Sequoia Capital Operations, LLC, doing business as Sequoia Capital or simply Sequoia, is an American venture capital firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private technology companies. As of January 2025, the firm had approximately US$56 billion in assets under management (AUM). Sequoia operates three regionally focused venture entities: Sequoia in the U.S. and Europe, Peak XV Partners in India and Southeast Asia, and formerly HongShan in China. The firm has made a wide variety of venture investments since its inception, including in Apple, ByteDance, and Cisco, among many others.
Sequoia has played a significant role in the growth of the technology industry, backing companies that have become leaders in their fields. Its early investments in Apple and later in OpenAI and AMD highlight its focus on transformative technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. The firm's influence extends across multiple sectors, from consumer internet to healthcare and robotics.
History
Sequoia was founded by Don Valentine in 1972 in Menlo Park, California, at a time when the state's venture capital industry was just beginning to develop. Sequoia formed its first venture capital fund in 1974 and was an early investor in Atari the next year. In 1978, Sequoia became one of the first investors in Apple. Partners Doug Leone and Michael Moritz assumed leadership of the firm in 1996.
In 1999, Sequoia established a dedicated investment fund for Israeli startups. In 2005, Sequoia Capital China was established, later followed by Sequoia Capital India. In 2012, Moritz took a step back from day-to-day operations, and Leone became Global Managing Partner. Jim Goetz led Sequoia's U.S. business from 2012 until 2017, when he was succeeded by Roelof Botha. In 2016, Sequoia hired Jess Lee, making her the first female investing partner in the United States in the firm's history. In 2019, it was the most active VC fund company in India.
In March 2020, Sequoia announced it would hire Luciana Lixandru as its first partner based in Europe. In October 2021, Sequoia announced 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. In March 2022, The Information reported that Sequoia Capital China was raising an $8 billion fund to invest in Chinese tech companies. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation backstopped Sequoia's $1 billion in deposits in the bank.
In June 2023, Sequoia announced plans to break up into three entities, citing complications running a decentralized global investment business amid geopolitical tensions. The separation, expected to complete by March 2024, resulted in the Chinese business led by Neil Shen being called HongShan (meaning "sequoia" in Mandarin) and the Indian and Southeast Asia arm named Peak XV Partners, led by Shailendra Singh, GV Ravishankar, Mohit Bhatnagar, and Rajan Anandan. The U.S. and Europe unit retained the Sequoia name. In July 2023, Sequoia announced it would cut one-third of its talent staff as part of an organizational restructuring. In October 2023, the U.S. House Committee on U.S.-China Competition announced a probe into Sequoia Capital's investments in China.
As of at least 2024, Sequoia is the largest investor in China's consumer internet sector. It has often used a strategy of investing in several competitors in the same sector and then later pushing for their consolidation. According to Chinese media, Sequoia was a major influence in mergers between Meituan and Dianping, between Uber China and Didi, and between VShop and Lefenghui.
In July 2025, Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire made controversial statements about Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim American New York City mayoral candidate, which were denounced as bigoted and Islamophobic. In response, 600 founders of tech startups signed an open letter to Sequoia, asking for a zero-tolerance policy on hate speech and religious bigotry. In August 2025, Sequoia's COO, Sumaiya Balbale, who is open about the influence of her Muslim faith on her career, resigned after five years with the company over Maguire's posts, after other senior partners declined to take action on the basis of free speech.
In November 2025, Botha was succeeded by Alfred Lin and Pat Grady as joint managing partners, known as "stewards," in line with the firm's stewardship model created by Don Valentine.
Investment Strategy and Structure
Sequoia operates as a venture capital firm where limited partners, primarily university endowments, charitable foundations, and other large institutions, contribute money to funds that the firm's general partners invest in business ventures. The firm specializes in seed, early, and growth stage investments in private technology companies, including sectors like clean tech, consumer internet, crypto, financial services, healthcare, mobile, and robotics. Sequoia has been recognized for its strong track record of early investments and has distinguished itself by diversifying its investments beyond U.S. early-stage venture capital.
In October 2021, Sequoia announced the Sequoia Capital Fund, a unique open-ended evergreen fund structure for its U.S. and European business, departing from the traditional 10-year fund cycle. This structure allows limited partners to pull money out of the fund for liquidity instead of requiring stock distribution. Sequoia also became a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), providing more flexibility in investments. In February 2022, Sequoia raised a $600 million Sequoia Crypto Fund, one of the first sub-funds of the Sequoia Capital Fund, mainly investing in cryptocurrencies traded on third-party exchanges.
In June 2022, Sequoia announced that it had raised $2.85 billion in additional funds to invest in India and Southeast Asia, reflecting its global reach.
Notable Investments and Misses
Sequoia has a long history of successful investments, including early stakes in Apple, Cisco, and more recently in OpenAI, a leader in generative AI. The firm has also invested in companies like Nvidia, which has become a key player in deep learning hardware, and Google DeepMind, a pioneer in neural network research. Sequoia's portfolio includes many other technology firms, from Arm Holdings to CoreWeave, a cloud provider for AI workloads.
However, Sequoia missed an opportunity to invest in Facebook in its early days around 2005. John Naughton suggested that this failure led to a "fear of missing out" that may have contributed to Sequoia's heavy investment in FTX in 2022, prior to its collapse in 2023. In 2019, 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. In July 2021, Sequoia published a piece about "the Latin American startup opportunity," signaling increased focus there.
AI and Technology Focus
Sequoia has been a prominent backer of AI companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Inflection AI. These investments align with the firm's interest in artificial intelligence and machine learning, which are transforming industries. Sequoia has also invested in AI infrastructure companies like Cerebras and Groq, which develop specialized hardware for AI workloads. The firm's portfolio includes Figure AI, a robotics company, and Neuralink, which focuses on brain-computer interfaces.
Sequoia's investments in AI span various applications, from large language models to computer vision. The firm has backed companies like AI21 Labs and Essential AI, which are developing advanced AI systems. Sequoia's strategy often involves investing in multiple competitors in the same sector, as seen in its approach to consumer internet in China, and it applies this to AI as well, funding both model developers and infrastructure providers.
Governance and Leadership
Sequoia's leadership has evolved over the years, with a stewardship model that emphasizes long-term responsibility. After Don Valentine's founding, partners like Doug Leone and Michael Moritz shaped the firm's growth. Roelof Botha led the U.S. business from 2017 until November 2025, when he was succeeded by Alfred Lin and Pat Grady as joint managing partners. The firm has also faced challenges, including the 2025 controversy involving partner Shaun Maguire, which led to the resignation of COO Sumaiya Balbale. Sequoia's governance structure aims to maintain its reputation as a top-tier venture capital firm while navigating complex global and ethical issues.