Sequoia Capital is looking to raise a $5 billion investment fund.
The legendary Silicon Valley venture firm, known for its stellar investment returns, is in the early stages of raising its next global growth fund.
Recode’s Kara Swisher first reported the news of the fund. She’s hearing that Sequoia is targeting $5 to $6 billion. We’re hearing that right now it’s looking more like $5 billion. The fundraising is expected to get underway in the first quarter of 2018.
This compares to its last growth fund from 2015, which was $2 billion in size. Some of its late-stage portfolio companies include Airbnb, Stripe and 23andMe. Sequoia also has a significant early-stage investment business.
We recently reported that Sequoia is looking to buy Uber shares in its ongoing tender offer. These are the discounted shares that will be purchased from existing investors. Japanese investment firm SoftBank Group is leading the effort.
And while Sequoia’s potential $5 billion may sound like a lot of money, it pales in comparison to the almost $100 billion SoftBank has raised for its Vision Fund. This means that the late-stage startups will have multiple options for large checks. Money poured into highly valued “unicorns” has driven venture investment dollars to an all-time record.
Sequoia has had a number of successful outcomes over the years. They invested in messaging app WhatsApp, which was sold to Facebook for $19 billion. They were also in Apple and Google.
