Changpeng Zhao Takes Sequoia Capital Unit Back to Court

By Kapil Gauhar

Changpeng Zhao, founder and CEO of Binance, suing VC giant Sequoia after the VC investor’s case against him was dismissed.

CZ claims that Sequoia Capital China not only hurts his reputation but also prevents him from raising money at favourable valuations. He wants the VC giant to compensate him for the same.

As indicated by a filing submitted on May 20 to the High Court in Hong Kong, CZ has sent an application through his attorneys for a hearing before the court chambers on order for “immediate summary of the assessment of damages.”

A hearing for the case, HCMP 2770/2017, is expected to take place on June 25, as per the information available on the court’s website, between Changpeng Zhao and SCC Venture VI, a firm known as a special purpose vehicle of Sequoia Capital China.

The application demands an inquiry to be undertaken for determining if Zhao ‘has sustained what damages (if any)’ resulting from the injunction order Sequoia got on December 27, 2017, which prevented Zhao from raising capital from the other investors until March 1st, 2018.

If it’s decided that ‘any such damage has been sustained,’ CZ asks that Sequoia pay him the amount determined at the inquiry.

Zhao, in the new filing, said –

“The injunction order has caused loss to me for which I am entitled to reasonable compensation by Sequoia. In particular, I have suffered a loss of chance to raise capital through successive rounds of financing at increasing high valuations and significant damage to my reputation.”

Sequoia Capital China hasn’t responded as of press time.

Zhao’s punch-back follows a December 2018 decision by HKIAC (Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre), which dismissed all of Sequoia Capital’s claims that CZ had breached an exclusivity agreement at the time of negotiating Binance’s Series A equity financing.