A prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist doubled down Tuesday in the face of growing backlash for saying Muslim-born Zohran Mamdani, the socialist Democratic mayoral candidate in New York City, is pursuing “his Islamist agenda.”
Shaun Maguire, a partner at venture capital giant Sequoia Capital and vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, called out Mamdani — who was born in Uganda to Indian parents — for listing that he was both “Asian” and “Black/African American” when applying to Columbia University in 2009.
Mamdani “comes from a culture that lies about everything” and is pursuing “his Islamist agenda,” Maguire posted on X last Friday.
The post, which has 5.4 million views as of Tuesday, drew sharp condemnation from the left-leaning tech world, including CEOs who were backed by Sequoia.
Nearly 900 people have signed an open letter addressed to leaders at Sequoia, slamming Maguire for his “deliberate, inflammatory attack.”
The signatories are demanding that the firm publicly condemn Maguire’s remarks, issue an apology to Mamdani and Muslim founders and authorize an independent investigation into Maguire’s conduct over the past two years.
On Tuesday, Maguire remained defiant.
“You can try everything you want to silence me, but it will just embolden me,” the former Google executive posted on X.
In another post, Maguire declared: “Let’s unpack what’s actually happening here. There are groups that hate me: Marxists, because I’m pro Capitalism; The Pro-Palestine crowd, because I’m Pro-Israel; Leftists, because I’m Pro-Trump. All of these groups want me cancelled because I’m a loud and effective voice.”
He added: “To the Haters and Losers, You cannot imagine how much Love and Support I’ve received over the last 48 hours. We have cancelled cancel culture. Your Hate and Ignorance only fuels me.”
The open letter to Sequoia demands the firm publish a “zero-tolerance policy on hate speech and religious bigotry.”
Among the signatories are several prominent figures in the tech sector, including Mudassir Sheikha, CEO of ride-hailing platform Careem; Amr Awadallah, CEO of AI startup Vectara; Abubakar Abid, a machine learning engineer at Hugging Face, a company backed by Sequoia; and Ahmed Sabbah, CEO of the fintech company Telda, which received investment from Sequoia in 2020.
At least three founders from Y Combinator’s accelerator program have also signed the letter.
The group expects a response from Sequoia by July 14. If it fails to respond by that deadline, the signers say they will “proceed with broader public disclosure, media outreach and mobilizing our networks to ensure accountability.”
The Post has sought comment from Sequoia Capital, Maguire and Mamdani.
Maguire has denied that he was targeting Mamdani because he is Muslim, writing on X: “People have lost the plot.”
Maguire noted that Mamdani is “a man who started” a chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine and “defended Anwar al-Alawki” — an American-born Islamic cleric of Yemeni descent who was the first US citizen to be targeted and killed by a US drone strike in Yemen in 2011.
Mamdani has also refused to condemn the anitsemitic phrase “globalize the intifada.” His socialist agenda includes a pledge to freeze rent at regulated units, free buses and city-run groceries.
Maguire, whose portfolio includes investments in Elon Musk’s SpaceX and X, as well as the artificial intelligence startup Safe Superintelligence, has frequently voiced his political views. In a post on X last year, he said, “Just donated $300k to President Trump.”
The controversy adds to a broader political divide at Sequoia.
Doug Leone, who led the firm until 2022 and remains a partner, is a longtime Republican donor and supported Trump in the 2024 election.
Following Trump’s victory, Leone posted on X, “To all Trump voters: you no longer have to hide in the shadows…..you’re the majority!!”
Leone’s predecessor, Mike Moritz, has taken the opposite stance. A Democratic megadonor, Moritz criticized Trump in an August opinion piece for the Financial Times, calling out tech leaders who supported the president.
“I doubt whether any of them would want him as part of an investment syndicate that they organised,” Moritz wrote.
“Why then do they dismiss his recent criminal conviction as nothing more than a politically inspired witch-hunt over a simple book-keeping error?”
The Post has sought comment from Leone and Moritz.
Roelof Botha, who currently leads Sequoia, has sought to remain politically neutral. Speaking at an event last July, Botha said the firm “doesn’t take a political point of view,” and added, “I’m not a registered member of either party.”
He also said he was “proud of the fact that we’ve enabled many of our partners to express their respected individual views along the way, and given them that freedom.”
