Investing.com -- Venture capital group Sequoia Capital has reduced the size of two of its funds, including a cryptocurrency-focused vehicle launched last year, in response to a broader startup downturn, according to news reports.
Silicon Valley-based Sequoia reportedly slashed the size of its cryptocurrency fund to $200 million from $585M, while the size of its ecosystem fund -- which backs other smaller venture funds -- was cut to $450M from $900M.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the story, citing people familiar with the matter. The Financial Times later quoted Sequoia as saying that the changes were made to "focus on seed-stage opportunities and to provide liquidity" to its limited partners, referring to the well-known venture fund's own investors.
Venture funds, which had seen more than a decade of growth, are currently reassessing their positions as elevated interest rates and ongoing economic uncertainty hit start-up valuations and partially dam up the stream of public listings.
For Sequoia, in particular, this is a time of transition. In June, it said it would split off its lucrative Chinese business as tensions mount between the U.S. and China. Then, earlier this month, Sequoia announced that partner Michael Moritz would step down after nearly four decades at the company.
Last year, Sequoia was also strained by the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange into which it had plugged an investment reportedly worth $214M. The failure, which has left FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried facing multiple counts of fraud, forced Sequoia to write off the investment to zero.