Sequoia Capital, considered one of Silicon Valley’s most outstanding enterprise capital corporations, is shedding its Washington, D.C.-based coverage group 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 acquainted with the matter who requested anonymity as a result of the subject is delicate, stated that the agency would shut its Washington workplace.
Sequoia says it had arrange its small coverage group 5 years in the past—throughout the first Trump Administration—to advise its funding group and portfolio firms on regulatory points, deepen its information of the coverage panorama, and strengthen its connections with world policymakers, consultants, and assume 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, based on his LinkedIn. Vieria will go away the agency as a part of the modifications. He didn’t reply to requests for remark.
“Because of [the policy group’s] strategic steering and efforts, Sequoia is now well-positioned to hold these relationships within the U.S. and Europe ahead,” a Sequoia spokesperson stated. “To that finish, we’re sunsetting the devoted coverage perform and shutting our D.C. workplace on the finish of March. We’re grateful to the group for his or her contributions and impression.”
The modifications at Sequoia are in distinction to tech firms which were rising their visibility in Washington, D.C. since President Trump’s re-election. Meta in January employed Joel Kaplan, former deputy chief of workers to former President George W. Bush, to move its world coverage group and CEO Mark Zuckerburg has visited Trump on the White Home and Mar-a-Lago.
Another enterprise capital corporations 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 power coverage.
Sequoia Capital has traditionally remained politically impartial as a agency, despite the fact that lots of its companions individually specific political beliefs or make giant donations to presidential candidates. High companion Roelof Botha stated final summer season that he’s not registered with both political celebration, however that he’s “extra centered on the insurance policies that can drive entrepreneurship, job creation, and ensuring that the USA stays forward.”
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
