China Tensions Cause Shakeup At VC Firm That Once Funded Apple, Google: REPORT
Nick Pope on June 6, 2023
Sequoia Capital, a major American venture capital firm, announced to its investors Tuesday that it plans to separate its Chinese and Asian business interests from its U.S. operations, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
The firm announced its intention to separate its Asian regional interests into two separate firms with their own branding while retaining the Sequoia Capital name and brand for its American and European operations, according to a report from the WSJ. The plan, set for implementation by March 2024, comes amid rising geopolitical and economic tensions between China and the U.S.
The planned separation into three distinct firms will also result in the separation of previously shared functions like accounting and financing, according to the WSJ. The firm plans to rebrand its China arm as HongShan and drop its old Sequoia China moniker, and it intends rebrand its Southeast Asian and Indian operations as Peak XV Partners.
The restructuring plan comes after Sequoia Capital began to allow third party American national-security experts to screen its China wing’s prospective investments into certain potential dual-use technologies including artificial intelligence and quantum computing, according to the WSJ.
REPORTER: “The President says we’re in a competition with China. He’s been in office 28 months. Are we winning?”
JEAN-PIERRE: “We’re in a place where we have created an economy that the President hopes will work for everybody.”
That is a great answer to a question nobody asked. pic.twitter.com/pje3n5VQPu
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) June 5, 2023
Sequoia Capital is a giant in the venture capital space known for its early investments in American tech giants like Google and Apple, according to the WSJ. Its China arm, established in 2005 as Sequoia China, made similarly prescient investments in Chinese tech firms like ByteDance and has more recently invested in Chinese public-sector projects.
The Chinese arm of the firm currently has about $56 billion in assets under management, according to the WSJ.
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