Sequoia Spins Off India Unit; Rebrands To Peak XV Partners

Sequoia Capital, one of the largest venture capital firms in the world, has announced a major rebranding and separation exercise, with Sequoia India & Southeast Asia being renamed Peak XV Partners.

As part of this exercise, Sequoia’s US, India and China operations will be run as independent entities, while Peak XV Partners will operate as a fully independent firm managing its India and SEA portfolio. The rebranded VC firm will continue to manage $9.2 Bn across 13 funds, and Peak XV Partners will further invest from $2.5 Bn of uninvested capital over the next few years.

Speaking about the rebranding and the firm’s new structure, Peak XV Partners’ managing director Shailendra Singh said, “This is a new beginning for us as Peak XV Partners. It will continue to be led by the present leadership team.”

“Our new name, Peak XV was the original name given to Mount Everest. To us, it signifies the relentless pursuit of audacious goals by our founders, while overcoming challenges along the way. It’s a new beginning for us as Peak XV, but unlike most beginnings, this is an opportunity for us to build on top of the foundation laid over the last 17 years”

Singh added that the new ‘structure’ will open up an unbounded global opportunity and create more value for founders and LPs. He also denied that this would change the way it manages portfolio relationships.

“Companies are emerging from every region with global ambitions. Strategies for each region and business unit have diverged. Scale, market leadership causing brand confusion, portfolio conflict,” Shailendra Singh added.

A spokesperson for Peak XV Partners said the rebranding was also forced by “the growing market confusion due to shared Sequoia brand, portfolio conflicts.”

The rebranding to Peak XV Partners also means that the portfolio for US, India and China entities will get a sharper and more centralised focus. The firm added that it is committed as ever to help audacious founders build iconic companies and that it will invest across SaaS, AI, devtools, cyber security, cloud, fintech and climate tech.

Further, in a note shared with its limited partners, Sequoia Capital (now Peak XV) claimed that India, China entities have developed into market leaders and that it is increasingly complex to run a decentralised global investment business. Besides this, the spokesperson added that central back-office functions have proven to be a hindrance more than advantage in this dynamic situation.

The rebranding comes at a time when a number of Peak XV Partners (Sequoia) portfolio companies have come under fire for corporate governance issues as well as allegations of fraud against founders of BharatPe, GoMechanic, Zilingo and others.