Sources: Sequoia's China unit HongShan set up an office in Singapore and may compete with Sequoia's India-based Peak XV Partners for Southeast Asia investments
Context & Ripple Effects
The three-way split that carved Sequoia into US/Europe, China (HongShan) and India/Southeast Asia (Peak XV) was designed to give each firm a clean geographic lane. That separation is now fraying at the edges: after reporting in late 2023 that HongShan was seeking global business opportunities as China's economy slowed, sources say it has planted an office in Singapore — squarely inside Peak XV's assigned territory.
First-order effects
- Peak XV Partners suddenly faces a well-funded rival bidding on Southeast Asian deals it was spun off to own exclusively, turning what was an internal handoff into head-to-head competition.
- Southeast Asian founders gain a second deep-pocketed bidder from the same family tree, which changes negotiating dynamics on term sheets immediately.
Second-order effects
- Competition between two ex-Sequoia affiliates for the same regional deals puts upward pressure on valuations and could push both firms to differentiate — Peak XV doubling down on India, HongShan on cross-border portfolio support.
- Limited partners who backed both spin-offs on the promise of non-overlapping geographies now face mandate overlap, complicating future fundraising for whichever firm blurs its lane further.
Third-order effects
- If HongShan keeps exporting capital as its domestic deployment stalls — it had invested only about a quarter of its ~$9B fund per later reporting ([[a:889529]]) — the Sequoia split becomes a case study in whether geographic firewalls can hold when one region's capital supply outstrips its deal flow, potentially reshaping how global VC brands structure regional independence.
The trend: China's venture capital surplus is pushing top GPs like HongShan beyond their home market and into direct competition with their own former sister funds across Asia.