AI TRENDS | Sequoia Capital Plans Investment in AI Holding Company Sequence
Sequoia Capital plans to invest several hundred million dollars in Sequence Holdings, a company founded in 2025 that is pursuing acquisitions in established industries. According to Sina Finance, people familiar with the matter said Sequence recently announced a $7.7 billion insurance-sector acquisition, with Michael Dell’s family office among the co-leads.
The investment would be Sequoia’s second known bet on a new type of holding company that acquires businesses in mature industries, including accounting, insurance, and homeowners association management, and uses AI to replace some manual work. The new funding could help Sequence pursue more acquisitions, people familiar with the matter said. Sequoia previously invested in Ithaca Holdings, founded by partner Ravi Gupta, which announced a $1.3 billion deal.
The planned investment comes as Sequoia undergoes internal changes under Alfred Lin and Pat Grady, who took the lead last November. In recent weeks, the firm merged its early-stage and growth investment teams, closed its London office to refocus on U.S. investments, and adjusted the evergreen fund established by former leader Roelof Botha. The fund was designed to hold stakes in public startups longer than Sequoia’s usual investment period. Sequoia missed major AI investments during Botha’s tenure; this year, it has made a major push into AI, co-led Anthropic’s financing in May at a $965 billion valuation, and completed dozens of AI-related investments since last November. Representatives for Sequoia and Sequence declined to comment.
Sequence has raised at least $75 million from 8VC, Lux Capital, Conviction, and others. Last month, it partnered with DFO Management, Michael Dell’s family office, to take insurance broker Baldwin Group private in a cash-and-debt transaction. Sequence has also made a minority investment in unlisted community bank BankSouth.
Four industry participants said returns on these perpetual holding companies are closer to private equity, at around four times invested capital, compared with the 10-times returns sought by venture capital. Investors see their returns as more predictable and view them as another way for venture firms to return cash to limited partners.
Over the past year, venture-backed AI holding companies have completed large acquisitions. Thrive Holdings, established last year by Thrive Capital founder Josh Kushner, raised funding from Altimeter, D1 Capital, SoftBank, and others. Last month, it agreed to acquire ADT, a 152-year-old security company, in an all-cash deal valued at $15.3 billion including debt. General Catalyst invested in holding company Long Lake in 2024; earlier this year, Long Lake took American Express Global Business Travel private for $6.3 billion.
Sequence CEO Michael Lee said in a podcast interview with Sarah Guo, a partner at Conviction, that since March, AI had shortened consumer loan risk approval times by 94% and cut business loan approvals from 30 days to 11. Lee also said Sequence differs from traditional private equity by completing one major deal a year rather than making acquisitions in batches, and by involving engineers in major business decisions.
