Former Sequoia partner Matt Miller has already locked in $355 million for his new VC firm, Evantic, which is also backed by Sequoia, News learned.
Last December, Miller announced his departure from Sequoia after twelve years to “start [his] own fund focused on the great founders of Europe.”
Despite the European focus, News’s understanding is that Evantic will actually invest on both sides of the Atlantic, with a focus on B2B companies at the Series B and growth stages. However, its activities will be conducted from London, where Miller moved from California in 2021.
Before moving to the U.K., Miller had already spearheaded Sequoia’s expansion into Europe and eventually joined Sequoia’s European office in London, where he worked alongside its first local hire, Luciana Lixandru, who remains there.
Sequoia on Monday declined to comment on Miller or the new fund. News has also reached out to Miller directly.
Miller’s fundraising has exceeded expectations. Initial reports indicated that Miller was raising $300 million for this new venture. Sources close to the matter now corroborate the Financial Times’ newer report that the target is $400 million and that Sequoia is participating as a limited partner. News has reached out to Sequoia for confirmation.
Specifically, Miller’s new firm has secured $350 million from external sources, per a U.S. regulatory filing; Evantic has also received $5 million in internal commitments and is in the process of closing the remaining $45 million from founders and other members of the startup ecosystem, sources tell News.
Miller’s departure appears to stem primarily from a failed power play at portfolio company Klarna. Not long before announcing his exit, Miller had reportedly tried and failed to oust former colleague Michael Moritz from the board of the buy-now-pay-later behemoth. Sequoia soon after apologized for supporting the attempt and gave Miller’s board seat to another partner.
At the same time, broader tensions were surfacing within Sequoia over partner Shaun Maguire, whose views have proven divisive both internally and among portfolio founders. Wunderlist founder Christian Reber, one of the first Sequoia-backed founders in Europe, expressed his disagreement back in January with Maguire over the German far-right party AfD earlier this year. Miller and Lixandru also distanced themselves from the views supported by Maguire, who has since then made more controversial comments.
Despite the Klarna incident, Miller appears to maintain good relations that Sequoia, as evidenced by the firm’s participation as an LP in his new venture. Miller also remains a venture partner at Sequoia and continues to represent the firm on several boards.
During his time at Sequoia, Miller worked closely with companies including Confluent, dbt Labs, Docker, Grafana, Graphcore, Hex, and Tessian. He also overlapped with longtime Sequoia employee Spencer Hemphill, who left before Miller did and is now reportedly Evantic’s CFO.
While technically a U.S. fund, Evantic will now join the ranks of cross-Atlantic venture firms including Index Ventures and Northzone, the latter of which said it was “doubling down on the transatlantic.” It will also be similar in size to the $348 million that the Norrsken Foundation, established by Klarna’s founder, is investing in European startups that use “AI for good.”
