Sequoia Capital closes London office and scout program in overhaul

Sequoia Capital Raises $10 Billion and Closes London Office in Major Strategy Overhaul

Sequoia Capital posted a memo to X titled “The Sequoia of Tomorrow,” announcing it has raised roughly $10 billion in new funds while dismantling large parts of its global and early-stage infrastructure. The sweeping changes include shutting down its London office, shuttering its Arc accelerator and Scouts programs, and merging its early-stage and growth investment arms into a single team.

The firm describes exiting a 20-year expansionary phase that built out multiple businesses across geographies, noting that hierarchy was an unintended side effect. The memo outlines a return to an earlier, smaller team structure focused more closely on Silicon Valley.

Dismantling Accelerator and Scout Programs Built Over Two Decades

The restructuring ends two major programs designed to connect Sequoia with early-stage founders. The Scouts program, launched around 2009, provided small checks to operators and founders to invest on the firm’s behalf, unearthing early stakes in companies like Uber and Stripe. The Arc accelerator, launched in March 2022 as a seven-week batch program offering $500,000 to $1 million up front to pre-seed and seed founders, is also closed.

Both programs represented bets on being early and geographically distributed. By ending them, Sequoia signals it wants to put more energy behind fewer people and things.

Closing the London Office and Shifting Focus Back to the Bay Area

Sequoia is closing its London office, which it opened in 2020, resulting in multiple departures. According to the memo, the firm no longer sees the need for a local presence, stating that Europe will continue to produce outlier founders that the firm can support from its Bay Area home base.

Luciana Lixandru, hired from Accel in 2020 as Sequoia’s first European partner, was offered a move to San Francisco and declined, writing on X that Europe is where her family is and where she wants to build. She remains a partner, keeps her board seats, and will invest personally in European founders. This closure follows Andreessen Horowitz shuttering its London office last year and Coatue closing its own in 2024.

Seven General Partners Manage Flattened Firm Structure

The firm has flattened its partnership structure and eliminated its traditional Monday partner meeting, theorizing that because founders operate 24/7, their investors should do the same. Management of the firm is now centered around seven general partners: co-stewards Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, along with Andrew Reed, Shaun Maguire, Konstantine Buhler, Sonya Huang, and David Cahn.

Personnel shifts accompany the structural changes. Carl Eschenbach, the former Workday CEO, returned as a full-time partner in March, and the memo notes the team has reinvigorated Doug Leone. Jess Lee moved from early-stage investing to chief product officer, while Stephanie Zhan left the firm to launch her own new firm.

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