A prominent venture capitalist facing sexual harassment allegations has stepped down in addition to taking leave from the boards of Tesla and SpaceX.
Steve Jurvetson has left Silicon Valley venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson following an internal investigation, according to a Recode report on Monday.
DFJ issued a statement saying that Jurvetson and the VC firm parted ways “by mutual agreement.”
“DFJ’s culture has been, and will continue to be, built on the values of respect and integrity in all of our interactions,” a DFJ spokesperson said. “We are focused on the success of our portfolio companies, as well as the long-term vision for the firm and will continue to operate with the highest professional standards.”
The firm’s did not reveal the reason for Jurvetson’s departure. But anonymous sources cited by Recode said “the investigation uncovered behaviors by Jurvetson that were unacceptable related to a negative tone toward women entrepreneurs.”
Jurvetson said on Twitter that he is leaving the VC firm “to focus on personal matters, including taking legal action against those whose false statements have defamed me.”
Https://twitter.com/dfjsteve/status/930170825625370624
Jurvetson is also taking a leave of absence from his board positions at aerospace company SpaceX and electric car maker Tesla, “pending resolution of these allegations,” a Tesla (TSLA) spokesperson told Coins2Day in an email.
Jurvetson, who was one of the first investors in Hotmail, is also a board member of several startups including D-Wave, Memphis Meats, Mythic, Planet Labs, and Synthetic Genomics.
The investor’s departure comes weeks after tech news publication The Information published a report that said DFJ was investigating potential harassment allegations involving Jurvetson. Additionally Keri Kukral, a founder of media startup RawScience TV, alleged in a Facebook posting that “women approached by founding partners of Draper Fisher Jurvetson should be careful,” citing “predatory behavior.”
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DFJ operating partner Heidi Roizen later responded to the Facebook posting without mentioning Kukral’s name by saying the behavior described “is patently wrong.” She added that “during the summer this year, we heard about allegations of misconduct by one (and only one) of our partners from a third party.”
Other prominent venture capitalists that have come under fire for sexual harassment allegations include Justin Caldbeck, Dave McClure, Marc Canter, and Chris Sacca.