[go: up one dir, main page]

Jump to content

Sequoia Capital

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC
Company typePrivate
IndustryVenture capital
Founded1972; 52 years ago (1972)
FounderDon Valentine
Headquarters,
U.S.
Area served
United States, Southeast Asia, India, China, Israel
Key people
ProductsInvestments
AUMUS$85 billion (2022)
Websitesequoiacap.com

Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California which specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors.[1] As of 2022, the firm had approximately US$85 billion in assets under management.[2][3]

Sequoia is an umbrella brand for three different regionally focused venture entities:[4]

  • Sequoia Capital Operations on Europe and United States
  • Peak XV Partners on India and Southeast Asia
  • HongShan on China

Notable successful investments made by the firm include Apple, ByteDance, and Cisco.[5][6][7]

History

[edit]

Sequoia was founded by Don Valentine in 1972 in Menlo Park, California,[8][9][10] at a time when the state's venture capital industry was just beginning to develop.[11][12]

Sequoia formed its first venture capital fund in 1974,[11][13] and was an early investor in Atari the next year.[14][15][16] In 1978, Sequoia became one of the first investors in Apple.[15][17][18] Partners Doug Leone and Michael Moritz assumed leadership of the firm in 1996.[14][19]

In 1999, Sequoia established a dedicated investment fund for Israeli startups.[20][11] In 2005, Sequoia Capital China was established,[21] later followed by Sequoia Capital India.[22]

In 2012, Moritz took a step back from the day-to-day operations of the firm.[23] Leone became Global Managing Partner.[24][25] Jim Goetz led Sequoia's US business from 2012 until 2017, when he was succeeded by Roelof Botha.[26]

In 2016, Sequoia hired Jess Lee, making her the first female investing partner in the United States in the firm's history.[27][28]

In 2019, it was the most active VC fund company in India.[29]

In March 2020, Sequoia announced it would hire Luciana Lixandru as its first partner based in Europe.[30][31]

In October 2021, Sequoia announced it would implement a new fund structure for its U.S. and European business that would allow it to remain involved with companies after their public market debuts.[32][33][34]

In March 2022, The Information reported that Sequoia Capital China was raising an $8 billion fund to invest in Chinese tech companies.[35]

Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation had backstopped Sequoia's $1 billion in deposits in the bank.[36]

In June 2023, Sequoia announced plans to break up into three entities citing complications running a decentralized global investment business in the middle of geopolitical tensions.[37] Following the separation, expected to complete by March 2024, the Chinese business led by Neil Shen would be called HongShan ("sequoia" in Mandarin) and the Indian and Southeast Asia arm would be named Peak XV Partners. The U.S. and Europe unit would retain the Sequoia name.[38] In July 2023, Sequoia announced to cut one-third of its talent staff as part of an organizational restructuring.[39] In October 2023, the United States House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party announced a probe into Sequoia Capital's investments in China.[40]

As of at least 2024, Sequoia is the largest investor in China's consumer internet sector.[41]: 94  It has often used a strategy of investing in several competitors in the same sector and then later pushing for their consolidation.[41]: 94–95  According to Chinese media, Sequoia was one of the major influences in mergers between Meituan and Dianping, between Uber China and Didi, and between VShop and Lefenghui.[41]: 95 

Investments

[edit]

Sequoia Capital is structured as a limited liability company.[42] Investors, referred to as limited partners, contribute money to a fund that the firm's general partners then invest in business ventures.[43][44] Its limited partners have primarily been university endowments, charitable foundations, and other large institutions.[45][46][47]

Sequoia specializes in seed stage,[48] early stage,[48] and growth stage[49] investments in private technology companies,[50] including those in the clean tech, consumer internet, crypto, financial services, healthcare, mobile, and robotics sectors.[42][51][52] The firm has been often recognized for its strong track record of early investments.[53][54] The firm has also distinguished itself from other top venture capital firms by diversifying its investments and not just focusing on U.S. early-stage venture capital.[49][11][55]

Sequoia is an umbrella brand for three different venture entities: one focused on the U.S. and Europe, another on India and Southeast Asia, and a third on China.[56] Following the June 2023 announcement to make the three entities independent, from 2024 the ventures would no longer share investors or profits.[57][37]

A notable opportunity missed by Sequoia was the failure to invest in Facebook in its early days c. 2005; John Naughton suggested that this failure led to "fear of missing out" and may have contributed to Sequoia's investing heavily in FTX in 2022, prior to its collapse in 2023.[58]

In 2019, Sequoia made more new seed-stage investments than Series A deals.[59] That same year, Hurun Research Institute identified Sequoia as the world's top unicorn investor, noting it had invested in one in five of all private companies valued at $1 billion or more.[60][61]

In July 2021, Sequoia published a piece about "the Latin American startup opportunity" that signaled it would increase its focus there.[62][63]

In October 2021, Sequoia announced the Sequoia Capital Fund, a new fund structure for its U.S. and European business.[64] The fund structure is unique for VC funds as they are typically funds with a 10-year fund cycle instead of an open-ended evergreen fund.[65] The Sequoia fund will no longer need to sell or distribute stock as in the usual VC fund cycle. Instead, limited partners who want liquidity can pull money out of the fund.[66] Sequoia also announced it would become a RIA which would allow the firm more flexibility in its investments.[65]

In February 2022, Sequoia raised a $600 million Sequoia Crypto Fund. As one of the first sub-funds of Sequoia Capital Fund, the crypto fund will mainly invest in cryptocurrencies traded on third-party exchanges.[67]

In June 2022, Sequoia announced that it had raised $2.85 billion in additional funds to invest in India and Southeast Asia.[68] The amount of funds raised is also the largest to date for the company in both India and Southeast Asia.[69]

In June 2023, the firm led a Seed round funding of $5.7 million for Defense startup, Mach Industries.[70]

In July 2023, it reduced the size of its cryptocurrency fund from $585 million to $200 million, and shifted focus to young start-ups after an industry crash.[71]

In 2023, Sequoia launched its Open Source Fellowship to fund up to three open source developers annually via an equity-free fellowship.[72]

In July 2024, the firm led a Series B funding round funding of $77M million for Fireworks AI.[73]

Notable investments
Year Companies
2020s BitClout,[74] Bolt,[75] FTX,[76] Wiz,[77] Loom,[78] Shein,[79] StrongDM[80]
2010s 23andMe,[81] StarkWare Industries,[82] Instacart,[83] Klarna,[84] Nubank,[85] Snowflake,[86] Stripe,[53] WhatsApp,[53] UiPath,[87] ByteDance,[88] Pinduoduo[89]
2000s Airbnb,[53] Palo Alto Networks,[90] ServiceNow,[91] Unity Technologies,[92] YouTube[93]
1970s–1990s Apple,[53] Cisco,[53] Google,[53] Nvidia,[94] Webvan[6]

Investment in FTX

[edit]

Sequoia Capital along with other notable venture capital investors made an investment in the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried.[95][96][97][98] Sequoia was very enthusiastic about FTX, and published an article which was a glowing tribute to Bankman-Fried[99] (since deleted) on its website on 22 September 2022.[58][100]

FTX failed in 2023, with about $8 billion of investors' money missing, and Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud. The value of Sequoia's investment in FTX was ultimately written down to $0; it is estimated that they lost $214 million on their investment.[101] The company released a notice to investors, stating that their stake in FTX represented a small amount of their investment portfolio.[102] They also removed the profile of Bankman-Fried from their website.[103][104][105]

Programs and partnerships

[edit]

In 2009, Sequoia launched its scout program, which functions as an individual investor network that provides founders and other individuals with capital to invest in promising early-stage startups.[106][107] Sequoia Scouts have invested in over 1,000 companies.[108] Sequoia was the first venture capital firm to offer a scout program, and the model has since been emulated by others in the industry.[106][107]

In December 2020, Sequoia expanded the scout program to Europe.[109]

In 2021, Sequoia partnered on the BLCK VC Scout Network to provide training and education to current and aspiring Black scouts.[108]

In March 2022, Sequoia launched Arc, a structured program in which participants receive $1 million in funding to work with Sequoia partners in both London and Silicon Valley.[110]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Secretive, Sprawling Network of 'Scouts' Spreads Money Through Silicon Valley Archived 2022-06-04 at the Wayback Machine, Rolfe Winkler, November 12, 2015, Wall Street Journal, retrieved May 12, 2016.
  2. ^ Clark, Kate (July 27, 2022). "Sequoia Capital to Open New York Office, First U.S. Outpost Outside Silicon Valley". The Information. Archived from the original on August 18, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2022. The firm has about $85 billion in assets under management.
  3. ^ Sachmechi, Natalie (July 28, 2022). "Sequoia Capital opening its first New York office". Crain Communications. Archived from the original on July 28, 2022.
  4. ^ Russell, Melia. "The decision to split Sequoia Capital into 3 entities puts to bed any questions of a power struggle at the VC powerhouse". Business Insider. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  5. ^ Levy, Ari (2020-09-18). "Silicon Valley's most prominent VC firm had a banner week: $9 billion in IPO shares while helping TikTok negotiations". CNBC. Archived from the original on 2022-05-28. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  6. ^ a b "From Alibaba To Zynga: 45 Of The Best VC Bets Of All Time And What We Can Learn From Them". CB Insights. June 9, 2021. Archived from the original on July 14, 2022. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
  7. ^ Helft, Miguel; Richtel, Matt (2006-10-10). "Venture Firm Shares a YouTube Jackpot". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2021-03-11. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
  8. ^ McBride, Sarah (February 20, 2014). "With WhatsApp deal, Sequoia Capital burnishes reputation". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 21, 2017. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  9. ^ Larreur, Charles-Henri (2021). Structured Finance: Leveraged Buyouts, Project Finance, Asset Finance and Securitization (1st ed.). US: Wiley. p. 81. ISBN 978-1119371106. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2021. Don Valentine created Sequoia Capital in 1972 in Menlo Park, California.
  10. ^ Raises.com (2024-06-20). "Visionary Investors in California 2024". Capital Raises - Raise $10m+ Equity Raises or Debt Raises | Raises.com™ | Raise Capital & Prepare. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  11. ^ a b c d Da Rin, Marco; Hellman, Thomas (2020). Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Finance (1st ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 485. ISBN 978-0199744756. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  12. ^ Ferrary, Michel; Granovetter, Mark (May 20, 2009). "The role of venture capital firms in Silicon Valley's complex innovation network". Economy and Society. 38 (2): 326–359. doi:10.1080/03085140902786827. S2CID 15217502. Archived from the original on August 27, 2022. Retrieved February 16, 2022. The most prominent VC firms were created in the 1970s. In 1969, the Mayfield Fund was founded; Sequoia Capital and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers followed in 1972. By 1975, more than thirty VC firms were located in the Bay Area.
  13. ^ Loizos, Connie (October 25, 2019). "Don Valentine, who founded Sequoia Capital, has died at age 87". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on September 6, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  14. ^ a b Griffith, Erin (October 25, 2019). "Don Valentine, Founder of Sequoia Capital, Is Dead at 87". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 28, 2019. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  15. ^ a b Guthrie, Julian (December 7, 2011). "'Something Ventured' tells story of tech investors". San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst. Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  16. ^ Nicholas, Tom (2019). VC: An American History. US: Harvard University Press. p. 228. ISBN 978-0674988002. Archived from the original on April 30, 2023. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  17. ^ Stellabotte, Ryan (October 30, 2019). "Fordham Mourns the Death of Don Valentine, Silicon Valley and Venture Capital Pioneer". Fordham News. Fordham University. Archived from the original on May 8, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  18. ^ Henbroth, Megan (October 26, 2019). "Sequoia Capital founder Don Valentine has died at age 87". Business Insider. Insider Inc. Archived from the original on October 29, 2019. Retrieved June 30, 2021.
  19. ^ Marinova, Polina (October 25, 2021). "Silicon Valley Remembers Sequoia Capital Founder Don Valentine". Fortune. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  20. ^ "Cisco, Sequoia Capital set up Israeli venture fund". National Post. Financial Post DataGroup. June 28, 1999 – via LexisNexis.
  21. ^ Yang, Jing; Yu, Xie (September 10, 2020). "Successful With Chinese Startups, Sequoia China Launches a Hedge Fund". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Archived from the original on May 24, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  22. ^ Chanchani, Madhav (June 25, 2009). "Sequoia Capital exits Firstsource Solutions, Royal Orchid". Reuters. Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  23. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (May 21, 2021). "Venture Capitalist Michael Moritz Says He's Stepping Back From Sequoia Because Of Illness". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  24. ^ Garland, Russ (December 10, 2012). "Sequoia's Leone: In Venture, Big is the Enemy of Great". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Archived from the original on June 25, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Leone, who has been managing Sequoia since Michael Moritz stepped back because of illness in May, skewered VCs who act like private-equity managers with corner offices and pride in their assets under management and investment "platforms."
  25. ^ Anders, George; Konrad, Alex (April 23, 2014). "Sequoia Capital: Creating Disruptions, and Billionaires". Forbes India. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Even in his perch as a managing partner at venture firm Sequoia Capital, Leone still carries himself like a hard-luck striver, scrambling for his first decent break.
  26. ^ Primack, Dan (January 31, 2017). "Sequoia Capital shakes up leadership". Axios. Archived from the original on September 19, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  27. ^ Del Rey, Jason (October 20, 2016). "Sequoia Capital has hired Polyvore's Jess Lee as its first woman investment partner". Recode. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved August 8, 2020.
  28. ^ Benner, Katie (October 20, 2016). "Sequoia Capital Hires First Female Investment Partner in U.S." The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 17, 2018. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  29. ^ "Sequoia Tops VC Funding In 2019 With Over 2X Growth Thanks To Surge". Inc42 Media. 2020-01-05. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  30. ^ Boland, Hannah (March 10, 2020). "Silicon Valley's Sequoia poaches Accel partner for London office". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  31. ^ Boland, Hannah (2020-08-06). "Silicon Valley's Sequoia searching for West End office". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 2020-09-27. Retrieved 2020-11-18.
  32. ^ Matney, Lucas (October 26, 2021). "Sequoia dramatically revamps its fund structure as it looks to rethink venture capital model". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021. Gone are the 10-year return cycles, which often pushed investors to liquidate holdings in public companies based on set timelines rather than determinations of when investments had fully matured. Sequoia says that investments will no longer have 'expiration dates;' instead, Sequoia will recycle returns from startup bets back into its central fund which it will redeploy into future investments — what the firm calls a 'continuous feedback loop.'
  33. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (October 29, 2021). "Sequoia Capital just flipped the script on VC funds. Here's why and why it matters". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021. By getting away with from the standard 10-year structure, Sequoia will have more leeway to not only invest before those kinds of funds but also to stay in the game long after they arrive.
  34. ^ Thompson, Ben (October 27, 2021). "Sequoia Productive Capital". Stratechery. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021. Instead of LP's investing in funds that make speculative investments in risky endeavors, Sequoia wants to keep long-term positions in companies that have proven business models and are embarking on the decade (or longer) process of improving their products and expanding their markets to the entire world.
  35. ^ Osawa, Juro (March 25, 2022). "Sequoia Capital's China Arm Seeks $8 Billion in New Funds, Defying Tech Rout". The Information. Archived from the original on September 2, 2022. Retrieved September 3, 2022.
  36. ^ Chapman, Lizette; Leopold, Jason (June 23, 2023). "The Big Names That Got Backstop for Billions in Uninsured SVB Deposits". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on June 23, 2023.
  37. ^ a b "Why Sequoia Capital is sawing off its Chinese branch". The Economist. June 8, 2023. Archived from the original on June 8, 2023.
  38. ^ Feng, Coco (June 6, 2023). "Sequoia Capital splits into 3 firms, separating China operations from the US, amid rising geopolitical tensions". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  39. ^ Cai, Kenrick. "Sequoia Cuts One-Third Of Talent Team Amid Firm Restructuring". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-06-05.
  40. ^ Sevastopulo, Demetri; Hammond, George (2023-10-18). "US House panel queries Sequoia's Chinese tech investments". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2023-10-19. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  41. ^ a b c Zhang, Angela Huyue (2024). High Wire: How China Regulates Big Tech and Governs Its Economy. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780197682258.001.0001. ISBN 9780197682258.
  42. ^ a b "Sequoia Capital Operations LLC". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on May 13, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  43. ^ Rivlin, Gary (July 18, 2004). "Why Venture Funds Don't Want Your Cash". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  44. ^ Cutler, Kim-Mai (April 1, 2018). "The Unicorn Hunters". Logic. Archived from the original on September 17, 2021. Retrieved August 6, 2021. Venture capitalists don't just provide capital, in other words. They also have to raise it. A firm's managers—called "general partners"—are responsible for finding limited partners to finance investments. They also often have to invest a meaningful amount of their personal wealth in the fund they work for, so that limited partners are assured they have skin in the game. Historically, limited partners have included major pension funds, endowments, and other large institutions.
  45. ^ Konrad, Alex (October 13, 2019). "Sequoia VC Roelof Botha Talks Direct Listings And SoftBank: 'Good Investors Are Shock Absorbers, Not Amplifiers'". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2021. Sequoia also decided to work with nonprofits, foundations and universities as its own financial backers or limited partners. Those include Harvard, MIT, the Ford Foundation, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic[.]
  46. ^ Anders, George; Konrad, Alex (April 23, 2014). "Sequoia Capital: Creating Disruptions, and Billionaires". Forbes India. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Consider Sequoia Venture XI Fund, which in 2003 raised $387 million from about 40 limited partners, chiefly universities and foundations
  47. ^ Efrati, Amir; Konrad, Zoë (November 6, 2019). "The Information's Seed Investors to Watch". The Information. Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021. Sequoia has seed, venture and growth funds in the U.S., as well as a global growth fund, but doesn't provide details on its funds. Sequoia most recently raised an $8 billion Global Growth Fund. Limited partners in the funds: Ford Foundation, Mayo Clinic, MIT, Stanford University, The Wellcome Trust, Harvard, Cleveland Clinic
  48. ^ a b Shen, Lucinda (February 25, 2021). "Sequoia Capital raises $195 million for its newest seed fund". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  49. ^ a b Metrick, Andrew; Yasuda, Ayako (2021). Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation (3rd ed.). US: Wiley. pp. 80–81. ISBN 978-1-119-49011-1. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  50. ^ Levy, Ari (September 18, 2020). "Silicon Valley's most prominent VC firm had a banner week: $9 billion in IPO shares while helping TikTok negotiations". CNBC. Archived from the original on May 28, 2022. Retrieved June 28, 2021. Sequoia invests at all stages with different funds, sometimes getting in on the ground floor and other times pouring in growth capital ahead of an IPO.
  51. ^ Cordon, Miguel (October 8, 2019). "Sequoia Capital reveals 20 startups in second Surge cohort". Tech in Asia. Archived from the original on August 20, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  52. ^ Clark, Kate (October 22, 2021). "No Longer Just Crypto Curious, Sand Hill Road Investors Get Blockchain Fever". Archived from the original on November 2, 2021. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
  53. ^ a b c d e f g Winkler, Rolfe (October 27, 2019). "Venture Capital Pioneer Kept Entrepreneurs' Egos in Check". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Archived from the original on April 11, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021. His hobby became Sequoia Capital, which over the following five decades has built an unrivaled record of venture capital investing, betting early on Atari and Apple Inc. in the 1970s, Cisco Systems Inc. and Oracle Corp. in the 1980s, Yahoo! and Google in the 1990s, Airbnb Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. in the 2000s, and Stripe Inc., Square Inc. and WhatsApp this decade.
  54. ^ Alden, William; Gelles, David (February 20, 2014). "In WhatsApp Deal, Sequoia Capital May Make 50 Times Its Money". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 25, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021. While Sequoia is not as flashy as some of Silicon Valley's newer tech investors, it has built a remarkable track record over the years, as an early investor in technology giants like Apple, Google, Yahoo and Oracle.
  55. ^ Demaria, Cyril (2010). Introduction to Private Equity (1st ed.). US: Wiley. p. 46. ISBN 978-0470745960. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved June 28, 2021.
  56. ^ McBride, Sarah; Yilun Chen, Lulu (August 12, 2021). "Sequoia's China Portfolio Hits Speed Bump After Tech Crackdown". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on August 18, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  57. ^ Konrad, Konrad (June 6, 2023). "Sequoia Is Splitting Into Three VC Firms". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 12, 2023. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
  58. ^ a b Naughton, John (Nov 11, 2023). "How did Sam Bankman-Fried attract investors? Well, Fomo probably helped". The Observer. Archived from the original on November 11, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
  59. ^ Shen, Lucinda (February 25, 2021). "Sequoia Capital raises $195 million for its newest seed fund". Fortune. Archived from the original on October 27, 2021. Retrieved October 11, 2021. In 2019 and 2020, Sequoia made more investments in the companies at that stage than in Series A investments.
  60. ^ "Hurun Global Unicorn Index 2020". Hurun Research Institute. August 4, 2020. Archived from the original on August 4, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  61. ^ Wang, Eudora (August 28, 2020). "Sequoia Capital China files for three new funds with SEC". DealStreetAsia. DealStreetAsia Pte Ltd. Retrieved August 3, 2021. According to Huron Global Unicorn Index 2020 released in August, Sequoia Capital has by far captured a total of 109 unicorns, which are private companies valued at $1 billion and more.
  62. ^ Heim, Anna; Wilhelm, Alex (July 29, 2021). "Why Latin American venture capital is breaking records this year". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 30, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  63. ^ Sangion, Ricardo (August 30, 2021). "Foreign investors have a bigger role to play in growing Latin America's startup ecosystem". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 31, 2021. Retrieved September 1, 2021.
  64. ^ Primack, Dan (October 26, 2021). "Scoop: Sequoia Capital just blew up the VC fund model". Axios. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  65. ^ a b Chernova, Yuliya (10 January 2022). "Sequoia Capital Changes Regulatory Status to Broaden Investment Scope". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
  66. ^ Levy, Ari (October 26, 2021). "Iconic VC firm Sequoia is breaking from the venture capital model to hold public stocks longer". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved November 8, 2021.
  67. ^ Ponciano, Jonathan. "Sequoia Launches $500 Million Fund To Invest In Crypto Tokens As Silicon Valley Throws Billions At Blockchain". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-04-08. Retrieved 2022-04-08.
  68. ^ "Sequoia raises $2.85 billion in India, Southeast Asia funds". 'The Star (Tech)' News | SendStory Malaysia. Archived from the original on 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  69. ^ "Sequoia raises $2.85 billion in India, Southeast Asia funds". The Times of India. 2022-06-14. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 2023-05-26. Retrieved 2023-05-26.
  70. ^ Hu, Krystal (2023-06-16). "Exclusive | Sequoia makes first defense tech investment in Mach Industries". Reuters. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
  71. ^ Jin, Berber (2023-07-27). "WSJ News Exclusive | Sequoia Capital Slashes Crypto Fund as It Downsizes Amid Startup Crunch". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 2023-08-30. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
  72. ^ Sawers, Paul (2024-02-15). "Why Sequoia is funding open source developers via a new equity-free fellowship". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-04-01.
  73. ^ FinSMEs (2024-07-11). "Fireworks AI Raises $52M in Series B Funding". FinSMEs. Retrieved 2024-07-16.
  74. ^ "Sequoia Capital Portfolio and Top Investments in 2022". Eqvista. 2021-09-17. Archived from the original on 2022-02-13. Retrieved 2022-02-13.
  75. ^ Chopping, Dominic (January 11, 2022). "Ride-Hailing and Delivery Start-Up Bolt Raises $711 Mln in Latest Funding Round". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2021.
  76. ^ Kruppa, Miles (July 20, 2021). "Crypto exchange FTX secures backing from venture capital and hedge funds". Financial Times. Archived from the original on April 26, 2022. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  77. ^ Jeans, David. "Zero To $100 Million In Nine Months: Index, Sequoia Back Cybersecurity Company Led By Former Microsoft Execs". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-05-22. Retrieved 2022-05-22.
  78. ^ Wilson, Alexandra. "Exclusive: Why All-Star Investors Think $350 Million Video Startup Loom Is The Next Big Thing In Remote Work Tech". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
  79. ^ Prasso, Sheridan (November 21, 2022). "Shein's Cotton Tied to Chinese Region Accused of Forced Labor". Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on June 11, 2023. Retrieved November 21, 2022.
  80. ^ Bosilkovski, Igor. "Why Sequoia Just Led A $17 Million Series A In This Access Management Software Startup". Forbes. Archived from the original on 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
  81. ^ Shubarth, Cromwell (September 6, 2017). "23andMe seen raising $200M from Sequoia, others, rather than IPO". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  82. ^ (October 29, 2018). Intel Capital, Sequoia Back Blockchain Startup StarkWare in $30 Million Round Archived 2022-10-31 at the Wayback Machine. Calcalist.
  83. ^ Carson, Biz (March 1, 2017). "Instacart is raising $400 million to deliver you groceries — as other on-demand startups die around it". Insider. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  84. ^ Schonfeld, Erick (December 10, 2011). "Michael Moritz on Klarna's $155M Round: "This Is The Public Financing Of Twelve Years Ago"". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  85. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (September 25, 2014). "Finance Startup Nubank Nabs $14.3M In Sequoia's First Brazil Investment". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on February 18, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  86. ^ Shubarth, Cromwell (September 17, 2020). "Snowflake backers in line to make billons after soaring IPO". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Archived from the original on December 4, 2021. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  87. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (April 30, 2019). "UiPath nabs $568M at a $7B valuation to bring robotic process automation to the front office". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on May 12, 2019. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  88. ^ Roumeliotis, Greg (1 November 2019). "U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok - sources". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  89. ^ "China's top venture capitalist cuts stakes in Meituan and Pinduoduo". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2023-11-07. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  90. ^ Shubarth, Cromwell (February 1, 2017). "No. 1 Midas investor Jim Goetz steps aside at Sequoia". Silicon Valley Business Journal. American City Business Journals. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved February 17, 2022. Sequoia had about a 22 percent stake in Palo Alto Networks when it went public with a market cap of about $3 billion. The Santa Clara firewall security company (NYSE:PANW) is valued at about $13.5 billion today.
  91. ^ "Service-now.com Gets $41M Infusion; CEO, CFO Take $37M Off Table". Tech Crunch. December 8, 2009. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  92. ^ Crichton, Danny (August 24, 2020). "Sequoia strikes gold with Unity's IPO filing". Tech Crunch. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  93. ^ Taylor, James (March 9, 2007). "Sequoia makes 44 times return on YouTube". Infrastructure Advisor. PEI Media. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  94. ^ Kruppa, Miles (December 19, 2021). "Sequoia's stealthy wealth management fund shakes up its portfolio". Financial Times. Nikkei. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  95. ^ "FTX". Sequoia Capital US/Europe. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  96. ^ Gelsi, Steve. "FTX problems mean big headaches for its private equity investors". MarketWatch. Archived from the original on 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2023-04-01.
  97. ^ Li, Selena; Westbrook, Tom; Howcroft, Elizabeth; Howcroft, Elizabeth (November 9, 2022). "Cryptocurrencies fall after FTX-Binance turmoil spooks investors". Reuters. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  98. ^ Parmar, Hema; Tan, Gillian (November 9, 2022). "FTX Fiasco Hits Investors From Tiger Global to Tom Brady". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
  99. ^ Fisher, Adam (22 September 2022). "Sam Bankman-Fried Has a Savior Complex—And Maybe You Should Too". Sequoia. Archived from the original on 27 October 2022. Archived Web page has original praise; live page reads: "On November 9th [2023] we sent a letter to our LPs with our updated outlook on FTX, and we removed our profile story on SBF the next morning."
  100. ^ Fisher, Adam (2022-09-22). "Sam Bankman-Fried Has a Savior Complex—And Maybe You Should Too". Archived from the original on 2022-11-09. Retrieved 2024-04-12.
  101. ^ Friedman, Larry Hatheway and Alex (November 10, 2022). "The Midterms' Red Ripple Delivers Uncertainty to the Markets". Barrons. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  102. ^ McBride, Sarah (November 9, 2022). "Sequoia Capital Writes Down Entire Value of Its FTX Stake". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 10, 2022.
  103. ^ Stone, Brad (November 14, 2022). "FTX Implodes, and a Top VC Backer Falls on Its Face". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on November 17, 2022. Retrieved November 14, 2022.
  104. ^ "The downfall of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried sends shockwaves through the crypto world". NPR. November 14, 2022. Archived from the original on November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  105. ^ Nguyen, Britney (November 10, 2022). "FTX investor Sequoia removed its glowing 13,000-word profile of Sam Bankman-Fried and replaced it with somber note after its investment cratered to $0". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 12, 2022. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  106. ^ a b Loizos, Connie (June 7, 2019). "A peek inside Sequoia Capital's low-flying, wide-reaching scout program". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  107. ^ a b Loizos, Connie (August 14, 2020). "Sequoia Capital has internal crash courses for its founders — here's how they work". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 1, 2021. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
  108. ^ a b Konrad, Alex (May 11, 2021). "BLCK VC Launches Scout Program With Lightspeed, Sequoia To Support More Black Investors". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved June 27, 2021.
  109. ^ Shead, Sam (November 26, 2020). "Prestigious Silicon Valley VC firm looks to Europe for start-up success stories". CNBC. Archived from the original on November 26, 2020. Retrieved November 26, 2020.
  110. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (2022-03-21). "Sequoia debuts Arc, a London/SV program to find and mentor outlier startups, backing each with $1M". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2022-12-28. Retrieved 2022-12-28.
[edit]