Sequoia Capital Regrets Backing FTX However Defends Vetting Course of

(Bloomberg) — High companions on the highly effective enterprise capital agency Sequoia Capital apologized to their buyers in a convention name Tuesday for backing FTX, a pair of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchanges that had allegedly been mismanaged by Sam Bankman-Fried, in response to folks acquainted with the assembly.

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Roelof Botha, the agency’s international chief, opened the decision, and he and his colleagues have been repentant for backing the corporate, with investments totaling $214 million in FTX.com and FTX.us throughout two funds. Alfred Lin, the accomplice who led the FTX deal, supplied an replace on the state of affairs. Shaun Maguire, one other accomplice who focuses on crypto, gave an summary of the sector, which was roiled by the scandal.

FTX was a uncommon catastrophe for the storied enterprise agency, which has persistently remained a prime VC since its founding in 1972. Sequoia informed its buyers two weeks in the past it had written down the complete worth of its FTX investments.

A spokeswoman for Sequoia declined to touch upon the convention name. The Wall Avenue Journal first reported particulars of the assembly on Tuesday.

The decision was meant to reassure buyers in Sequoia Capital, which supplied $150 million by way of its World Development Fund III. The rest got here from the Sequoia Capital World Equities fund, which operates individually.

Though companions on the decision have been conciliatory, in addition they defended the due diligence they performed on the deal. They stated employees reviewed monetary statements and requested on a number of events concerning the relationship between FTX and Alameda Analysis, a buying and selling agency that Bankman-Fried additionally based and which reportedly borrowed and misplaced FTX prospects’ cash.

As not too long ago as Could, Sequoia was assured that FTX funds weren’t used to finance Alameda’s actions and that FTX and Alameda have been separate entities, one of many folks with information of the decision stated. The companions stated they consider they have been misled.

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Sequoia informed its buyers that when it initially backed FTX in July 2021, it had reviewed unaudited statements, the individual stated. In response to a query about audited versus unaudited statements, one of many companions urged the agency would possibly push its startups to make use of Massive 4 accounting companies sooner or later.

(Updates with extra reporting within the fifth paragraph.)

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