PayPal mafia member and ex–Sequoia steward Roelof Botha joins SpaceX board—reuniting with Elon Musk after decades

Roelof Botha, longtime investor and former steward at Sequoia Capital, has joined the board of SpaceX, a filing revealed. 

The news comes less than a week after SpaceX’s historic IPO and about seven months after Botha stepped down as Sequoia steward, the legendary venture capital firm’s title for its leader. His tenure coincided with a notably difficult time in the VC firm’s history. Botha, as an investor, famously backed winners like YouTube, Instagram, Block, and MongoDB, among others. 

Botha, who was on the cover of Fortunein 2024, also has a long-standing relationship with Elon Musk—SpaceX founder, Tesla CEO, and world’s richest man by a mile. The two (both originally from South Africa) first worked together in the dotcom era when Botha served as CFO at PayPal, where Musk was a cofounder. Botha and Musk reportedly bumped heads back then, over culture and software, but have continued to work together through the decades: Sequoia is among SpaceX’s key venture backers. 

At SpaceX, Botha will be an independent director, serve on the audit committee, and has no personal financial stake in the company, according to the filing.

Fortunespoke with Botha last year in a wide-ranging interview that included him sounding off on Musk. The conversation happened around a time of particular public uproar around Musk’s DOGE efforts. 

“I’ve known Elon for over 25 years,” Botha said at the time. “He was the first person to offer me a job in America. He believed in me when I was an unknown student at Stanford. I have a lot of appreciation and understanding that he’s not perfect. None of us are. He deeply cares about doing the right thing. You may fault some of his actions. Maybe there are unintended consequences. Maybe he hasn’t considered all the ramifications, but the intent is pure.”

Botha declined comment for this article.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

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