Renowned U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firm Sequoia Capital has parted ways

 

Renowned U.S.-based venture capital (VC) firm Sequoia Capital has parted ways with two leading crypto-focused investors, Michelle Fradin and Daniel Chen, as part of a wider restructuring in the VC team seeing the departures of the five partners in total.  The move, announced in a note sent to investors, is expected to impact the firm's future investments in the crypto industry.  Michelle Fradin was one of Sequoia Capital's FTX investors, and he was heavily involved in the firm's crypto investments with Daniel Chen.  The move came after Sequoia Capital experienced reputational damage due to the bankruptcy of the previously third-largest crypto exchange FTX in November 2022.  FTX's collapse resulted in a $213.5M loss for the VC firm.  Other investor departures include Michael Moritz, Mike Vernal, and Kais Khimji. Moritz left Sequoia Capital after nearly 40 years.  Sequoia Capital had $53.3B of assets under management (AUM) for venture funding as of the end of Q1.  Following the collapses of the high-profile crypto firms last year, including FTX and the multi-billion dollar Terra ecosystem, VC firms shifted their focus from crypto to AI and more traditional sectors, causing a decline in venture funding to Web3 startups for five consecutive quarters. In May, Singaporean government-owned investment firm Temasek Holdings also decided to cut salaries for its executives who recommended investing in FTX after suffering from reputational damage due to the collapse.