Sequoia Capital manages roughly $19B in assets through a single open-ended vehicle — the Sequoia Fund — that replaced its traditional 10-year funds in 2021. That's the short answer. The longer answer is the most interesting structural story in venture.
Most VC firms raise a new fund every two to three years, invest it over a decade, and wind it down. Sequoia tore up that playbook. Understanding how the 2026 Sequoia is built — the fund, the sub-funds, the fees, and what it actually holds — tells you more about where venture is heading than any single deal.
The Sequoia Capital Fund in 2026: What It Is
The Sequoia Capital fund in 2026 is a single open-ended evergreen vehicle called The Sequoia Fund, which holds liquid and public positions and channels capital into closed sub-funds for seed, venture, and growth-stage investing. Launched in 2021, it carries no fixed 10-year term, manages roughly $19B across US and European operations, and lets Sequoia hold portfolio stock indefinitely after an IPO rather than distributing it.
That structure is deceptively radical. Under the old model — the one nearly every other firm still uses — a venture fund has a roughly 10-year life. When a portfolio company IPOs, the GP distributes shares to limited partners within a year or two, the clock runs out, and the fund closes. Sequoia decided the clock was the enemy of compounding.
Sequoia Capital Fund Size by Stage
Sequoia doesn't raise one giant fund. It raises stage-specific sub-funds that all feed the central Sequoia Fund. Here's how the structure breaks down by stage, with approximate recent sizing.
| Vehicle / Stage | Approx. Size | Entry Point | Typical Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sequoia Fund (parent) | ~$19B AUM | Holds all stages + public | Evergreen |
| Seed / Arc | ~$195M | Pre-seed & seed | $500K–$3M |
| Venture | ~$950M–$1B | Series A/B | $5M–$20M |
| Growth | ~$900M–$1.4B | Series C+ | $20M–$50M |
| Expansion / Capital | ~$2.25B+ | Late / pre-IPO | $50M–$150M |
| Heritage (wealth mgmt) | ~$16B+ | LP/family capital | N/A |
Figures are approximate and based on regulatory filings and reported fund closes; Sequoia does not publish a consolidated number. The Heritage arm is a separate wealth-management business managing money for Sequoia partners and outside families. Compare firm-level fund sizes on the Funds dashboard.
The New Sequoia Structure: Why the 10-Year Fund Died
When Sequoia announced the new Sequoia structure in October 2021, Roelof Botha framed it bluntly: the traditional venture model had become obsolete. A fund that has to return capital on a fixed timeline is structurally forced to sell its best companies too early.
Consider the math Sequoia itself cited. Had it held its position in a single mega-winner for the full public run instead of distributing at IPO, the return would have been multiples higher. Sequoia's 1999 investment of about $12.5M into Google became worth billions — but the firm distributed those shares relatively early. The evergreen structure is the institutional answer to never repeating that.
Old 10-Year Fund Model
- ✕ Fixed ~10-year term forces distribution
- ✕ Shares handed to LPs ~1 year post-IPO
- ✕ Compounding stops at the IPO window
- ✕ New fund raised every 2–3 years
- ✕ Winners sold while still growing
New Sequoia Fund (Evergreen)
- ✓ No expiration — hold public stock indefinitely
- ✓ Sub-funds feed one open-ended parent
- ✓ LPs can redeem on a managed cadence
- ✓ Capital recycled across stages
- ✓ Compounding continues post-IPO
Sequoia Capital Fees: 2% and 30% Carry
Sequoia charges roughly 2% annual management fees and around 30% carried interest — above the industry-standard 20%. That premium is the privilege of consistent top-decile performance. The open-ended structure also means Sequoia continues earning fees on the value of public holdings it manages long after a company lists, a meaningful change from the old distribute-and-done model.
Here's how Sequoia's economics stack against the typical venture firm and the broader benchmark you can track on the VC Performance dashboard:
| Term | Industry Standard | Sequoia (est.) |
|---|---|---|
| Management fee | 2.0% | ~2.0% |
| Carried interest | 20% | ~30% |
| Fund term | 10 years | Open-ended |
| Hurdle rate | 8% (common) | Varies / often none |
| Post-IPO fees | None (distributed) | Yes — on holdings |
| Target net return | 1.5–1.8x median TVPI | Top-decile 3x+ target |
What the Sequoia Fund Actually Holds
The point of the evergreen structure is to hold winners. The Sequoia Fund retains positions in companies long past their IPO, blending private bets with public stakes. Its portfolio across stages includes some of the most valuable franchises in tech — both the public compounders it refuses to sell and the private leaders it's still backing.
AI & Frontier
OpenAI, xAI exposure, and AI-native portfolio bets driving the 2026 cycle
Public compounders
Long-held positions retained post-IPO under the open-ended model
Fintech & infrastructure
Stripe (~$70B+ private), payments and developer infrastructure
Enterprise SaaS
Category leaders across data, security, and dev tools
Track the largest private companies and their valuations on the Unicorns dashboard.
The 2023 Split: One Sequoia Became Three
You can't understand the 2026 Sequoia without the June 2023 breakup. Geopolitical pressure forced the global partnership to split into three fully independent firms by March 2024: Sequoia Capital (US/Europe), HongShan (China, formerly Sequoia China), and Peak XV Partners (India/Southeast Asia, formerly Sequoia India/SEA).
That's why the ~$19B figure refers to US and Europe only. HongShan alone manages tens of billions more, and Peak XV manages roughly $9B. The combined former empire was far larger — but the 2026 Sequoia Capital is a leaner, US-and-Europe-focused firm centered on the Sequoia Fund. The breakup also ended cross-border conflicts that had complicated the firm for a decade.
Sequoia's real innovation in 2026 isn't a deal. It's the structure.
An open-ended fund that never has to sell its winners is a permanent compounding machine — and the rest of venture is now copying it.
Track venture fund performance and structures on the VC Performance Dashboard at Value Add VC. Originally published in the Trace Cohen newsletter.