Roelof Botha
{{Short description|South African-American businessman (born 1973)}}
{{for|the South African politician|Pik Botha}}
{{use American English|date=April 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Roelof Botha
| image = Roelof Botha.jpg
| caption = Roelof Botha, September 2010
| birth_name = Roelof Frederik Botha
| birth_date = {{birth-date and age|19 September 1973}}
| birth_place = Pretoria, South Africa
| occupation = Venture capitalist
| known_for = {{plainlist|
- CFO of PayPal
- Partner at Sequoia Capital
- Chairman of Unity Technologies}}
| alma_mater = {{plainlist|
- University of Cape Town (BSc)
- Stanford University}} (MBA)
| spouse =
| children =
| website =
| relatives = {{plainlist|
- Pik Botha (grandfather)
- Piet Botha (uncle)}}
}}
Roelof Frederik Botha (born 19 September 1973){{Cite news |last=Bouma |first=Hilda |date=April 12, 2022 |title='Boere Billionaire' Botha van Sequoia is van het stemmetje af |trans-title='Boere Billionaire' Botha from Sequoia has lost his voice |url=https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1435988/boere-billionaire-van-sequoia-blijft-bescheiden-over-de-business |work=Het Financieele Dagblad |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220413013559/https://fd.nl/bedrijfsleven/1435988/boere-billionaire-van-sequoia-blijft-bescheiden-over-de-business |archive-date=April 13, 2022 |url-status=live |language=nl}} is a South African-American actuary, venture capitalist and company director.
Botha is a partner at Sequoia Capital and as of 2022 sits on the boards of MongoDB,{{Cite web |last=Lev-Ram |first=Michal |date=July 25, 2024 |title=Sequoia Capital invested early in Google, Nvidia, and Apple. Can Roelof Botha keep the legendary venture capital firm ahead in the AI future? |url=https://fortune.com/2024/07/25/seqouia-capital-roelof-botha-investment-culture-apple-nvidia/ |work=Fortune}} Evernote,{{Cite news |last=Griffith |first=Erin |date=June 28, 2019 |title=A Unicorn Lost in the Valley, Evernote Blows Up the ‘Fail Fast’ Gospel |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/business/evernote-what-happened.html |work=The New York Times}} Bird,{{Cite web |last=Dickey |first=Megan Rose |date=October 3, 2019 |title=Bird raises $275 million Series D round at a $2.5 billion valuation |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/03/bird-raises-275-million-series-d-round-at-2-5-billion-valuation/ |website=TechCrunch}} Natera,{{Cite web |last=Loizos |first=Connie |date=March 26, 2019 |title=A new lawsuit involving Stanford and Sequoia Capital highlights fights to come over cell-free DNA testing |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/03/26/a-new-lawsuit-involving-stanford-and-sequoia-capital-highlights-fights-to-come-over-cell-free-dna-testing/ |website=TechCrunch}} Square, Unity, and Xoom.{{Cite web |last=Burns |first=Matt |date=April 14, 2014 |title=Top Sequoia Capital Partner Roelof Botha To Take The Stage At Disrupt NY 2014 |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/top-sequoia-capital-partner-roelof-botha-takes-the-stage-at-disrupt-ny-2014/ |website=TechCrunch}} He also worked with AssureRX, FutureAdvisor, Instagram, Mixpanel and Mu Sigma.[http://www.sequoiacap.com/us/roelof-botha Roelof Botha profile]. Sequoia Capital. He previously sat on the board of directors of Meebo and YouTube before they were each acquired by Google, Weebly before they were acquired by Square,{{Cite news |last=Davis |first=Alexander |date=April 26, 2018 |title=Sequoia Sees $91 Million Payout in Square’s Buyout of Weebly |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/sequoia-sees-91-million-payout-in-squares-buyout-of-weebly-1524783311 |work=The Wall Street Journal}} and Tumblr before they were acquired by Yahoo!.{{Cite web |last=Kincaid |first=Jason |date=May 24, 2011 |title=Sequoia's Roelof Botha: R.I.P. Good Times Was No Mistake (And Yes, They Do Read Their Email) |url=https://techcrunch.com/2011/05/24/sequoias-roelof-botha-r-i-p-good-times-was-no-mistake-and-yes-they-do-read-their-email/ |website=TechCrunch}} He previously sat on the boards of 23andMe,{{Cite web |last=Primack |first=Dan |date=September 18, 2024 |title=23andMe independent board directors resign en masse |url=https://www.axios.com/2024/09/18/23andme-resignations-anne-wojcicki |website=Axios}} Eventbrite, Jawbone, Mahalo, Nimbula,{{Cite web |last=Morgan |first=Timothy Prickett |date=June 25, 2010 |title=Nimbula puffs up 'cloud operating system' |url=https://www.theregister.com/2010/06/25/nimbula_cloud_os/ |website=The Register}} Tokbox,{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Scott Duke |date=August 12, 2008 |title=Valley start-ups Meebo, TokBox offer new ways to link people online |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2008/08/12/valley-start-ups-meebo-tokbox-offer-new-ways-to-link-people-online/ |work=The Mercury News}} and Whisper.
On Forbes{{'}} Midas List, an annual ranking of venture capital professionals, he ranked 22nd in 2008,{{cite news |title=The Midas List: #26 Roelof Botha |url=http://forbes.com/lists/2009/99/midas09_Roelof-Botha_U9W3.html |access-date=4 March 2025 |publisher=Forbes |date=29 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202161049/http://forbes.com/lists/2009/99/midas09_Roelof-Botha_U9W3.html |archive-date=2 February 2009}} 9th in 2021,{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/roelof-botha/|title=Roelof Botha|website=Forbes}} and 36th in 2022.{{Cite web |title=The Midas List 2022 |url=https://www.forbes.com/midas/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Forbes}}
Education and career
Botha was born in Pretoria, South Africa, and at the age of six he moved to Cape Town with his parents. He was raised in Hout Bay, a suburb of Cape Town, and attended Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck. Botha earned a BSc in Actuarial Science, Economics, and Statistics from the University of Cape Town, graduating in 1996. He worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co. in Johannesburg from 1996 through 1998. He then moved to the United States, where he received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.{{Cite news |last=McBride |first=Sarah |date=April 5, 2022 |title=South African Roelof Botha to head US venture capital giant which backed Apple, Airbnb |url=https://www.news24.com/fin24/companies/south-african-roelof-botha-to-head-us-venture-capital-giant-which-backed-apple-airbnb-20220405 |publisher=Bloomberg News |via=News24}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2007/0212/046.html |title=The Art of Selling Out |date=January 26, 2007 |work=Forbes}}
In 2000, prior to his graduation from Stanford, Botha became director of corporate development for PayPal. He moved on to vice-president of finance and was named CFO in September 2001. PayPal went public in February 2002, and was purchased by eBay in October 2002. Meg Whitman offered Botha the opportunity to stay on as CFO post-acquisition, but Sequoia Capital’s Michael Moritz, who had invested in PayPal and served as a board member, offered him a partnership, which he accepted in January 2003.{{cite news |last1=Carson |first1=Biz |title=Sequoia’s invisible hand: How Roelof Botha became one of the most powerful people in venture capital |url=https://www.protocol.com/sequoia-roelof-botha |access-date=2 March 2025 |publisher=Protocol |date=8 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415225821/https://www.protocol.com/sequoia-roelof-botha |archive-date=15 April 2023}}{{cite web |url= https://thetwentyminutevc.com/roelof-botha/ |title= Roelof Botha |date= 26 October 2020}}{{cite web |url= https://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0212/046.html |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070202005230/http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2007/0212/046.html |url-status= dead |archive-date= 2 February 2007 |title= The Art of Selling Out |first= Erika |last= Brown |date= 12 February 2007 |work= Forbes}}{{cite web |url= http://www.izwi.com/emigretalent/onfolio-files/Roelof%20Botha.htm |title= Roelef Botha: Hi-tech market mover |first= Duncan |last= McLeod |date= 14 December 2007 |work= Financial Mail |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101123014915/http://www.izwi.com/emigretalent/onfolio-files/Roelof%20Botha.htm |archive-date= 23 November 2010 }}{{cite web |url= http://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/ |title= Roelof Botha profile |publisher= Sequoia Capital |access-date= 2007-04-30}}
At Sequoia, Botha oversaw the firm's investment in YouTube, Instagram, and Block (formerly Square), among others.{{cite news |last=de la Merced |first=Michael |date=31 January 2017 |title=Sequoia Capital Reshuffles Leadership |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/business/dealbook/sequoia-capital-.html?_r=0 |work=The New York Times |access-date=13 July 2017 }} He also helped to plan the acquisition of Xoom by PayPal.{{cite news |title=Roelof Botha |url=https://www.forbes.com/profile/roelof-botha/ |work=Forbes |access-date=13 July 2017 }} In 2017, Botha took over lead responsibility for Sequoia's US operations from Jim Goetz.{{cite news |last=Loizos |first=Connie |date=31 January 2017 |title=Sequoia Capital has quietly announced a leadership change-up, with partner Jim Goetz taking a step back |url=https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/31/sequoia-capital-quietly-announcing-leadership-change-up-with-partner-jim-goetz-taking-a-step-back/ |work=Tech Crunch |access-date=13 July 2017 }} In April 2022, Sequoia announced that, starting in July 2022, Botha would replace Doug Leone as Senior Steward of Sequoia's global brand and operations.{{cite news |last=Konrad |first=Alex |date=4 April 2022 |title=VC Heavyweight Sequoia Names Roelof Botha As New Global Leader|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2022/04/04/vc-firm-sequoia-names-roelof-botha-global-leader |work=Forbes |access-date=23 April 2022 }}
Botha has led or co-led Sequoia's investments in several early and growth stage companies. As of 2022, his active investments include Ethos, Evernote, GenEdit, Landis, mmhmm, Pendulum, Skiff, Temporal Technologies, and The Org.{{Cite web |title=Roelof Botha |url=https://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/ |access-date=2022-11-10 |website=Sequoia Capital US/Europe |language=en-US}}
On October 9, 2023, Botha became chairman of the board of directors at Unity Technologies.{{Cite web |date=2023-10-09 |title=Unity Announces Leadership Transition |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20231009494331/en/Unity-Announces-Leadership-Transition |access-date=2023-10-09 |website=www.businesswire.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2023-10-09 |title=Unity Software CEO to retire effective immediately |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/unity-software-ceo-retire-effective-immediately-2023-10-09/ |access-date=2023-10-10}}{{Cite web |title=Unity Technologies - Governance - Board of directors - Person Details |url=https://investors.unity.com/governance/board-of-directors/person-details/default.aspx?ItemId=70523a40-b3a6-4a2f-84e0-5e8d8af97f6e |access-date=2023-10-10 |website=investors.unity.com}}
Family
File:Piet Botha.jpgBotha's father, also named Roelof, is an economist.{{Cite web|url=https://www.famousfaces.co.za/artists/dr-roelof-botha/|title=Famous Faces Bookings - Dr. Roelof Botha|date=16 January 2015}} His uncle was the rock musician Piet Botha. His grandfather was Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha, a South African politician who served as the country's last foreign minister under the Apartheid government, and the first minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs under Nelson Mandela. Roelof is married to Huifen Chan and they have a daughter named Saskia Botha and a son named Bosman Botha.{{cite web | url=https://drewaltizer.com/event/20365-asian-art-museum-gala/gallery/60f125a3e694aa7bcf4cbd52 | title=Asian Art Museum Gala 2021 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.sequoiacap.com/people/roelof-botha/ Roelof Botha Bio], Sequoia.
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Botha, Roelof}}
Category:Alumni of Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck
Category:South African businesspeople
Category:South African investors
Category:American people of South African descent
Category:South African venture capitalists