Aakash Kapoor
Investor
Sequoia Capital
Peak XV investor focused on fintech, payments and consumer internet across SEA and ANZ.
Bio
Professional summary
Roelof Botha is a Sequoia Capital partner who invests across seed, early, and growth stages. Sequoia's official profile describes his path from South Africa to McKinsey, PayPal, and then Sequoia. His stated investment lens emphasizes contrarian and unconventional founders, original thinking, and the significance of crucible moments in company outcomes. Sequoia lists companies associated with him including YouTube, Instagram, MongoDB, Block, Eventbrite, Evernote, Tumblr, Unity, Xoom, X, Xaira, Sesame AI, Rillet, Pendulum, MyOme, biomodal, and Bird.
Investment focus
Stage, sector, and overall fit
Stage
seedearlygrowth
Sector
AIconsumerbiotechhealthcarefintechdeveloper toolsenterprise softwarehardware systems
Thesis
Seed, early, and growth-stage companiesUnconventional and original foundersContrarian opportunities where the investor can be right despite initial skepticism
Notable companies
Selected portfolio companies the partner has backed
YouTubeInstagramMongoDBBlockEventbriteEvernoteTumblrUnityXoomXXairaSesame AIRilletPendulumMyOmebiomodalBird
How to approach
Framing and angles for outreach
Pitch framing
Lead with a contrarian but well-supported insight, why the founder is unusually suited to the market, and how the company could become much larger than consensus expects.
Personalization hooks
- 1Personal side listed by Sequoia includes science, science fiction, food, family, snowboarding, and table tennis.
- 2PayPal operating background may make payments, networks, and high-conviction startup execution angles relevant.
Recent signals
What the partner has said or done recently
Current companies first partnered in 2025 include Flow Engineering, Rillet, Sesame AI, Sunflower Labs, and WithCoverage.
Press and media listed on Sequoia profile include recent discussion of Sequoia's AI future under his leadership.
Background
Career, education, and skills
Career history
- Sequoia CapitalPartner / Global Managing Partner2003 – Present
- PayPalCFO1999 – 2003
- McKinsey & CompanyConsultantPrior to 1999
Education
- University of Stellenbosch, South AfricaB.Com, Actuarial Science & Statistics
- Stanford University Graduate School of BusinessMBA
Skills
Venture CapitalGrowth InvestingBoard LeadershipOperating ExperienceFinTech
Languages
EnglishAfrikaans
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