Sequoia retreats from global expansion, shuts London office and early-stage programs

Sequoia Capital posted a memo to X on Wednesday titled “The Sequoia of Tomorrow,” outlining a sweeping reorganization that reverses much of the firm’s two-decade expansion. The firm disclosed that it has raised roughly $10 billion in new capital, but will now operate as a single, flat partnership focused on a narrower set of activities centered in Silicon Valley.

Key elements of the plan include closing the London office that opened in 2020, ending the Arc accelerator launched in March 2022, and terminating the Scouts program that began around 2009. Arc, Sequoia’s answer to Y Combinator, ran several seven-week cohorts each year and offered participating startups between $500,000 and $1 million in seed funding. The Scouts network, which gave small checks to founders and operators to invest on Sequoia’s behalf, helped surface early deals such as Uber and Stripe. Both initiatives will be discontinued as the firm “puts more energy behind fewer people and things.”

The memo also announced the merger of Sequoia’s early-stage and growth teams into a single unit and the elimination of the traditional Monday partner meeting. The firm says the change reflects a belief that founders operate around the clock and investors should match that cadence. Internally, the partnership has been flattened to seven general partners who own and run the firm: Alfred Lin, Pat Grady, Andrew Reed, Shaun Maguire, Konstantine Buhler, Sonya Huang and David Cahn, who joined in 2023.

Leadership shifts accompany the structural changes. Former Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach returned as a full-time partner in March, and veteran Doug Leone has been “reinvigorated” as a senior steward. Jess Lee, Sequoia’s first female partner and overseer of the Arc program, is now listed as chief product officer rather than investor. Stephanie Zhan, an investor since 2015, has left to launch her own firm. Roelof Botha, who had served as senior steward, was voted out in a surprise move last fall and fully severed ties this summer after joining SpaceX’s board.

European founders will feel the impact of the London office closure. Luciana Lixandru, Sequoia’s first partner in Europe hired from Accel in 2020, declined an offer to relocate to San Francisco and will remain a partner investing personally in European startups while keeping her board seats. The memo emphasizes that Sequoia will continue to back European outlier founders from its Bay Area base, but the message signals a renewed geographic focus on the United States.

The retraction follows earlier moves, notably the 2023 spin-offs of Sequoia’s China and India-Southeast Asia businesses into HSG and Peak XV. By consolidating operations, Sequoia aims to reduce hierarchy that grew during its expansion under successive stewards such as Doug Leone, Jim Goetz and Roelof Botha.

For founders, the changes mean fewer early-stage touchpoints from Sequoia’s network but potentially deeper support from a leaner, more focused investment team. The firm acknowledges the risk, noting in the memo that “it is scary to break something that’s already working just fine.” Whether the streamlined model will deliver stronger outcomes remains an open question as Sequoia embarks on this new chapter.