Founded in 1972 by Don Valentine, a former Fairchild and National Semiconductor executive who pioneered the idea of backing "companies, not just people" on Sand Hill Road. It became the defining franchise of Silicon Valley venture capital, backing Apple and Atari in its first decade. In 2023 it split its US/Europe, China and India/SEA businesses into three independent firms.
Multi-stage: seed through growth, high-conviction, board-heavy; restructured in 2021 around the open-ended Sequoia Capital Fund holding public positions indefinitely.
Technology generalist: software, consumer, fintech, AI/ML
Apple, Google, Cisco, Nvidia, Airbnb, Stripe, WhatsApp, YouTube
WhatsApp ($19B to Facebook), Google IPO, Airbnb IPO, Nvidia IPO, YouTube ($1.65B to Google)
Its roughly $60M investment in WhatsApp returned about $3B, and Sequoia was the only venture investor on the cap table.
| Company | Rounds | Invested |
|---|---|---|
| Anthropic AI | 2 rounds, 1 led | $95B |
| OpenAI AI | 1 round | $8.3B |
| xAI AI | 1 round | $6B |
| SHEIN E-Commerce | 1 round, 1 led | $2B |
| Reflection AI AI | 1 round | $2B |
| Skild AI Robotics | 1 round | $1.4B |
| Ineffable Intelligence AI | 1 round, 1 led | $1.1B |
| Safe Superintelligence AI | 1 round | $1B |
| Xaira Therapeutics Biotech | 1 round | $1B |
| Trade Republic Fintech | 1 round, 1 led | $900M |
| FTX Web3 | 1 round | $900M |
| Klarna Fintech | 1 round, 1 led | $800M |
| Bolt Mobility | 1 round, 1 led | $711M |
| The Boring Company Mobility | 1 round, 1 led | $675M |
| Harvey LegalTech | 3 rounds, 1 led | $600M |
| Stripe Fintech | 1 round | $600M |
| ElevenLabs AI | 2 rounds, 1 led | $580M |
| Noom Healthtech | 1 round | $540M |
| Ayar Labs DeepTech | 1 round | $500M |
| OpenEvidence Healthtech | 2 rounds | $450M |
| NinjaOne SaaS B2B | 1 round | $400M |
| Razorpay Fintech | 1 round | $375M |
| Pennylane Fintech | 4 rounds, 2 led | $318.2M |
| Fireblocks Crypto | 1 round, 1 led | $310M |
| Fireworks AI AI | 2 rounds, 1 led | $302M |
| Biofourmis Healthtech | 1 round | $300M |
| Remote HR Tech | 1 round | $300M |
| Kalshi Fintech | 1 round, 1 led | $300M |
| Ricursive Intelligence AI | 1 round | $300M |
| Temporal DevTools | 1 round | $300M |
| Faire Marketplace | 1 round, 1 led | $260M |
| Groww Fintech | 1 round | $251M |
| Fal.ai AI | 1 round | $250M |
| CarDekho (GirnarSoft) Marketplace | 1 round | $250M |
| Sesame AI | 1 round | $250M |
| Rippling HR Tech | 1 round, 1 led | $250M |
| Chargebee SaaS B2B | 1 round, 1 led | $250M |
| CredAvenue Fintech | 2 rounds, 1 led | $227M |
| Whatnot E-Commerce | 1 round | $225M |
| Verkada Cybersecurity | 1 round | $205M |
| Mercury Fintech | 1 round | $200M |
| Landis PropTech | 1 round, 1 led | $165M |
| CRED Fintech | 2 rounds | $161M |
| Rogo Fintech | 1 round | $160M |
| XBOW Cybersecurity | 1 round | $155M |
| Unacademy EdTech | 1 round | $150M |
| Vanta Cybersecurity | 1 round | $150M |
| Factory DevTools | 1 round | $150M |
| Clay SaaS B2B | 2 rounds, 1 led | $146M |
| RobCo Robotics | 2 rounds | $142.5M |
| Fal AI | 1 round, 1 led | $140M |
| Twin Health Healthtech | 1 round | $140M |
| Magic Eden Web3 | 1 round | $130M |
| Harmonic AI | 1 round | $120M |
| Oasis Security Cybersecurity | 1 round | $120M |
| Zetwerk Marketplace | 1 round | $120M |
| Pyramid Analytics saas_b2b | 1 round | $113.6M |
| Juicebox HR Tech | 2 rounds, 1 led | $110M |
| Maven Clinic Healthtech | 1 round | $110M |
| SendCutSend Hardware | 1 round | $110M |