Sequoia scraps London office as UK employees face axe

Silicon Valley venture capital giant Sequoia Capital is shutting its London office and cutting staff, just six years after expanding into Europe, in a major retreat from Britain’s startup investment scene. The US investor, an early backer of Apple, Airbnb and Stripe, confirmed the closure in a sweeping restructuring announcement, saying it no longer saw the need for a physical presence in the capital. We are closing our London office, which means several people will be leaving Sequoia , the firm said in a blog post published on Wednesday. This is not about the team – they are excellent. We simply don’t see the need for a local presence . Sequoia insisted it remained committed to backing European startups but said investment decisions and support would increasingly be handled from its Silicon Valley headquarters. We believe that Europe will continue to produce outlier founders and companies, and that we can continue to provide world class support from our home base in