- Sequoia is shutting down its London office, prompting several people to leave.
- The firm also shut down Arc and Scouts.
- Two non-London-based partners co-led the $1.1bn Ineffable round in April.
Sequoia Capital is shutting down its London office six years after it opened its first European office. This has led to several departures. The seven GPs announced the closure in a post on X.
The post stated,“We simply don’t see the need for a local presence.” Sequoia also confirmed it will continue to support European founders from its Bay Area HQ.
The closure is part of a wider restructuring. Sequoia is shutting down its Arc accelerator and Scouts programme, combining its early-stage and growth teams, flattening its partnership structure and dropping its Monday partner meeting.
In August, Tech Funding News reported that Sequoia planned to commit about $10 billion, which Bloomberg described as the firm’s largest commitment in 54 years. That follows on from the $7 billion expansion fund raised in April for mature companies in the US and Europe.
Luciana Lixandru, who joined Sequoia from Accel in 2020 as their first European partner, is staying in Europe. She turned down an offer to move to San Francisco and, in a LinkedIn post, said: “My conviction on Europe hasn’t moved, and neither am I; when given the opportunity to move to San Francisco, I chose to stay here and focus on this wonderful, imperfect ecosystem. Europe is where my family is, and where I want to build.”
Julien Bek is also staying in Europe, though we don’t know whether he is leaving the firm, while Anas Biad is moving from London to San Francisco and will stay with Sequoia.
Who led Sequoia’s European deals?
Sequoia says it can serve Europe from California. To verify this, we’ve compiled a list of European deals from public announcements and partner posts. This list includes only announced deals, not Sequoia’s entire portfolio.
| Pennylane (Paris) | Led an $18M round in June 2021, a Series B in February 2024, and co-led a €75M round in April 2025 | Lixandru |
| STARK (Germany) | Led its first cheque and an August 2025 round at a $500M valuation; co-led a €500M round on June 23, 2026 with Founders Fund | Lixandru |
| Avelios Medical (Munich) | Led a €30M Series A in February 2025, reportedly out of its London office | London team |
| RobCo (Munich) | Led its 2022 Series A, per Lixandru; took part in later rounds | Lixandru |
| Trade Republic (Berlin) | Early backer, per Lixandru; bought shares in a €1.2B sale of existing shares in December 2025 | Lixandru credits London team |
| n8n (Berlin) | Seed co-lead in 2020; took part in the October 2025 Series C led by Accel | Not named |
| Ineffable Intelligence (London) | Co-led a $1.1B seed round on April 27, 2026 with Lightspeed | Alfred Lin and Sonya Huang |
In 5 of the 7 deals, there’s either an announcement or a Lixandru post that names the London team. In the n8n sources we’ve looked at, no partner is named. The only exception is Ineffable, which the company described as the largest seed ever in Europe.
Although the sample size is very small, the distinction is clear. Someone outside the London team led the $1.1 billion Ineffable round. All the others we’ve identified came from within the London team.
The office was one of two routes Sequoia took to find European deals. CNBC also reported that Sequoia was setting up a European scout network of angel investors. Both the office and the Scouts programme have now been discontinued.
Not the first US fund to pull out
In January 2025, Andreessen Horowitz shut its London office to focus on the US. Coatue closed its London venture office in January 2024, about two years after it opened.
On the flip side, several firms are entering London. HV announced in February 2025 that it was opening a London office, and its first team members have already joined. Vsquared Ventures set up a London office in June 2026.
Sequoia’s decision reflects its people strategy rather than European funding levels. The deals above support that view. Key things to watch are who Robson and Bek end up as and whether the Bay Area partners continue to lead rounds that used to be London-led.
