The legendary venture firm Sequoia Capital has cut seven people in its talent operations division, a sign of continued retrenchment in the world of Silicon Valley startups.
The layoffs, which were confirmed by a spokeswoman, represent a third of the firm’s talent division, whose functions include recruiting for startups. The move comes as the firm parts ways with at least five investing partners. Those partners include onetime firm leader Mike Moritz, and Michelle Fradin, who had championed Sequoia’s doomed backing of crypto exchange FTX.
It’s been a year of upheaval for the normally staid firm: In June, Sequoia announced an even larger change — that it would spin off its India and China divisions.
Forbes earlier reported news of the cuts to the operations division.
Until early last year, many venture-backed companies were on a hiring tear, funded by the record amounts of cash venture capitalists were pouring into them. Now, many startups — particularly those not in the hot artificial intelligence industry — have cut costs as part of an industrywide push toward profitability.
