Roelof Botha facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Roelof Botha
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Roelof Botha, September 2010
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Roelof Frederik Botha
19 September 1973 (age 51) Pretoria, South Africa
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| Alma mater | (MBA) |
| Occupation | Venture capitalist |
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Roelof Frederik Botha (born 19 September 1973) is a South African-American businessman. He is known for being a venture capitalist, which means he helps invest money in new and growing companies. He also works as a company director, guiding businesses.
Botha is a top partner at Sequoia Capital, a famous company that invests in new businesses. He has helped many well-known companies grow. For example, he has been on the boards of companies like MongoDB, Evernote, Square, and Unity. He also worked with Instagram, Mixpanel, and Mu Sigma.
He used to be on the board of directors for Meebo and YouTube before they were bought by Google. He also worked with Weebly before it was bought by Square, and Tumblr before it was bought by Yahoo!.
Roelof Botha is often recognized on Forbes magazine's Midas List. This list ranks the best venture capitalists in the world. He was ranked 22nd in 2008, 9th in 2021, and 36th in 2022.
Education and Early Career
Botha was born in Pretoria, South Africa. When he was six years old, his family moved to Cape Town. He grew up in Hout Bay, a suburb of Cape Town, and went to Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck.
He studied at the University of Cape Town. In 1996, he earned a degree in Actuarial Science, Economics, and Statistics. After college, he worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co. in Johannesburg from 1996 to 1998. A business analyst helps companies understand their data and make better decisions.
Later, he moved to the United States. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Working at PayPal and Sequoia Capital
In 2000, before he finished his MBA, Botha started working for PayPal. He became the director of corporate development. He then became the vice-president of finance. In September 2001, he was named the CFO, which means he was in charge of all the company's money.
PayPal became a public company in February 2002. This means its shares could be bought and sold on the stock market. Later, in October 2002, eBay bought PayPal. Roelof Botha was asked to stay on as CFO. However, Michael Moritz from Sequoia Capital offered him a partnership. Sequoia Capital had invested in PayPal earlier. Botha accepted the offer and joined Sequoia in January 2003.
At Sequoia, Botha helped guide the company's investments in many successful businesses. These included YouTube, Instagram, and Block (which used to be called Square). He also helped plan when PayPal bought Xoom.
In 2017, Botha took over leading Sequoia's operations in the United States. In April 2022, Sequoia announced that Botha would become the Senior Steward of Sequoia's global brand and operations starting in July 2022. This means he helps lead the entire company worldwide.
Botha has led or co-led Sequoia's investments in many new and growing companies. As of 2025, he is actively involved with companies like Ethos, Evernote, GenEdit, Landis, mmhmm, Pendulum, Skiff, Temporal Technologies, and The Org. On October 9, 2023, Botha became the chairman of the board of directors at Unity Technologies.
Family Life
Roelof Botha's father, also named Roelof, is an economist. His uncle was the rock musician Piet Botha. His grandfather was Roelof Frederik "Pik" Botha. Pik Botha was a well-known South African politician. He served as the country's last foreign minister under the government that practiced Apartheid. He also became the first minister of Mineral and Energy Affairs under Nelson Mandela.
Roelof Botha is married to Huifen Chan. They have a daughter named Saskia Botha and a son named Bosman Botha.
