a16z, Accel, and now Sequoia have become hedge funds. And Tiger and other hedge funds have started doing VC investments. Interesting bundling and unbundling of the industry.
1. Startup ETF for pre exit companies. 2. Stock exchange for startups.
I'm pretty sure there are rules which involve "looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, legally it's now a duck" which make it hard to trade pre-exit companies with any kind of useful liquidity.
Indeed, I don't see this as a hedge fund, a limited partnership of investors that uses high risk methods, such as investing with borrowed money, in hopes of realizing large capital gains. Generally hedge funds are private investments. Sequoia Fund is an open-ended liquid portfolio made up of public positions in a selection of our enduring companies. They even calls themselves a mutual fund.
Sequoia Fund is a mutual fund that has been advised by Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. since its inception on July 15, 1970.
> Generally hedge funds are private investments.
I take your point that HFs come in many flavors. And, "private investments" is ambiguous.
Though, in "general", the parent is right to say the claim (above) is not accurate. I think of HFs as "generally" playing with securitized, public assets, regardless of investment mandate.
Sequoiacap.com
Sequoiafund.com
https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/
Maybe this is clearer.
https://www.axios.com/sequoia-capital-fund-venture-capital-m...
https://www.sequoiafund.com/home -> is run by people who have nothing to do with Sequouia Venture Capital or the newly minted "The Sequoia Fund". As you can see this is a mutual fund that invests in public equities: https://www.sequoiafund.com/Performance
EDIT: here it is: https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/81741...
They did it because the change lets them to invest in public company stock, buy secondaries, buy crypto tokens, etc.