Sequoia Capital Partner Michael Moritz is said to be leaving the venture capital firm after 38 years, according to a letter sent to limited partners on Wednesday and viewed by Reuters.

Moritz, 68, will now focus on Sequoia Heritage, a $15 billion wealth management fund that he helped launch in 2010. The fund will be independent from Sequoia Capital, with focus on a diversified range of assets, according to the letter, Reuters reported.

Moritz, one of the renowned investors in tech, was an early backer and long-running board member at tech giants such as Google and PayPal, and once led Sequoia to become one of the most high-profile venture capital firms, according to the report. It now has more than $53 billion in assets under management in the United States and Europe.

In 2012, Moritz stepped back from the management role at Sequoia, citing health reasons, and has remained a partner at the firm’s seed and growth teams.

A spokesperson for Sequoia Capital confirmed Moritz’s exit and declined to comment on details, according to the report.

Sequoia Heritage is set to become independent as part of a broader organizational shift the firm announced last month, which will also split its Chinese and Indian/Southeast Asian businesses into two independent firms.

Sequoia Capital has been going through a generational transition as partner Roelof Botha took on the firm’s global leadership position in July 2022, the report added.

Sequoia said last month it plans to split off its Chinese and Indian/Southeast Asian businesses into two independent firms, as it tries to better navigate economic and geopolitical challenges, Reuters reported.

The split, which will see the two new firms adopt their own brands, will occur by March 31, 2024, Sequoia said then.

Meanwhile, following Moritz’s exit, Sequoia will over time replace his board seat at high-profile unicorns including Stripe, Klarna and Instacart.

Another partner at Sequoia, Mike Vernal, is also in the process of exiting the firm after seven years at Sequoia, according to a source familiar with the matter, Reuters reported.

With offices in the US, China, India, and Israel, Sequoia Capital provides seed, early, and growth stage venture financings and provided the original major financings for Google, YouTube, PayPal, Yahoo!, WhatsApp, Zoom, Apple, Cisco, nVidia, Stripe, Instacart and Klarna among others.

VC funding globally declined 48 percent to $173.9 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to PitchBook data.

Feature photo credits: Linkedin page of Michael Moritz.

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