Sequoia Capital is the constant. The venture capital firm always in the top tier while others come and go.

• Now, though, some long knives are out — with whispers that a recent reinvention could dent Sequoia's crown.

Driving the news: Sequoia last week announced a large number of changes, including some that actually had begun much earlier in the year. Among them:

• Closing the London office, which resulted in staff layoffs and most London-based investors staying behind.
• Ending the "Arc" batch accelerator program and Scouts program.
• Flattening its investment team to remove "early" and "growth" designations.
• Largely abandoning a novel structure launched in 2021, whereby Sequoia retained shares of portfolio companies after they went public and LPs had annual redemption rights.

Behind the scenes: The announcement came a year after Sequoia elevated Alfred Lin and Pat Grady to firm "stewards," succeeding Roelof Botha.

• The transition was presented as amicable, but multiple sources say it was more like a coup. Botha was booted but remained a general partner on existing funds, on its website, and even appeared at Axios BFD.
• The facade couldn't survive what happened this past June, when SpaceX went public.
• Sequoia had passed on its first chance to back SpaceX in 2017, but got in two years later. That round was pushed by partner Shaun Maguire, who had developed a strong relationship with Elon Musk. Maguire was never offered a board seat, nor did he seek one — believing that Musk viewed boards to be political formalities — and that he was a de facto insider.
• Botha had an even longer history with Musk from the PayPal days. Just a day or two after SpaceX went public, Musk asked Botha to join the SpaceX board — with a particular eye toward audit committee work.
• This is where things explode. Maguire and his Sequoia partners learned of the appointment at the same time as the rest of the world, as first reported by the FT, and suddenly realized that its investment would be restricted to insider trading windows. To them, it was an unforgivable breach of trust. And maybe an intentional provocation.
• Botha is said to have argued that he was honoring his confidentiality promises to SpaceX, and that Sequoia learned within 48 hours (which followed official firm policy). Moreover, Sequoia shares were still locked up, so there was no immediate harm, and now had an actual seat at the table.
• The result was a complete split between Sequoia and Botha, who retains legacy fund economics but no longer is a general partner on funds he helped to raise.

Zoom in: The split also presaged Sequoia seeking to tear down much of what Botha built. It's not as petty as it sounds, but the result is the same.

• For example, Botha launched Scouts. But it now seems to have outlived its usefulness — as many firms have aped the program and there's so much secondary liquidity that non-founders can become angel investors on their own.
• And the evergreen fund, which was never too popular among liquidity-hungry LPs. Sequoia now plans to distribute shares in all of its public companies (one exception is DoorDash/Instacart, which will need to wait on the pending merger). The umbrella structure will remain for admin reasons, but future fundraises and liquidity events will revert to more "normal."

Zoom out: Sequoia believes it was doing too many things at once, and that a streamlined focus will result in better returns.

• But there are hard feelings and outstanding questions.
• Some European founders and investors feel abandoned, even though Sequoia still plans to make European investments from its Bay Area base. One European venture firm even just pitched me on how it's the anti-Sequoia, echoing conventional wisdom that native and local teams tends to source the best deals.
• Some LPs worry that Sequoia's remaining seven general partners will gravitate toward later-stage (read: easier) investing — leaving behind an early-stage business that produced Apple, Google, and Nvidia. Or if the changes could cause early-stage founders to look elsewhere, thus slowing inbound deal flow. Sequoia has said not to worry, highlighting the team's early-stage portfolio and how partners now can more easily remain alongside their portfolio companies.
• And then there's some snickering that this is largely an economics concentration play, although none of Sequoia's partners should be hurting for cash.

The bottom line: Sequoia's announcement noted that its GPs "own" the firm, which is very different language than being "stewards" (even though that term somehow also remains).

• It suggests a desire to be more on offense than defense. It also reflects an acknowledgment that while Sequoia's reputation is based on what has come before, its future success or failure is firmly in the hands of its new guard.

Anthropic this morning launched the roadshow for an IPO that could raise up to $62.5 billion at a market cap just north of $1 trillion.

Why it's the BFD: This is smaller than expected, despite what would be eye-popping numbers for most any other company.

By the numbers: Anthropic plans to sell 801.4 million shares at $70-$78 per share. That works out to $56 billion to $62.5 billion raised, at a market cap of between $916 billion and $1.02 trillion.

• The high end of Anthropic's fully diluted valuation would be around $1.4 trillion.
• There's also a greenshoe that could raise an additional $8.66 billion to $9.65 billion and a concurrent $26 billion private placement to Google, Nvidia, AMD, Broadcom, Micron, Microsoft, and TSMC.
• Altogether, the IPO could generate over $98 billion in proceeds.

For context: Anthropic was valued at $965 billion in its most recent private round. The apples-to-apples comparison would be with the fully diluted value.

• SpaceX raised $75 billion in its IPO and a total of $86.25 billion with the exercised greenshoe.

The bottom line: Expect Anthropic shares to begin trading next Wednesday or Thursday.

• Mercor, a data-labeling firm, raised $750m in Series D funding at a $20b valuation from Benchmark, Felicis, Fundomo, Apollo, G Squared, General Catalyst, Glade Brook Capital, Nvidia, Salesforce, Sapphire Ventures, StepStone Group, XTX Ventures, and Zoom. axios.link/4ArqUWj

• Nominal, a hardware intelligence platform, raised $240m in Series C funding at a $3b post-money valuation. Lightspeed led, joined by Insight Partners, Lux Capital, Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Avenir, Salesforce Ventures, M13, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Red Glass Ventures, PSP Growth, and Deployment Capital. axios.link/4sQDXhn

🚑 Laza Medical, a Campbell, Calif.-based AI cardiac imaging platform, raised $160m in Series B funding. GE HealthCare Technologies led, joined by Unorthodox Ventures, PA MedTech, and AMED. axios.link/4AmUxba

• Daylight, an Israeli cybersecurity company, raised $80m in Series B funding. Goldman Sachs Alternatives led, joined by Okta Ventures and insiders Bain Capital Ventures, Craft Ventures, Vintage Partners, and Maple Capital. axios.link/4C1d7az

🚑 Oyster Therapeutics, a London-based neuroscience biotech, raised $60m in Series A funding led by 4BIO Capital. axios.link/4z86X5x

🚑 Charta Health, a medical chart review platform for insurers, raised $55m in Series B funding, per Axios Pro. Insight Partners led, joined by Madrona Venture Group, Bain Capital Ventures, South Park Commons, and QuantumLight. axios.link/4iM09EQ

• Bay, an Israeli developer of the trust layer for agentic enterprises, raised $37m in Series A funding led by Battery Ventures (plus a $13m seed round), per Axios Pro. Other backers include YL Ventures, Striker Venture Partners, Micron Ventures, M12, and Assaf Rappaport. axios.link/4sSDwTx

• Dreeze, a provider of cloud application recovery software, raised $33m in seed funding, per Axios Pro. Norwest and Bessemer Venture Partners led, joined by Claltech. axios.link/4sPwNK6

🚑 SRTD Biotech, a German developer of precision mRNA therapeutics, raised €31.5m in seed funding. Mérieux Equity Partners led, joined by NRW.BANK, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Lilly Ventures, HTGF, and Anobis Asset. axios.link/3WnD8Ay

• Operand, a due diligence AI platform for private equity, raised $31m in seed and Series A funding, per Axios Pro. Khosla Ventures led, joined by YC, Felicis, Soma Capital, and SV Angel. axios.link/48Gh0UK

• Spines, a hybrid book publisher, raised $29m in Series A-1 funding. Zeev Ventures led, joined by Aleph, NordStar, M-Fund, LionTree, and Dan Senor. It also secured $35m in non-dilutive financing from Twelve. axios.link/4zMSfC4

• Coframe, an SF-based website development startup, raised $25m in Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures and Hanabi Capital. axios.link/484uk5d

• Sumary, a Copenhagen-based AI accounting startup, raised $25m in seed funding. Singular led, joined by insiders byFounders, Partech and Tenity. axios.link/4BVjtrR

• Primordial Labs, a developer of a human-machine interface, raised $18m in Series A funding, per Axios. Ballistic Ventures led, joined by Spark Capital and Lockheed Martin Ventures. axios.link/3WnPGIb

• PORT, an urban logistics startup, raised €14.5m led by EBRD and Balnord. axios.link/489pWSu

🚑 Alterra Labs, a reinforcement learning environment focused on safety and alignment for AI in life sciences, raised $12.5m in seed funding. Oak HC/FT led, joined by Flare Capital, Company Ventures, and Tau Ventures. axios.link/489vc8G

• PuppyGraph, a graph query engine, raised $10m in Series A funding led by Particle Future and Defy.vc, per Axios Pro. axios.link/4j8LAwc

• Ancep, a provider of AI agents for commercial insurance brokers, raised $8.5m, per Axios Pro. Creandum led, joined by Kleiner Perkins and Vicus Ventures. axios.link/4iFVvbb

• Archiboost, an AI platform for architecture, engineering and construction, raised $6.2m in pre-seed and seed funding. Hanabi Capital and Marathon Venture Capital led, joined by RXR Arden Digital Ventures, Perceptive Ventures, and Valley Capital Partners. axios.link/3WrHNkZ

• Blackletter, an AI-native law firm, raised $6m in seed funding. Lerer Hippeau led, joined by Seven Stars, Maple VC, Garage Capital, and Ripple Ventures. axios.link/3WCq1eM

• Astral, an SF-based personalized education startup, raised $5.5m. MapleVC led, joined by Stand Together Ventures Lab, Conversion Capital, and Original Capital. axios.link/4BOTEtz

• Light Frame, a Swiss provider of core banking and portfolio management software for wealth managers, raised $5.1m in seed funding. Fortino Ventures led, joined by Sidekick Partners, Tenity, Chamaeleon, AltaIR Capital, Rogue Venture Partners, New Stack Ventures, and Studio Alpha. axios.link/4AhWHJ2

• Vessel, an NYC-based inventory software developer, raised $5m in seed funding. HG Ventures led, joined by Flex Capital, Ford Street Ventures, and I2BF Global Ventures. axios.link/4j7jZLV

• Snapp, an SF-based sports analytics startup, raised $4.6m in seed funding from firms like a16z Speedrun. axios.link/4sQagwU

• Agent F, a Berlin-based provider of AI agents for corporate admin tasks, raised $4m in pre-seed funding led by Alpha Edison. axios.link/4BRrYnE

• Altamont Capital Partners invested in CESO, a Dayton, Ohio-based provider of architecture and engineering services. axios.link/4kG5Whw

⚡ Bayou Midstream, backed by EIV Capital, acquired North Dakota-based Argent Gas Solutions from Silver Hill Energy Partners. axios.link/3UoAv0N

• Gladstone acquired a majority stake in McFarlane Toys, with Todd McFarlane and Stephen Tetrault retaining minority stakes. axios.link/4fkNuYe

• G&H, an Arlington Capital Partners portfolio company, acquired IntraAction, a Bellwood, Ill.-based maker of acousto-optic devices and associated RF drivers. axios.link/4z9zNTe

• LLCP acquired Five Star Franchising, a Springville, Utah-based franchisor of home services brands, from Princeton Equity Group. fivestarfranchising.com

• Marlin Equity Partners invested in Insight Assurance, a Tampa, Fla.-based provider of cybersecurity audit and assurance services. axios.link/4z9CHXY

• Net at Work, backed by Lovell Minnick Partners, acquired K&R Consulting Group, a provider of Sage and Acumatica ERP solutions and business advisory services. axios.link/4z86aSc

⚡ NRG Energy (NYSE: NRG) agreed to sell six ​natural gas-fired power plants to LS Power for $4b in cash. axios.link/4zB7wGl

• PSP Investments agreed to acquire 50% stake in Enercare, a Canadian home services provider, from Brookfield for C$1.6b. axios.link/4k7kmXP

• Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, KKR, and Korea Investment Corp. agreed to buy the remaining 60% stake in P&C insurer Canopius from Centerbridge Partners. axios.link/4zCjwHl

• Thompson Street Capital Partners made a growth investment in Kinneberg Management Group, a Minneapolis-based retail commerce enablement provider. axios.link/3Wl50W1

🚑 Windward Bio Group, a Swiss developer of antibodies for respiratory and dermatologic diseases, set IPO terms to 10.3m shares at $16-$18. It would have a $1b fully diluted value at the midpoint, and plans to list on the Nasdaq (WWB). The Phase 2/3 biotech has raised $365m from OrbiMed, Novo Holdings, Blue Owl, SR One, Omega Funds, RTW Investments, Qiming Venture Partners, Quan Capital, Pivotal bioVenture Partners, RA Capital Management, Janus Henderson Investors, Sanofi Ventures, and Harbour BioMed. axios.link/3Xf5FbD

• Astorg agreed to sell iGM Resins, a Dutch provider of energy-curing raw material solutions, to a consortium led by China's Jiuri. axios.link/4sNeEMZ

🚑 AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN) acquired Omniose, a St. Louis-based developer of vaccines against serious ​bacterial infections. axios.link/4eXwgjA

• Blackstone agreed to buy a 15.7% stake in listed Indian shadow lender IIFL Finance for around $532m. axios.link/4zh1dXx

🚑 Charles River Labs (NYSE: CRL) is backing a $616m take-private buyout of Frontage, a Hong Kong-listed pharmaceutical testing company. axios.link/4iytKCN

🍕 Craveworthy Brands of Chicago agreed to buy Papa Gino's, a Massachusetts-based pizza chain where I attended many childhood birthday parties (they let you make your own pie!). axios.link/4z9CEM0

• Entegris (Nasdaq: ENTG) acquired Advanced Abrasives, a Pennsauken, N.J.-based maker of industrial abrasives. axios.link/4BRiiK3

• GFL Environmental (NYSE: GFL) said it has rejected multiple takeover bids and will remain public. axios.link/4eV7Ozm

• Morgan Stanley agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a Winnetka, Ill.-based transfer agent for public companies that had raised around $31m from firms like Jump Capital, Index Ventures, and MUFG Innovation Partners. axios.link/4fn5Ojw

• Vanta, an SF-based enterprise compliance management startup valued at $4.15b by VCs, acquired Pillar Security for a reported $150m. Pillar is an Israeli AI security company that had raised $9m from Shield Capital, Golden Ventures, and Ground Up Ventures. axios.link/4eptaVk

• Altimeter Capital Management, led by Brad Gerstner, is raising up to $2.5b for its ninth growth equity fund, per an SEC filing. Bloomberg reports that it's also raising up to $900m for an earlier-stage fund. axios.link/4z51yMB

• Redalpine, a Zurich-based VC firm, raised $250m for its eighth fund. axios.link/3UGhJC7

• Darren Schluter joined Goldman Sachs as a managing director focused on PE secondaries. He previously was with PJT Park Hill. axios.link/4CaM7pd

• Marta Solé joined Buenavista Equity Partners as COO. She previously was COO of Crescenta. axios.link/3VexFf2

• Greg Wappett joined Zyneth Partners as an operating partner. He previously was chief development officer of 42 North Dental. axios.link/4sTyFBJ

The correlation between oil prices and bond yields has evaporated, Axios' Neil Irwin reports.

• It may not be a coincidence that this comes at the same time that cracks have emerged in the debt market financing AI.