Top Silicon Valley investment firm Sequoia Capital has reportedly accepted up to $350 million from the Washington State Investment Board (WSIB) for its new $5 billion global growth fund.
Dan Primack from Axios reports that it’s a big deal for Sequoia, which traditionally stayed away from U.S. public pensions because it didn’t want fund performance data to be released. PE Hub reports that WSIB is the first major public pension to back Sequoia’s new fund.
WSIB has $128.8 billion in total assets under management. It manages investments for 17 retirement plans and 18 other public funds. WSIB has invested in other venture capital funds run by firms like Menlo Ventures; Frazier Healthcare; New Enterprise Associates; U.S. Venture Partners; and Oak Investment Partners.
“Sequoia Global Growth Fund III – Endurance Partners, L.P.” was an agenda item for the “Private Markets Committee Report” at WSIB’s most recent board meeting on April 19. Pensions & Investments reported that the board approved the commitment to Sequoia’s fund last week. We’ve reached out to WSIB for more details and will update this post when we hear back.
