Roelof Botha Net Worth

Roelof Botha net worth in 2023 is $63m. The South African investor is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential and successful venture capitalists.

Unity Technologies, John Riccitiello, James M. Whitehurst and Roelof Botha are all trending worldwide following the ouster of the former from Unity.

Riccitiello has been forced to step down after a pricing controversy which we’ll explain a bit more later.

In his stead, James Whitehurst would serve as interim CEO and Roelof Botha as board chairman.

So who is Roelof Botha, how did he rise to power after coming out of South Africa and what is his net worth?

Let’s learn more.

Roelof Botha is a South African investor who is one of the most influential and successful venture capitalists in Silicon Valley with a net worth in 2023 of $63m

Botha is a partner at Sequoia Capital, a leading venture capital firm that has backed some of the most iconic companies in the tech industry, such as Apple, Google, Oracle, YouTube, Instagram, Airbnb, and Stripe.

He is also the chairman of the board of directors of Unity Technologies, a leading game engine company that recently faced a pricing controversy that led to the resignation of its CEO.

Roelo Botha net worth of $63m is merely an estimate, it’s important to note he could be worth much more due to his wide portfolio.

For example, Bota was an early investor in YouTube, which was sold to Google for $1.65 billion in 2006; Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012; and Square, which went public in 2015 and has a market capitalization of over $100 billion as of October 2023.

Additionally, Roelof Botha owns shares in several private companies that are valued at billions of dollars, such as MongoDB, Evernote, Bird, Ethos, Natera, Unity, and Xoom.

He also has stakes in some of the most promising startups in the fields of biotechnology, fintech, social media, and gaming.

Some of his recent investments include GenEdit, Landis, mmhmm, Pendulum, Skiff, Temporal Technologies, and The Org.

As we already mentioned, all these make it likely that the net worth of Roelof Botha is much higher than the reported estimates.

Life and Career

So who is Roelof Botha?

Roelof Botha was born on September 19, 1973 in Pretoria, South Africa.

He moved to Cape Town with his parents when he was six years old and attended Hoërskool Jan van Riebeeck.

He earned a BSc in Actuarial Science, Economics, and Statistics from the University of Cape Town in 1996 then worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Co. in Johannesburg from 1996 to 1998.

Roelof Botha moved to the United States in 1998 to pursue an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

In 2000, before graduating from Stanford, he joined PayPal as director of corporate development.

He became vice president of finance and was named CFO in September 2001.

Botha led PayPal through its IPO in February 2002 and its acquisition by eBay in October 2002.

The South African guru left PayPal in January 2003 to join Sequoia Capital as a partner.

Since then, he has been one of the most prolific and successful investors in Silicon Valley.

He has backed over 10 startups that have gone public and over 20 startups that have been acquired for over $1 billion each.

Roelof Botha’s success has led to him appearing on Forbes’ Midas List of top tech investors 15 times.

Some of the notable investments that beef up the net worth of Roelof Botha include:

YouTube: The video-sharing platform that was acquired by Google for $1.65 billion in 2006.
Instagram: The photo-sharing app that was acquired by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012.

MongoDB: The database company that went public in 2017 and has a market capitalization of over $30 billion as of October 2023.
Eventbrite: The online ticketing platform that went public in 2018 and has a market capitalization of over $2 billion as of October 2023.
BridgeBio: The biotechnology company that went public in 2019 and has a market capitalization of over $10 billion as of October 2023.

Unity: The game engine company that went public in 2020 and has a market capitalization of over $40 billion as of October 2023.
23andMe: The genetic testing company that went public via SPAC merger in 2021 and has a market capitalization of over $4 billion as of October 2023.
Bird: The electric scooter company that went public via SPAC merger in 2021 and has a market capitalization of over $3 billion as of October 2023.

New Unity CEO

James M. Whitehurst has been named the new Unity CEO after John Riccitiello was forced to step down.

Roelof Botha, who has an estimated net worth in 2023 of $63m, has been named the new board chairman of Unity Technologies.

Unity Technologies is one of the leading game engine companies in the world. It powers over half of the world’s games across various platforms, such as mobile, console, PC, and VR. It also provides tools and services for developers, creators, and artists to create interactive 3D content.

Unity was founded in 2004 by David Helgason, Joachim Ante, and Nicholas Francis. In 2014, John Riccitiello, the former CEO of Electronic Arts, joined Unity as its CEO.

Under his leadership, Unity grew rapidly and expanded its product offerings and customer base. In 2020, Unity went public on the New York Stock Exchange and raised $1.3 billion in its IPO.

However, in September 2023, Unity faced a major backlash from its developer community over a proposed pricing change that would charge a runtime fee for every install of a game that exceeded a certain revenue threshold.

The change was intended to align Unity’s pricing model with the value it delivered to its customers, but it was met with fierce criticism and resistance from developers who felt that it was unfair, greedy, and harmful to their livelihoods.

Unity quickly reversed its decision and apologized for the miscommunication and misunderstanding.

However, the damage was already done and the trust between Unity and its developers was eroded.

Many developers expressed their frustration and disappointment with Unity and threatened to switch to other game engines, such as Unreal Engine or Godot.

On October 9, 2023, Unity announced that John Riccitiello had stepped down as CEO, president, and board chairman of the company.

He said that he was retiring after nearly a decade at Unity and that he would continue to advise the company during the transition period.

He was replaced by James M. Whitehurst, the former CEO of Red Hat and IBM executive, as interim CEO and president.

Roelof Botha, the lead independent board member and Sequoia partner, became the chairman of the board.

“Working with Unity under John’s leadership has been one of the highlights of my career. John joined the Unity Board in 2013 and stepped in to lead the Company in 2014, at a time when we faced significant challenges,” Mr. Botha said.

“John has led Unity through incredible growth over the last nearly 10 years, helping us transition from a perpetual license to a subscription model, enabling developers to monetize, building other game services to serve our creator community, leading us through an IPO and positioning us as a pioneer in the developer community.

“Unity would not be where it is today without the impact of his contributions. I remain excited for the future of Unity.”

Ousted CEO John Riccitiello also said: “It’s been a privilege to lead Unity for nearly a decade and serve our employees, customers, developers and partners, all of whom have been instrumental to the Company’s growth,” Mr. Riccitiello said.

“I look forward to supporting Unity through this transition and following the Company’s future success.”

“I am honored to join Unity as Interim CEO and President at this important time in its evolution,” Mr. Whitehurst said.

“With the Company’s experienced leadership and passionate employees, I am confident that Unity is well-positioned to continue enhancing its platform, strengthening its community of customers, developers and partners, and focusing on its growth and profitability goals.

“I look forward to working closely with the Board and our talented global team to execute on our strategy, and I anticipate a seamless transition.”

Unity said that it was grateful for Riccitiello’s contributions and achievements and that it was confident in Whitehurst’s ability to lead the company through this challenging time. Unity also said that it was committed to serving its customers, developers, and partners with respect and transparency.

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