Sequoia raises $7 billion to back late-stage AI startups

Sequoia Capital has raised about $7 billion for a new fund, giving the Menlo Park firm far more firepower to back late-stage artificial intelligence companies that need large checks, heavy infrastructure spending and patient capital. The new pool is roughly twice the size of Sequoia’s $3.4 billion fund from 2022, a scale that reflects how much more expensive the best AI bets have become.

The raise is the first major capital effort under Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who are now serving as co-stewards of the 54-year-old firm after Roelof Botha stepped back from his leadership role in November 2025. That transition matters beyond Sequoia’s own partnership table. At one of Silicon Valley’s most influential venture firms, the handoff signals that the next phase of AI investing will be shaped by managers who are doubling down on a category already treated as a defining theme across the firm.

Sequoia has already made its position clear. It has publicly identified AI as a major investment theme and built AI-focused research and conference programming around it. The firm has also been one of the most aggressive backers in the space, with OpenAI in its portfolio since 2020 and support for Harvey, a generative AI company. Reports have said the new fund is intended to back Sequoia’s biggest bets, including OpenAI and Anthropic, along with newer names such as Physical Intelligence and Factory.

That focus gives Sequoia an outsized role in deciding which companies can keep hiring, expand infrastructure and move from breakout products to national enterprise adoption. Late-stage AI startups are increasingly capital-intensive, and the firms that can write the largest checks will have more influence over which models, tools and workflows become standard inside corporations, universities and government contractors. In that sense, the fund is more than a fundraising milestone. It is a statement that the market still has room for another generation of AI leaders, and that Sequoia intends to help choose them.