
Mercor Co-Founder Accuses Sequoia of Dual-Pricing Valuation Tricks
Brendan Foody, co-founder of AI talent platform Mercor, publicly accused Sequoia of using a dual-pricing structure that inflates headline valuations while the firm invests at a lower price. Foody said he has seen several rounds where Sequoia invests in two tranches at different valuations, with founders then misrepresenting the higher valuation to employees and angel investors. Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire defended the practice as rare and driven by market dynamics.