agreed to be an organizer and keynote speaker for Innovative Estonia Silicon Valley (“IEstonia”), an event which explored Estonia’s ability to grow startups, and introduced Estonian entrepreneurship and technical service developments to Silicon Valley investors. IEstonia was both supported by and benefitted Enterprise Estonia, which was established in 2000 to promote the large number of sustainable and growing Estonian companies.
– 2014: Jürvetson’s support and advocacy helped launch E-residency of Estonia (or virtual residency), which is a status by which non-residents can gain a secure digital identity issued by Estonia, similar to those that are provided to permanent residents and citizens of Estonia by their ID card. Edward Lucas, senior editor at the Economist magazine, and a great long-time friend and advocate of Estonia, became e-resident #1, and Jürvetson became e-resident #2.
The November 5 awards gala is the highlight of EANC’s two-day annual meeting, which is being held for the first time on the West Coast, and culminates a full day of public programs, including three panel discussions, a documentary film, and a photo exhibit.
The two days are part EANC’s effort to share its goals and activities to new audiences. For more information about the November 5 awards dinner or the public programs, please contact Linda Rink, erku@estosite. org, or 215-546-5863
