Sequoia Ends Its Scouts Program, Signaling a Shift in Venture Investing
US venture capital firm Sequoia announced a broad overhaul this week, closing its London office and shutting down its scout program. Observers see it as a sign that the model has reached its limits in its current form.
Venture capital firm Sequoia announced a broad restructuring this week in a memo posted to X. The overhaul includes closing its London office and ending its scout program, under which selected founders and operators invest on the firm's behalf.
Why the scouts decision matters
Observers caution against reading too much into the London closure, since the British capital has a thriving AI scene. The end of the scouts program, in their view, says far more about where venture investing is heading. Sequoia pioneered the model 17 years ago, and many firms copied it as competition for deals intensified.
In the memo, Sequoia did not argue against scouts. It framed the move as part of a need for more focus, saying it wants to put "more energy behind fewer people and things." Investor Sheel Mohnot wrote on X that the model never made sense to him: scouts don't care much about the investments, and deals can still be missed, as happened with Uber. He suggested other firms may shut theirs as well.
Rival Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has already revised its program. Partner Gabriel Vasquez told TechCrunch earlier this year that scouts now receive larger budgets, but their number has been reduced.
What scouts gained
For founders, being a scout brings them closer to firms they may want funding from one day and can raise their standing among peers. Roxanne Varza, head of the startup campus Station F and a Sequoia scout from 2020 to 2025, said she was sad about the decision. She argued that such programs helped build the investment culture and early-stage landscape in Europe.
Why the model may have run its course
First, seasoned operators can earn more as angel investors, since they keep the returns on their own money. Second, leading firms are now so large and well known that the best founders tend to approach them directly. Still, the appeal of early and niche deals means scout programs are more likely to be reworked than to disappear entirely.
