Roelof Botha speaks on stage during opening day of TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 at Moscone Center on October 27, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
Kimberly White | Getty Images
Less than a week after leading space x CEO Elon Musk strengthened the rocket maker’s board with another longtime friend and ally, Roelof Botha, through a record IPO.
SpaceX said in a filing on Wednesday that Botha will serve immediately as an independent director and member of the company’s audit committee. In addition to his roles as CEO and head of technology, Botha will become SpaceX’s eighth director, of which Musk is chairman.
Botha started working at venture firm Sequoia in 2003 and was eventually promoted to managing director in 2022, leaving the position last year. He is currently an advisor to the company and is listed on the company’s website as part of the Seed, Early Stage, and Growth teams.
Mr. Musk hired Mr. Botha because paypal In 2000, in the early days of online payment companies. Both are from South Africa.
Sequoia is a big backer of Musk’s companies, investing in SpaceX as well as Neuralink and The Boring Company. It also contributed to Musk’s leveraged buyout of Twitter Inc., now known as X and owned by SpaceX.
The company first invested in SpaceX in 2019 and has added to its position in future rounds, amassing just under a 1.5% stake now worth about $35 billion. Sequoia partner Sean Maguire is the company’s primary lead investor in SpaceX, and Botha does not represent Sequoia on the company’s board.
Maguire told CNBC on Friday, as SpaceX was about to go public on the Nasdaq, that Sequoia would distribute some shares to investors “if we feel the valuation is significantly higher than expected.” “I personally intend to hold the stock forever,” he said.
The filing also said Botha had a relationship with a SpaceX employee, but did not name that person.
A Sequoia spokesperson declined to comment, and SpaceX representatives did not respond to requests for comment.
Musk controls more than 82% of SpaceX’s voting power and owns more than $1 trillion worth of company stock. In this governance model, external shareholders have little ability to influence.
Botha resigned from his supervisory position at Sequoia last year as the company became embroiled in controversy. The Financial Times reported that colleagues had criticized Mr. Botha’s management style and that he had caused trouble with some investors by defending Mr. Maguire’s comments that were widely criticized as Islamophobic.
Spotlight: SpaceX adds Sequoia’s Roelof Botha to board of directors
