Sequoia Capital, considered one of Silicon Valley’s most distinguished enterprise capital companies, is shedding its Washington, D.C.-based coverage crew and shuttering its workplace there, simply as some tech-related firms attempt to enhance their visibility within the U.S. capital after President Trump’s re-election.
The modifications will take impact on the finish of March and impression three full-time staff in addition to coverage fellows who labored with the agency. Sequoia confirmed the layoff whereas two sources aware of the matter who requested anonymity as a result of the subject is delicate, mentioned that the agency would shut its Washington workplace.
Sequoia says it had arrange its small coverage crew 5 years in the past—in the course of the first Trump Administration—to advise its funding crew and portfolio firms on regulatory points, deepen its information of the coverage panorama, and strengthen its connections with world policymakers, specialists, and suppose tanks. Don Vieira, who had held senior nationwide safety positions on the Division of Justice and Home Everlasting Choose Committee on Intelligence, opened the workplace, in accordance with his LinkedIn. Vieria will depart the agency as a part of the modifications. He didn’t reply to requests for remark.
“Because of [the policy group’s] strategic steerage and efforts, Sequoia is now well-positioned to hold these relationships within the U.S. and Europe ahead,” a Sequoia spokesperson mentioned. “To that finish, we’re sunsetting the devoted coverage operate and shutting our D.C. workplace on the finish of March. We’re grateful to the crew for his or her contributions and impression.”
The modifications at Sequoia are in distinction to tech firms which were growing their visibility in Washington, D.C. since President Trump’s re-election. Meta in January employed Joel Kaplan, former deputy chief of employees to former President George W. Bush, to go its world coverage crew and CEO Mark Zuckerburg has visited Trump on the White Home and Mar-a-Lago.
Another enterprise capital companies have been beefing up their presence in Washington, D.C. to assist portfolio firms that function in extremely regulated or political industries like protection, crypto, or AI. Enterprise capital agency Andreessen Horowitz, for instance, which has had a number of of its companions take official or advisory positions within the White Home, just lately employed Patrick McHenry, the previous North Carolina congressman, and Matt Cronin, former Chief Investigative Counsel and Deputy Basic Counsel for the U.S. Home Choose Committee on Strategic Competitors, as senior advisors to the agency. Final fall, earlier than the election, Basic Catalyst launched what it calls the “Basic Catalyst Institute” to affect AI, healthcare, protection and intelligence, manufacturing, and vitality coverage.
Sequoia Capital has traditionally remained politically impartial as a agency, regardless that lots of its companions individually categorical political beliefs or make massive donations to presidential candidates. Prime associate Roelof Botha mentioned final summer season that he’s not registered with both political celebration, however that he’s “extra centered on the insurance policies that may drive entrepreneurship, job creation, and ensuring that the USA stays forward.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
