Sequoia Capital Is Raising up to $600M in New Sub-fund To Focus on Tokens

Founders have asked the firm to take a more active role in managing its tokens — this fund will give it that ability to engage further, it said

article-image

Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

key takeaways

  • The fifty-year-old company has $80 billion in assets under management
  • The firm’s involvement in crypto started back in 2015 when it began investing in the space through both equity and tokens

Sequoia Capital is launching a new $500 million to $600 million sub-fund focused primarily on liquid tokens and digital assets, a spokesperson confirmed with Blockworks on Thursday.

The capital plans to complement its other crypto investments in seed, venture, growth and expansion funds. It is also one of the first sub-funds to be launched as part of its new Sequoia Capital Fund, an open-ended liquid portfolio, the company said.

The founders have asked the firm to take a more active role in managing its tokens through staking, providing liquidity, participating in governance and trading through portfolio companies’ platforms. This fund will give it the ability to engage further, the company shared.

“Our goal with this fund is to participate more actively in protocols, better support token-only projects, and learn by doing ourselves,” Sequoia Capital’s Michelle Bailhe, Shaun Maguire and Alfred Lin wrote on the Sequoia blog.

The firm’s involvement in crypto started back in 2015 when it began investing in the space through both equity and tokens. In 2017, Sequoia invested through its main funds, while in 2021, 20% of its new investments throughout the US and Europe were in crypto.

“We believe that crypto is more than a sector; it’s a fundamental shift that will impact all sectors,” Sequoia noted. 

In general, Sequoia Capital invests in a number of sectors aside from crypto, such as technology, financial services, energy and healthcare. The fifty-year-old company has $80 billion in assets under management, according to PitchBook data.

This scale of investment is not uncommon for the firm. Sequoia Capital’s India branch led a $450 million private token sale in Polygon — a decentralized Ethereum scaling platform — earlier this month. Separately, in January, Sequoia and Paradigm invested $1.15 billion in Citadel Securities.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Pack your bags, anon — we’re heading west! Join us in the beautiful Salt Lake City for the third installment of Permissionless. Come for the alpha, stay for the fresh air. Permissionless III promises unforgettable panels, killer networking opportunities, and mountains […]

recent research

Research report - cover graphics (3).jpg

Research

The Across protocol emerges as a dominant bridge within the Ethereum and L2 ecosystem, settling notable volumes with low latency, low fees, and no slippage. Across seeks to expand beyond just bridging as an application, to ultimately become modular, optimistic middleware for settling generalizable cross-chain intents.

article-image

Just a few months after it confidentially filed for a US IPO, the company is planning to jump across the pond

article-image

Our nation’s legislative farmers must return to the crucial task of protecting and catalyzing the homegrown crypto ecosystem

article-image

The US government is looking to seriously inhibit people from using and accessing crypto mixing services

article-image

Industry watchers are split on whether a prospective issuer could pursue legal action in the case of a denial

article-image

The product will offer roughly 5% yield at launch

article-image

Fast things can always be faster, right?