How Mark built the fortune
Mark Stevens spent more than two decades at Sequoia Capital, the Silicon Valley venture firm, where he specialised in semiconductors, hardware and the infrastructure that powers computing. He joined in 1989 and became a partner a few years later, at a time when chip startups needed patient investors who understood both engineering and manufacturing. His background as an engineer at Intel gave him credibility with founders working on complex hardware. Sequoia at the time was building a strong position in semiconductors and computing hardware, and Stevens helped extend that tradition by backing companies working on chips for graphics, networking and data storage.
The investment that defines his career is Nvidia. Sequoia backed the graphics chip company in 1993, its founding year, and Stevens joined its board, helping guide the company through its early struggles to find a sustainable product. He stayed a director until 2006, left for a short period, and returned to the board in 2008. As Nvidia grew from a maker of graphics cards for gamers into the leading supplier of chips for artificial intelligence, the shares he held became the largest part of his wealth. His role at Nvidia has included service on the board's committees, and he has been one of the company's longest serving outside directors. Nvidia's growth over three decades turned an early venture stake into one of the most valuable holdings any investor of his generation has kept.
Stevens also invested in many other companies through Sequoia, including chip, networking and software businesses, and shared in the profits of the firm's funds during a period when they generated some of the best returns in venture capital. In 2012 he stepped back from active investing at Sequoia and set up S-Cubed Capital, a private office that manages his family's money.
Companies and holdings
His holdings combine public stock, private investments and sports. He is part of the ownership group that bought the Golden State Warriors in 2010 alongside Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, an investment that rose sharply in value as the team won several NBA championships and moved to a new arena in San Francisco. S-Cubed Capital invests across public markets, private companies and real estate. Stevens has kept many of his Nvidia shares over the years, and the company's rise in the 2020s greatly increased the value of that position.
- Nvidia, long serving board member and shareholder
- Sequoia Capital, former managing partner
- S-Cubed Capital, family investment office
- Golden State Warriors, co-owner
Early life and career
Stevens studied at the University of Southern California, where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in computer engineering. The combination of technical and economic training became a theme in his later career, which mixed engineering judgment with financial analysis.
After USC he joined Intel and worked in technical and marketing roles during the period when the company's microprocessors were becoming the standard for personal computers. He then completed an MBA at Harvard Business School before moving into venture capital at Sequoia. Over the following years he worked closely with founders building chip companies, an area in which Sequoia was particularly active, and he rose to become one of the firm's senior leaders.
Philanthropy and public life
Stevens and his wife Mary have been major donors to USC. Their gifts funded the USC Stevens Center for Innovation, which helps move university research into commercial use, and the Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, which studies the brain using large scale imaging and data analysis. He has served as a trustee of the university.
Outside those causes he keeps a low profile. He gives few interviews and is known mainly within the technology and sports industries, where his long tenure on the Nvidia board has made him one of the more influential directors in the semiconductor sector. He has also served on the boards of other technology companies and on advisory boards linked to engineering education, reflecting his interest in the link between university research and business.