Yesterday, TechCrunch broke the information that Sequoia, one of many best-known enterprise capital corporations available in the market in the present day, had “parted methods with [Finix] over a purported battle of curiosity and, nearly extra shockingly, handed again its board seat, its data rights, its shares and its full funding.”
Sequoia led the $35 million spherical into the funds infrastructure participant, as I’d coated for TechCrunch a little bit over a month in the past, and that’s the supply of battle.
Sequoia additionally occurs to be an investor in Stripe, an organization value round $35 billion. The agency led its Series A again in 2012, in response to Crunchbase; due to this fact, Sequoia just isn’t solely a longtime Stripe affiliate, however a serious shareholder as effectively.
You may see why, if Finix and Stripe are competing, Sequoia made a mistake. Earlier than the Imaginative and prescient Fund period, it was thought of not solely silly to fund competing corporations (why pay to your personal competitors?), however, to a point, unethical. Buyers and founders love to speak up their long-term partnerships. The inverse of such a relationship is paying another person to beat up your different portfolio firm.
And because it seems, we will be taught extra concerning the dynamics of this relationship from our interview with Finix CEO Richie Serna. Amidst our dialogue about Finix’s enterprise mannequin, how the corporate thinks about itself, and who its merchandise are greatest for, Serna additionally talked about Stripe (he had good issues to say) and the way its strategy to funds is distinct from Stripe’s personal.
With that interview in hand, let’s discover out if there’s sufficient house between the 2 startups to absolve Sequoia of its fake pas.
