Sequoia is leaving London. Should Europe be worried?

Sequoia leaves London as US venture funds retreat from Europe

Sequoia Capital is closing its London office after six years and cutting its scout programme. US funds opened UK offices during the boom and are now consolidating in the Bay Area, where AI deals and 100x returns look likelier. Europe's deeper problem is that its biggest companies still need American late-stage money, and Sequoia is the bellwether other US investors watch.

Takeaways

• Sequoia closes London office and cuts scouts. After six years, Sequoia said it saw no need for a local presence and called its team excellent, and it will keep investing in Europe from the Bay Area. Its entire scout programme is going, so its European scouts are gone.
• The retreat is a cycle, not a verdict. Andreessen Horowitz closed its UK office after two years, and Coatue and Tiger Global have shut theirs. Sraders frames this as a boom-and-bust cycle, with US funds expanding into Europe when times were good and retreating amid geopolitical upheaval.
• Sequoia's European deal count is sliding. Sifted data show Sequoia joined 12 primary rounds through late October 2026, against 18 in the same stretch of 2025 and about 10 in 2024. Last year was the peak, and 2026 still beats 2024.
• Sequoia is consolidating around Bay Area AI. It has merged its early and growth teams and is focusing on San Francisco and the AI boom. European investors feel the same pull. Creandum raised a $750m fund that will invest partly in the US and tripled its San Francisco office.
• Later-stage founders still want Sequoia's brand. Sraders says remote early-stage and country-specific investing is harder, but founders at scale want Sequoia's firepower and will take meetings wherever it sits. Only one London partner is relocating to San Francisco.
• Europe's real gap is late-stage capital. Companies of a certain size still need US money, and the European Commission's €5bn Scale Up Europe Fund is not enough on its own. Sequoia's move is a bellwether for how American investors read Europe.

Reaction to the London exit

• Sraders says some VCs called the news sad for Europe, and one texted her that the continent is in a managed decline.
• Victor Riparbelli, cofounder and CEO of Synthesia, posted that there are not enough big deals in Europe to justify a permanent presence.
• Others argue that US firms opening and closing offices is normal and says nothing about the quality of European founders.
• Balderton Capital and Index Ventures posted that they are staying.
• Some VCs see the moment as a bigger opening for local investors to compete for deals.
• A banker told Sraders the move reflects the volume of US innovation, since a 100x return is likelier to come from the Bay Area than from an elite UK school.