Former Sequoia Capital managing partner joins SpaceX board of directors
Roelof Botha, former managing partner of Sequoia Capital, has been appointed to SpaceX's board shortly after the company's record-breaking initial public offering.
Roelof Botha, the former managing partner of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, has joined SpaceX’s board of directors. The appointment came less than a week after SpaceX went public in the largest IPO in history. The company announced the move in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday.
SpaceX stated that Botha was appointed “to fill the existing vacancy on the Board” and that he will serve until the next annual shareholder meeting. He will also join the SpaceX board’s audit committee. Botha did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The filing noted that Botha “brings extensive public company experience along with a deep audit committee background, having served on the boards and audit committees of numerous public companies.” He stepped down from his role as Sequoia’s leader late last year as the firm dealt with backlash against partner Shaun Maguire, who made comments attacking then-New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani.
Botha has a long history with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. In 2000, Musk brought Botha—who is also from South Africa—on board to run the finance division of PayPal. Botha started at the payments company in March of that year, according to his LinkedIn profile. Musk was pushed out as CEO of PayPal in September 2000. “I’ve known Elon for over 25 years,” Botha told Fortune in an interview last year. “He was the first person to offer me a job in America. He believed in me when I was an unknown student at Stanford. I have a lot of appreciation and understanding that he’s not perfect. None of us are. He deeply cares about doing the right thing.”
With Botha’s addition, SpaceX’s board now has nine directors. He joins Musk confidants Ira Ehrenpreis, Antonio Gracias, Steve Jurvetson, and Luke Nosek; SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell; Google executive Donald Harrison; and venture capitalist Randy Glein. Musk is chairman of the board.
Botha spent more than 20 years at Sequoia, which invested in SpaceX in 2019. The firm reportedly owned 1.5% of SpaceX before the IPO, giving it a stake worth over $20 billion. SEC filings revealed that Musk holds more than 80% of the voting power in the now-public company, and shareholders have severely limited ability to challenge his actions. Musk also controls all changes to the board’s composition.
