Something is going on at Social Capital.
A series of departures continued this morning at former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya‘s venture capital firm, with Mike Ghaffary, a partner since August 2017, announcing he was moving on to focus on angel investing.
Personal update: I’ve decided to leave Social Capital. Over the next few months, I'll focus on angel investing. It's been an incredible experience, working alongside a talented team. I'll continue to work closely with the founders I’ve invested in, and excited for the next step.
— Mike Ghaffary (@newmike) August 31, 2018
That’s just a day after Ashley Mayer, a partner and VP of marketing since 2015, said she was departing the firm to pursue “new adventures.”
The pair of exits is just the latest in a line of high-profile departures for the firm. We’ve reached out to Palihapitiya for some explanation.
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The mass exodus began when Mamoon Hamid, who founded Social Capital with Palihapitiya in 2011, joined Kleiner Perkins as a general partner last August. At the time, Palihapitiya said it was “a great opportunity for Mamoon” and that the firm was “happy for him and Kleiner Perkins.”
Mamoon Hamid is heading from Social Capital to Kleiner Perkins
The string of exits continued in June, when partner Arjun Sethi left to launch his own firm, Tribe Capital, which is reportedly focused on cryptocurrency and blockchain startups. He was immediately followed out the door by growth equity chief Tony Bates and vice chairman Marc Mezvinsky.
Bates and Mezvinsky had only been with the firm about a year.
Social Capital invests across several sectors, with a portfolio that includes Slack, Bustle and cryptocurrency trading business Digital Currency Group. The firm is known for favoring innovative investment strategies. Last fall, for example, it began investing in startups sight unseen through a new program called “capital-as-a-service.”
