Silicon Valley's Sequoia searching for West End office
Silicon Valley venture titan Sequoia Capital has been hunting for a new London office, as it readies to double down on investments in Europe.
The Telegraph understands that Sequoia has been searching for between 4,000 and 6,000 square foot of space across one floor, preferably in the West End of London. However, sources said the company was still looking at multiple options across the city.
The venture capital firm, which in the past backed names including Apple, Google and Airbnb, is understood to be aiming to lease the new space rather than buy.
Sequoia declined to comment.
The push to find space for the new team comes as it emerged last week that Sequoia had hired its second European partner, to start later this month.
Revolut's product lead George Robson wrote on Twitter that he would be joining the firm at a time when there was "more opportunity and innovation [in Europe] than ever".
He joins Luciana Lixandru, who Sequoia announced earlier this year would be heading up the team. Ms Lixandru had previously been a partner at European firm Accel, leading investments in companies including Deliveroo.
She would be starting in the post in September, it had said.
Sequoia, a well-regarded name in the VC space, has been making more investments in British companies in recent years, although up until now it has not had a partner based in the UK and has been flying in partners to handle those deals.
The new London office is expected to be a hub for Sequoia's European operations, and should allow it to back more start-ups in the continent.
Sequoia is not the only North American VC firm which has been ramping up work in the UK, and Inovia Capital placed Patrick Pichette, now Twitter chairman, in London last year.
Mr Pichette told the Telegraph that Inovia was working so "that the big players don't take them out when in fact those companies can actually create the next 25,000 jobs in the UK".
