Sequoia Capital has turned aggressive on AI deals under co-stewards Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, according to Jemima McEvoy, Cory Weinberg, and Phoebe Liu at The Information. The pair took over in November from Roelof Botha, who was skeptical of the prices AI model builders commanded. Sequoia had turned down an Anthropic stake when the price was far lower and passed on chances to add to its early OpenAI position, but it bought in at a $380 billion valuation in February and three months later put more than $2 billion into co-leading a round that valued Anthropic at $965 billion. The firm has announced roughly 20 AI investments since Botha left. Its Sequoia Capital Fund returned a 7.09% IRR from April 2022 through May, trailing the S&P 500, per records from limited partner Utimco.
