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The prestigious venture firm Sequoia Capital likes to say all its partners invest in every sector. But more than anyone, the growth-stage partner Grady, part of Business Insider's 2024 AI Power List, has led the firm's AI strategy, making bets on companies including OpenAI, Harvey, and Hugging Face. Along with another partner, Sonya Huang, Grady also wrote a public blog post on Sequoia's website inviting AI founders to email them their ideas and pitches directly. A successful deal for Sequoia is more about investing in the best people rather than at the best price, Grady told Business Insider last year. "We don't make money by getting a good deal," he said.See Business Insider's full <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://businessinsider.com/ai-power-list-2024">AI Power List</a>

Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady is redefining AI investments

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Health startup Roon is raising $15 million at a $65 million pre-money valuation, BI has learned.</li><li>Sequoia, an existing Roon investor, is set to participate in the round.</li></ul>Health information site Roon is raising a new funding round, Business Insider has learned.The startup is raising $15 million at a $65 million pre-money valuation, according to two people familiar with the efforts.Existing investor Sequoia Capital has recommitted to the funding round, according to those people.Roon aims to replace "Dr. Google" with its website and app for consumers to ask their health questions and get expert answers.The company previously raised a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/12/roon-wants-to-educate-patients-with-freshly-sourced-info-on-their-conditions/">$7.5 million</a> seed round in 2022. Firstmark, TMV, and Sequoia Capital led the round, with SV Angel, Maveron, and M13 participating.Terms of the deal are not finalized and could be subject to change. Roon and Sequoia did not respond to requests for comment.Roon pitches itself as a "trusted guide for health" on its website. The company provides accessible medical information to users and partners with trained medical professionals to answer specific medical questions about users' health journeys.Currently, Roon's site says it can help patients navigating fertility and family building, dementia, the neurological disease ALS, or the brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme.The company initially began by providing medical information on glioblastomas, sourcing experts on the specific condition before expanding to additional topics, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/12/roon-wants-to-educate-patients-with-freshly-sourced-info-on-their-conditions/">per TechCrunch</a>. Roon also offers to connect users with other people experiencing similar health conditions.Roon CEO Vikram Bhaskaran, a former Pinterest executive, founded Roon in 2021 after struggling to find accessible information about his loved ones' medical conditions. He partnered with his former Pinterest colleague Arun Ranganathan, who serves as Roon's CTO, and Rohan Ramakrishna, a trained neurosurgeon and Roon's chief medical officer.Today, expert <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/health">health information</a> isn't always easy to find with a simple Google search. Patients may turn to resources like WebMD, forums like Quora, or even social media for advice on their conditions — with unsurprisingly unreliable accuracy.AI platforms, such as Perplexity and OpenAI's ChatGPT, are increasingly becoming a resource for medical questions as well. However, there have been <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/software-developers-want-ai-to-give-medical-advice-how-accurate-is-it/">concerns around the reliability and accuracy</a> of these platforms' outputs.Consensus, a search engine that helps people parse scientific papers, raised a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://consensus.app/home/blog/announcing-our-11-5m-series-a-fundraise/">$11.5 million</a> Series A led by Union Square Ventures in July to tackle a similar market.Roon aims to differentiate itself with its focus on "medically vetted" information, Bhaskaran told TechCrunch in 2022."There's so much medical misinformation… it's crazy that patients don't have anywhere to go to answer questions," he said.

Exclusive: Health startup Roon is raising $15 million from Sequoia to replace 'Dr. Google'

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Doug Leone wrote on X that he will support Donald Trump for president in this year's election.</li><li>Leone previously rebuked Trump, saying he'd incited the riot at the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.</li></ul>Billionaire venture capitalist Doug Leone, a partner at Sequoia Capital who managed the firm until 2022, reversed his previous critiques of Donald Trump on Monday and said he would support the former president and convicted felon's campaign.He joins a growing list of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-partner-supports-donald-trump-highlighting-shift-silicon-valley-politics-2024-5">Silicon Valley elites</a> backing Trump."I have become increasingly concerned about the general direction of our country, the state of our broken immigration system, the ballooning deficit, and the foreign policy missteps, among other issues," Leone wrote in a post on X. "Therefore, I am supporting <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-happens-to-ai-regulation-under-another-trump-term-2024-6">former President Trump</a> in this coming election."After the January 6 attack on the Capitol, Leone had previously renounced his support for Trump, saying the former president's behavior during the riots caused him to lose "many of his supporters, including me," Leone said in a statement to Vox's Recode at the time.The re-endorsement adds Leone to a growing list of Silicon Valley elites who have said they will be backing Trump following his recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guilty-verdict-donors-backing-conviction-2024-5">felony conviction</a> in New York. Among them are Shaun Maguire, a partner at Sequoia, and billionaire venture capitalist David Sacks.Leone and representatives for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

Sequoia partner Doug Leone once again supports Trump after previously renouncing him

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Elon Musk's OpenAI rival, xAI, says it just raised $6 billion in funding from investors.</li><li>The AI startup is backed by VCs like Sequoia Capital and Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk's</a> xAI just took a critical step in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-ai-startup-raising-funding-war-chest-openai-report-2024-1">building up its war chest</a> to take on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-openai-ceo-career-net-worth-ycombinator-prepper-2023-1">Sam Altman's</a> OpenAI.The AI startup said in a <a target="_blank" href="https://x.ai/blog/series-b">blog post</a> on Sunday that it had raised $6 billion for their Series B funding round.The company, which is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-new-company-xai-website-2023-7">barely a year old</a>, counts among its investors prominent VCs like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/andreessen-horowitz-ai-reshuffle-a16z-2023-11">Andreessen Horowitz</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-generative-artificial-intelligence-boom-venture-capital-2023-5">Sequoia Capital</a> as well as Saudi Arabia's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-kingdom-holding-500-million-russia-energy-2022-8">Kingdom Holding</a>."There will be more to announce in the coming weeks," Musk said in an <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1794964816211087660">X post</a> on Monday morning.The mercurial billionaire said in a subsequent <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1794975702812426595">X post</a> that xAI's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/business-valuation-an-introduction-to-prepost-money-valuation-2011-4">pre-money valuation</a> was $18 billion. The financial term refers to the value of a company before any equity investment is made.Sunday's announcement marks the first time xAI has talked about its fundraising efforts. Musk had <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1748528116127912030">repeatedly denied </a><a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1750995501560807465?s=46">earlier reports</a> from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-20/musk-s-xai-secures-500-million-toward-1-billion-funding-goal">Bloomberg</a> and the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ft.com/content/28983bdc-2a38-4103-beae-08d9542ab69d">Financial Times</a> about xAI's outreach to investors.The influx of funding will be essential for Musk, who has envisioned xAI as an alternative to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-openai-company-chatgpt-elon-musk-founded-2022-12">OpenAI</a>, a company he'd cofounded with Altman. Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/blog/openai-supporters">left the OpenAI board</a> in 2018.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/everything-you-need-to-know-about-chat-gpt-2023-1">ChatGPT</a> maker was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-valued-at-80bn-following-deal-employees-cash-out-report-2024-2">valued at $80 billion or more</a> following a deal that allows staff to cash out their shares, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/16/technology/openai-artificial-intelligence-deal-valuation.html">The New York Times</a> reported in February, citing people familiar with the deal.Musk <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-sues-sam-altman-betrays-openai-mission-chatgpt-2024-3">filed a lawsuit</a> against OpenAI in February, where he accused the company of violating its nonprofit mission by partnering with Microsoft.A year ago, Musk expressed disappointment in what OpenAI had become, saying that it was "<a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1626516035863212034?s=20">not what I intended at all.</a>""OpenAI was created as an open source (which is why I named it 'Open' AI), non-profit company to serve as a counterweight to Google, but now it has become a closed source, maximum-profit company effectively controlled by Microsoft," Musk wrote on X.

Elon Musk's xAI says it just raised $6 billion in funding, pulling in big bucks from Sequoia Capital and Saudi Arabia

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Shaun Maguire announced he'd be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-guilty-verdict-donors-backing-conviction-2024-5">backing Donald Trump after the former president's felony conviction</a>.</li><li>The Sequoia partner's support highlights a political shift among some in Silicon Valley.</li></ul>Shaun Maguire, a partner at the prominent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sequoia-capital-distributed-10-billion-in-2023">venture capital firm Sequoia</a>, announced he'll be cutting a $300,000 check to Donald Trump — just minutes after the former president was <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-hush-money-trial-verdict-2024-5">found guilty of 34 felony counts</a>. The timing, Maguire said, was not a coincidence.In a lengthy screed on <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/shaunmmaguire/status/1796293774794268747">X</a>, Maguire, who said he voted for Hilary Clinton in 2016 and did not vote in 2020, outlined his reasoning — including a take about the "double standards and lawfare against Trump."He also acknowledged that it may not be the most shrewd move for business."I know that I'll lose friends for this. Some will refuse to do business with me," he wrote. "The media will probably demonize me, as they have so many others before me. But despite this, I still believe it's the right thing to do."Maguire, who did not respond to a request to comment from Business Insider, may be less alone than he thinks.Following his conviction, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-fundraising-felony-conviction-manhattan-senate-republicans-2024-5">Trump's campaign reported raising</a> a record $34.8 million. And while that amount was mostly from small donors, per the Trump team, some big-money donors and Silicon Valley titans have signaled their support for the former president — and the guilty verdict doesn't seem to have stopped them.Billionaire venture capitalist David Sacks, who is co-hosting a fundraiser for Trump next week, called the trial a "sham." Elon Musk replied in agreement with Maguire. Investor Keith Rabois reposted various takes that criticized the verdict.While Silicon Valley has long been a liberal hub, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-biden-silicon-valley-election-fundraising-gop-cash-gap-2024-5">Trump has been courting the big-pocketed tech executives</a> and venture capitalists there.Chamath Palihapitiya, another venture capital billionaire and Sacks' podcast partner, will also cohost next week's Trump fundraiser at Sacks' home, despite donating six figures to Biden in 2020. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-could-be-donald-trump-advisor-wsj-reports-2024-5">Musk has reportedly been in talks with Trump</a> regarding an advisory role, should he win.Others, like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-plan-use-ai-save-the-world-regulation-startups-2023-6">venture capitalist Marc Andreeson</a> and Rabois, have not announced their support for Trump but have criticized Biden.The current administration's stance on regulation — particularly the FTC's approach to Big Tech companies — and calls for increased taxes on the wealthy has turned some former Democrats against the party.The members of the monied West Coast class throwing their support behind Trump are mirroring some Wall Street counterparts. Last week, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/blackstone-ceo-steve-schwarzman-endorses-donald-trump-2024-5">Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman</a> announced he'd be backing the former president. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bill-ackman-trump-endorsement-reports-2024-5">Hedge fund giant Bill Ackman</a> is reportedly leaning toward endorsing him, too.Of course, the growing number of influential Silicon Valley voices supporting Trump — Sacks and Palihapitiya have their popular podcast, Musk has his an entire social media platform — are not representative of many of the area's wealthy inhabitants.For example, earlier this month, former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/openai-investor-vinod-khosla-says-he-works-80-hour-weeks-2023-12">venture capitalist Vinod Khosla</a> hosted fundraising events for Biden.Correction: May 31, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the amount of money Trump's campaign raised following the verdict. It raised $34.8 million, not $34.8 billion.

You Searched For "Sequoia" and got 5 results

Sequoia Capital partner Pat Grady is redefining AI investments

Ben Bergman

Exclusive: Health startup Roon is raising $15 million from Sequoia to replace 'Dr. Google'

Sri Muppidi,Rebecca Torrence

Sequoia partner Doug Leone once again supports Trump after previously renouncing him

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

Elon Musk's xAI says it just raised $6 billion in funding, pulling in big bucks from Sequoia Capital and Saudi Arabia

Kwan Wei Kevin Tan

A Sequoia partner announced he's backing Donald Trump following his felony conviction, highlighting a political shift in Silicon Valley

Madeline Berg

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