With two new funds to be announced, Sequoia’s Roelof Botha speaks out on the state of the venture capital market and the firm’s controversial partner.
On Monday, Sequoia announced two new funds – a $200 million seed fund and a $750 million venture capital fund – and its managing partner Roelof Botha spoke at the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco.
Botha, a former speaker at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference, had some interesting thoughts to share about the venture capital industry, Trump’s industrial policy, and a recent controversy at Sequoia. Here are some comments that stood out.
On the current financing environment and short-term outlook:
“I would say that if, as a founder, you don’t need to raise money for at least 12 months, you’re probably better off building, because your company will be worth a lot more in 12 months compared to what the market might do in the meantime.
If you need to raise money in six months, you should probably accelerate your fundraising timeline to today, because the market is just very healthy and I think there’s a good chance it won’t be as healthy in six months.
On VC reptiles versus mammals:
“We are more mammals than reptilians. 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 young, and we have to give them a lot of attention.”
On the US government taking a stake in companies like Intel:
“I’m by nature a free-market libertarian thinker. I think industrial policy generally only has its place if it addresses things that are in the national interest. So the only reason the United States resorts to this is because we have other nation states that we compete with that are using industrial policies to grow their industries that are strategic and perhaps contrary to the long-term interests of the United States.”
In case of error:
“The first time I made an investment that was completely wiped out, I literally cried at the partners’ meeting. I was so embarrassed and felt so guilty for losing money.”
And finally, in last week’s FT report, Sumaiya Balbale, Sequoia’s chief operating officer, had resigned over posts by Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire that she considered Islamophobic:
“As a matter of practice, we don’t comment on personnel matters. Sumaiya has done a great job for five years and I appreciate everything she has given us. Regarding Shaun, I think he has made it clear what he stands for, and there is a particular group of founders for whom it is very attractive that he is so firm in his opinion. Does that involve compromise? Yes, it does.”
Alexei Oresković
X: @lexnfx
E-mail: alexei.orskovic@fortune.com
Submit a bid for the Term Sheet newsletter here.
Joey Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter. Subscribe here.
ADVENTURE OFFERS
– Mercora San Francisco-based platform that connects AI labs with experts in a variety of topics for training AI models, has raised $350 million in Series C funding. Happy led the tour and was joined by Reference, General CatalystAnd Robin Hood Businesses.
– On firea Tel Aviv, Israel-based, AI-powered revenue intelligence platform for technology sales teams, has raised $20 million in funding. Grove Businesses And TLV Partners led the round.
– Savage Momentuma San Francisco-based, AI-powered site reliability engineering platform, raised $7 million in seed funding. iAngels led the tour and was joined by Y combiner, F2 Adventure Capital, Nonconformist Businessesand others.
PRIVATE-HORSE RIDING
– View Equity Partners acquired a majority stake in Nextthinka digital employee experience platform based in Lausanne, Switzerland and Boston, Massachusetts, which values the company at approximately $3 billion.
– black stone acquired Shermcoan electrical testing organization based in Irving, Texas, from Griffin Investorsfor $1.6 billion.
– PSG shares And Couch Businesses led a $225 million minority investment in SavvyMoneya financial wellness platform based in Dublin, California.
– KPS Capital Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in Chains Corporationa refining catalyst solutions company based in Houston, Texas. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Following Glasssupported by PSGacquired Ékosa developer of supply chain management solutions based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Financial terms were not disclosed.
PEOPLE
– Lane42 Investmentsan alternative asset manager based in Santa Monica, California and New York, has hired Harry Robinson as a partner. Formerly he was with McKinsey & Company.
– Relationships Equitya private equity firm based in San Francisco, hired Rock Stefanski as a partner, Blake Shott as director, and Conor Hairdresser as an operational partner. Stefanski was formerly with Thomas Well doneShott was with Sumeru Equity Partnersand Barber was with Workshop by FIS.
