Sequoia Capital Launches Two New Funds With Web 3 Investments Part of Its Focus

While Sequoia has been an active investor in Web 3 start-ups, their pushes have been cautious so far.

By Shomik Sen Bhattacharjee | Updated: 15 June 2022 18:28 IST

Sequoia Capital Launches Two New Funds With Web 3 Investments Part of Its Focus

Photo Credit: Unsplash/ Mathieu Stern

Sequoia India has so far invested in over 400 startups based out of the country

Highlights

The announcement comes at a time when funding pools have taken a hit
The VC giants have been generally bullish on Web 3
Sequoia India has invested in crypto companies like CoinSwitch, Polygon

At a time when worldwide funding pools are appearing to run dry, Sequoia India and Sequoia Southeast Asia have launched two new funds, including an early-stage venture and growth fund for India worth an impressive $2 billion (roughly Rs. 15,536 crore), and an $850 million (roughly Rs. 6,603 crore) fund for Southeast Asia. The funding is part of the venture firm's enormous efforts to scale in the South-east Asia (SEA) region. While the funds aren't particularly set out for crypto, Web 3 startups alone, Sequoia does mention its interest in focussing on the Web 3 ecosystem.

"Today we are pleased to announce the launch of our first dedicated SEA fund, Sequoia SEA Fund I, an $850 million (roughly Rs. 6,603 crore) corpus that we will use to partner with the next generation of founders on a mission to build enduring companies from the region," the firms said in a blog post.

While observing the emergence of a "thriving" Web 3 ecosystem and new waves of innovation in markets like Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia, Sequoia Southeast Asia aims to continue to invest actively at the seed, Series A, and growth stages in companies across the regions with the new fund.

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The firm is also expanding its focus on newer venues, including Web 3, despite a lack of regulatory clarity — an issue that has been among the primary reasons why most Indian venture capital firms have been reluctant to back crypto startups.

Sequoia India and its Southeast Asia division have invested in a host of Web 3 startups in India already. These include heavyweights like CoinSwitch Kuber and Ethereum layer 2 protocol, Polygon. However, these investments have been in the lower ranges, given the size of the funds.

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The previous two years have seen Sequoia India engage with three additional funds, including March 2021's seed funding round for India which generated $195 million (roughly Rs. 1,515 crore), and July 2020's two growth and venture rounds; collectively worth $1.3 billion (roughly Rs. 10,100 crore).

Will crypto tax hurt the industry in India? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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