For one of Silicon Valley’s richest investors, Michael Moritz has unlikely roots. A Welshman from Cardiff who moved to the US as a journalist for Time magazine, he does not fit the standard venture capitalist mould: the tech-focused operating executive, or the smooth-talking, chino-wearing MBA.
“He’s neither — he really seemed less conventional,” says Jerry Yang, co-founder of Yahoo, who was a Stanford University student when he first met the start-up investor in the mid-1990s.
Awarded a British knighthood in the UK in 2013, Sir Michael made early investments in Google, and YouTube, cementing his place as one of the top investors in tech history. He describes himself as the biggest individual investor in funds managed by Sequoia Capital, the blue-chip venture capital firm where he has worked since 1986. Forbes estimates his wealth at $3.4bn, but Moritz himself puts it “a bit higher”.