Sequoia Capital announced on Monday two new early-stage funds worth a combined $950 million, aimed at backing young startups worldwide building technologies that could evolve into the next Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) of the AI era.
The new funds include a $750 million venture vehicle for Series A companies and a $200 million seed fund, according to TechCrunch. The launch comes amid an industry-wide rush toward artificial intelligence and follows two turbulent years for the firm.
Sequoia Capital Partner Bogomil Balkansky said the company’s strategy remains grounded in identifying exceptional founders with bold ideas. “Markets go up and down, but our strategy remains consistent,” he told TechCrunch, describing Sequoia’s goal to build companies that can endure across generations.
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Sequoia Capital faced substantial headwinds over the previous three years. The firm sustained a documented loss exceeding $200 million when cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in late 2022, according to media reports. Additionally, Sequoia Capital separated its India and China operations in 2023 following a structural reorganization.
Prior to those developments, the venture company structured its portfolio operations in 2021 into an evergreen primary fund supplemented by strategy-specific subsidiary funds. This architecture enables Sequoia Capital to maintain equity positions in portfolio companies following initial public offerings, TechCrunch reported.
Sequoia Capital has historically achieved recognition for early-stage investments in now-dominant technology companies. The firm backed Airbnb (NASDAQ:ABNB), Google, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and Stripe during their founding phases, a track record that informs the company’s current investment thesis regarding AI startups..
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“Our ambition has always been and continues to be to identify these founders as early as possible; to roll up our sleeves and be a very active participant in their company-building journey,” Balkansky told TechCrunch.
The company recently deployed initial capital into three companies that subsequently raised funding at substantially higher valuations, TechCrunch reported.
