Which venture capital firm was founded by Don Valentine in 1972?

Sequoia Capital was founded by Don Valentine in 1972. Valentine, a former sales and marketing executive at Fairchild Semiconductor and National Semiconductor, created the firm during Silicon Valley’s formative venture-capital era.

Sequoia’s early identity was shaped by backing ambitious technology companies before they became household names. Its first major fund, formed in 1974 through Capital Management Services, raised $3 million. Early investments included Atari and Apple, and Valentine served on the boards of both companies. Those bets helped establish the firm’s reputation for identifying fast-growing technology businesses.

The name Sequoia refers to California’s giant redwood trees, suggesting durability and scale rather than using the founder’s name. A frequent mix-up is confusing Sequoia Capital with other prominent firms such as Kleiner Perkins or Accel. Sequoia’s later portfolio included companies such as Oracle, Cisco, Google, and YouTube, but those investments occurred after the firm’s founding.