Overview
David Frankel is a South African-born American entrepreneur and venture capitalist who co-founded Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and New York City.[3] He has been named to the Forbes Midas List seven times and was ranked No. 2 on the Midas Seed List in both 2024 and 2025.[5][6]
Before entering venture capital, Frankel co-founded and served as CEO of Internet Solutions, which became the largest internet service provider and private data carrier in Africa.[1] He sold the company to Dimension Data by age 27 and later participated in Dimension Data's £1.8 billion IPO on the London Stock Exchange in 2000.[6][1] At Founder Collective, he has led investments in companies including Coupang, PillPack, SeatGeek, Suno, and Shield AI.[4]
Frankel holds a BSc (Honours) in Electrical Engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.[4][1]
Early life and education
Frankel was born in 1970 and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa.[6] His paternal great-grandfather, Jacob Frankel, emigrated from Germany to South Africa in 1915 and founded Tiger Oatery, a small milling company that grew under subsequent generations into Tiger Brands, a South African conglomerate.[6]
He attended King David High School in Johannesburg, where he met his future business partner, Alon Apteker.[6] As adolescents, the two sold CDs and picture frames at a Johannesburg flea market.[6] Frankel graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1992 with a BSc (Honours) in Electrical Engineering.[6]
As a postgraduate, Frankel was selected for the U.S. Foreign Fulbright Scholarship Programme and accepted to the MBA program at Harvard Business School.[6] Then 22, he deferred admission and remained in Johannesburg to gain professional experience.[6] He would defer HBS twice more before finally enrolling in 2001.[1]
Career
Internet Solutions (1994–1997)
In 1993, Frankel took a position at Altech, a South African technology company, where he worked for the COO.[6] In March 1994, he left Altech to join Internet Solutions as CEO and made a significant personal investment in the company, which had been co-founded in late 1993 by Ronnie Apteker.[6]
By 1997, Internet Solutions had become the largest ISP and private data carrier in Africa, providing the internet backbone for more than 600 companies.[6] Dimension Data acquired a 25% stake in 1995, followed by the remaining 75% in 1997 for ZAR 400 million.[6] Frankel was 27 at the time of the sale.[1]
During this period, Frankel also served as founding co-chairman of the Internet Service Providers Association of Africa and played a central role in a 1997 lawsuit that prevented Telkom from monopolizing internet access in South Africa.[6]
Dimension Data (1997–2003)
Following the acquisition, Frankel was appointed executive director of e-commerce at Dimension Data.[6] He helped the company execute a series of acquisitions of Cisco distributors worldwide, and Dimension Data became the largest Cisco distributor outside the United States.[1] In 2000, he participated in the company's £1.8 billion IPO and listing on the London Stock Exchange.[6] Dimension Data was later acquired by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone in 2010 for $3.24 billion.[5][6]
By his own account, the corporate role was not a natural fit. He enrolled at Harvard Business School in the fall of 2001, maintaining his seat on the Dimension Data board and flying to London for regular meetings while completing his coursework.[1] He earned his MBA with distinction in 2003.[4]
Angel Investing (2003–2008)
At HBS, Frankel began investing in his classmates' ventures. He backed eight HBS classmates who went on to start companies, writing checks typically between $500,000 and $2 million.[1]
He was the first investor in Chris Dixon's SiteAdvisor, which was acquired by McAfee for $75 million in 2005, a year after it was founded.[1][6] He provided the first seed capital to Eric Paley for Brontes, a maker of 3D imaging technology for dentists, which was sold to 3M for $95 million.[1][6] He was the lead investor for Victoria Brown's Big Think, alongside Peter Thiel and Larry Summers.[1]
In 2004, Frankel invested as the sole seed investor in Olo, a restaurant technology platform founded by Noah Glass.[6] Olo went public in 2021 at a valuation of $3.2 billion.[6] Other angel investments included OPower (acquired by Oracle), Volaris (NYSE: VLRS), New Dawn Satellite (acquired by Intelsat), Context Optional (acquired by Adobe), TrialPay (acquired by Visa), and Hunch (acquired by eBay).[6] In total, he backed 27 startups before co-founding Founder Collective.[1]
Founder Collective (2008–present)
In 2008, Frankel partnered with Eric Paley to form Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund.[6] Chris Dixon was an integral part of the founding team but was simultaneously serving as CEO of Hunch and was not a full-time partner.[1] Micah Rosenbloom joined the firm as a partner in 2013.[6] The firm maintains offices in Harvard Square, Cambridge, and SoHo, New York.[3]
Fund I included approximately 150 investments, roughly 20 of which were core positions with larger checks.[1] Among the early bets were seed investments in Uber, BuzzFeed, Makerbot, and Coupang.[1] Fund II was capped at $70 million at Paley's insistence.[1] Fund III closed at $75 million, and Fund IV closed with $85 million in May 2020, with the three general partners as the fund's largest investors in both vehicles.[3] Fund V was announced in 2023 with $95 million.[2]
As of 2025, the firm's portfolio included Uber (NYSE: UBER), The Trade Desk (NYSE: TTD), Airtable, Stack Overflow (acquired for $1.8 billion in 2021), OpenGov (acquired in 2024 for $1.8 billion), and Riskified (IPO in 2021 at a valuation of approximately $3.3 billion).[5][6] Frankel was the lead investor for the firm in Coupang (NYSE: CPNG), SeatGeek, PillPack (acquired by Amazon for approximately $750 million in 2018), Suno, and Shield AI.[4][5]
The fund has backed at least ten companies that have exited or been valued at more than $1 billion across its first two funds alone.[3]
Recognition and board service
In 1998, Frankel received the IT Executive of the Year award from the Computer Society of South Africa for his work at Internet Solutions.[6] In 1999, the Financial Mail named him Technological Achiever of the Century for "turning the internet in South Africa into a commercial proposition."[6] The World Economic Forum admitted him to its Global Leader of Tomorrow program.[6]
He has been named to the Forbes Midas List seven times.[6] In 2025, he was ranked No. 2 on the Midas Seed List and No. 27 on the Midas List of top tech investors.[5] He was ranked No. 5 on the seed list and No. 11 on the top tech investors list in 2013.[6] The Boston Globe named him to its Tech Power Players list in 2022, 2023, and 2024, ranking him No. 18 in 2024.[2]
Frankel was appointed to the board of directors of Rand Merchant Investment Holdings in 2018 and previously served on the Rand Merchant Bank board.[6] He sits on the boards of Olo and SeatGeek, among other companies.[6] He serves on the Dean's Advisory Council at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute and has been an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Harvard Business School Rock Center.[6]
Public statements
I was a kid in a candy store.
On his time at Harvard Business School — HBS Entrepreneurship, 2003[1]
My yearning to be involved in entrepreneurial pursuits was being satisfied and I could sleep at night. The founder is the hero; they really own the problems.
On transitioning from entrepreneur to investor — HBS Entrepreneurship, 2003[1]
In all our lives, that thumbnail of opportunity presents itself. Most of us tend to walk past it or ignore it.
On recognizing moments of opportunity — HBS Entrepreneurship, 2003[1]
While we're fortunate to have some of the best LPs in the world, we believe that being our own largest investor allows us to make decisions that better align with our founders.
On Founder Collective's fund structure — TechCrunch, 2020[3]
Media appearances
Personal life
References
- David Frankel, Founder Collective | Boston Tech Leaders — The Boston Globe, January 2024
- Boston Tech Leaders: David Frankel, Founder Collective — The Boston Globe, January 2023
- David A. Frankel, MBA 2003 | Entrepreneurship — Harvard Business School
- The man who stopped Telkom taking over the Internet in South Africa — MyBroadband
- Founder Collective's David Frankel Seeks Out Founders Who Are 'All Over It' — Intercontinental Exchange / NYSE
- David Frankel: Investing Lessons from Seeding Uber, Airtable, Whoop & Coupang — The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
- Lessons Learned Scaling PillPack from Seed to Amazon Acquisition — The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
- DiData to global fame: Meet David Frankel, tech luminary, investor extraordinaire — BizNews
- Founder Collective Raises $70 Million For New Fund — TechCrunch, December 2012
- About — Harvard Business School (video) — Harvard Business School
- David A. Frankel, MBA 2003 | Entrepreneurship — Harvard Business School
- 20 VC 088: David Frankel @ Founder Collective — The Twenty Minute VC (20VC)
- DiData to global fame: Meet David Frankel, tech luminary, investor extraordinaire — BizNews, August 2024
- TCS Legends – An Interview with David Frankel — TechCentral
- David Frankel - Tech Power Players 2022 — The Boston Globe, January 2022
- David Frankel, Author at TechCrunch — TechCrunch
- Securing A Huge Growth Round — TechCrunch, April 2015
- Don't Mortgage Your Startup — TechCrunch, January 2016
- You Just Raised $10 Million. Now What? — TechCrunch, October 2015
- Founder Collective easily finds $75 million for fund three — TechCrunch, November 2016