Business
With two new funds to trumpet, Sequoia’s Roelof Botha opens up about the state of the VC market—and about the firm’s controversial partner
On Monday, Sequoia announced two new funds—a $200 million seed fund and a $750 million venture fund—and Managing Partner Roelof Botha spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.
Botha, a past speaker at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, had some interesting thoughts to share on the VC industry, on Trump’s industrial policy, and on one particular recent controversy within Sequoia. Here’s a few comments that stood out.
On the current funding environment and the near-term outlook:
“I would argue, if you as a founder don’t need to raise money for at least 12 months, you’re probably better off building, because your company will be worth so much more 12 months from now relative to what the market may do in the intervening period.
If you need to raise money six months from now, you should probably accelerate your fundraising timeline to today, because the market is just very healthy and I think there’s a good chance the market may not be as healthy in six months.”
On VC reptiles versus mammals:
“We are more mammalian than reptilian. We don’t lay 100 eggs and see what happens. We have a small number, just like mammals give birth to a small number of offspring, and need to give them a lot of attention.”
On the U.S. government taking equity in companies like Intel:
“I’m a libertarian free market thinker by nature. I think industrial policy generally only has a place if it’s in response to things that are of national interest. So the only reason the U.S. is resorting to this is because we have other nation states with whom we compete who are using industrial policies to further their industries that are strategic and maybe adverse to the U.S.’s long-term interests.”
On getting it wrong:
“The first time I made an investment that was a complete write-off, I literally cried in the partner meeting. I was so embarrassed and I felt so guilty that I’d lost money.”
And finally, on last week’s FT report that Sequoia COO Sumaiya Balbale had resigned due to posts by Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire that she considered Islamophobic:
“As a matter of routine we don’t comment on personnel matters. Sumaiya did great work for five years and I appreciate everything she contributed to us. On Shaun, I think he has made it clear what he stands for, and there’s a particular set of founders for whom it is very appealing that he’s been as firm in his opinion. Does it come with tradeoffs? Yes it does.”
Alexei Oreskovic
X: @lexnfx
Email: alexei.oreskovic@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
– Mercor, a San Francisco-based platform that connects AI labs with experts in a variety of topics for AI model training, raised $350 million in Series C funding. Felicis led the round and was joined by Benchmark, General Catalyst, and Robinhood Ventures.
– Onfire, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based AI-powered revenue intelligence platform for tech sales teams, raised $20 million in funding. Grove Ventures and TLV Partners led the round.
– Wild Moose, a San Francisco-based AI-powered site reliability engineering platform, raised $7 million in seed funding. iAngels led the round and was joined by Y Combinator, F2 Venture Capital, Maverick Ventures, and others.
PRIVATE EQUITY
– Vista Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Nexthink, a Lausanne, Switzerland and Boston, Mass.-based digital employee experience platform, that values the company at approximately $3 billion.
– Blackstone acquired Shermco, an Irving, Texas-based electrical testing organization, from Gryphon Investors, for $1.6 billion.
– PSG Equity and Canapi Ventures led a $225 million minority investment in SavvyMoney, a Dublin, Calif.-based financial wellness platform.
– KPS Capital Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in Ketjen Corporation, a Houston, Texas-based refining catalyst solutions business. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Next Glass, backed by PSG, acquired Ekos, a Charlotte, N.C.-based developer of supply chain management solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
– Lane42 Investments, a Santa Monica, Calif. and New York City-based alternative asset manager, hired Harry Robinson as a partner. Formerly, he was with McKinsey & Company.
– Nexa Equity, a San Francisco-based private equity firm, hired Peter Stefanski as a partner, Blake Shott as a principal, and Conor Barber as an operating partner. Stefanski was formerly with Thoma Bravo, Shott was with Sumeru Equity Partners, and Barber was with Atelio by FIS.
