Mohit Abraham, Uber’s former director of regulatory affairs for North America, joined Sequoia India as chief legal officer in early November, succeeding Siddharth V Rao.
Before his move to Sequoia, Abraham was a legal aide at CloudKitchens, a ghost kitchen startup whose major investors include Uber founder Travis Kalanick, and had previously worked at Khaitan & Co.
While Abraham was unavailable for comment, a Sequoia Capital spokesperson confirmed the development in a statement to India Business Law Journal.
“We are excited to have Mohit Abraham join Sequoia Capital India and Southeast Asia as the chief legal officer for the region. He has a diverse background as a corporate lawyer, an advocate on record of the Supreme Court of India, a co-founder of a law firm and has worked with tech startups globally.
“His rich experience, entrepreneurial attitude and solution-oriented legal strategy will be invaluable to our founders. He takes on the role earlier handled by Siddharth V Rao, who will now lead transformation initiatives for Sequoia in India and Southeast Asia as part of the leadership team,” the statement said.
Sequoia India is believed to be one of the country’s busiest venture capital firms investing in the consumer, technology and healthcare sectors to “help daring founders build legendary companies, from idea to IPO and beyond”.
The firm operates in Southeast Asia and India, where it has actively collaborated with entrepreneurs from a variety of startups across categories, such as learning app BYJU’s, online market Carousell, software company Druva, tech firm Gojek, hospitality chain OYO Rooms, e-commerce firm Tokopedia, caller ID app Truecaller, global supply chain tech platform Zilingo and food delivery service Zomato, among others.
Abraham’s induction comes as Sequoia has been embroiled in a legal battle with former general counsel Sandeep Kapoor since May. Kapoor’s firm, Algo Legal, alleged through a defamation lawsuit that Sequoia had falsely accused Kapoor about his practice, harming Algo’s business and image.
Sequoia contested the allegation citing an independent investigation that discovered certain transactions made by Algo and its related entities “were not in accordance with the engagement terms”. That prompted Sequoia to warn its portfolio of companies against dealing with the law firm, it said.
Clearly, Abraham will have a lot on his plate as he takes up his new role.
