Sources: Sequoia apologized to its fund investors for the $150M it lost on FTX and told them it would improve its due diligence process on future investments (Berber Jin/Wall Street Journal)

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia, a16z, and other firms are increasingly buying public tech stocks, capitalizing on low prices, as the private startup market stalls  —  Startup investors, known for making risky bets on unproven companies, are taking advantage of lower share prices following a market rout

Dan Primack / Axios:
Sequoia tells investors it is marking down its FTX investment, totaling $213.5M across two funds, to zero dollars, saying it “ran a rigorous diligence process”  —  – Its $150 million of exposure to both FTX and FTX.US in its third global growth fund represents less than 3% of that fund’s total capital commitment.

Berber Jin / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: a16z’s flagship crypto fund lost ~40% of its value in H1 2022, above the 10%-20% losses at rival funds; a16z has dramatically slowed crypto investments  —  Chris Dixon, a partner who led the charge, says he has a ‘very long-term horizon’  —  Crypto Crashed, Coinbase’s Stock Followed: What Went Wrong

Kate Clark / The Information:
SBF quietly invested $500M+ in Paradigm, Altimeter, and other VCs, including, sources say a $200M commitment to Sequoia, and $300M to K5 per PitchBook  —  FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was not only a tireless fundraiser from venture capital firms including Paradigm and Sequoia Capital …

Wall Street Journal:
Bob Iger, CEO of Walt Disney from 2005 to 2020, joins VC firm Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, as a venture partner  —  As a venture partner, Iger will identify new investments and mentor founders in day-to-day role  —  Netflix Hit a Subscriber Peak, Here’s How It Plans to Keep Growing

Heather Somerville / Wall Street Journal:
PitchBook: VCs raised $151B across Q1, Q2, and Q3 2022, exceeding any prior full-year cycle, concentrated among large funds at Sequoia, Lightspeed, and others  —  Limited partners who back venture funds still seek access to startups, which have outperformed other asset classes during recessions