That crash was the glass ceiling at Sequoia

A storied Silicon Valley venture fund has broken the glass ceiling.

For the first time in its 44-year history, Sequoia Capital, one of the most vaunted capital firms in Silicon Valley, has hired a female investing partner for its US operations.

Sequoia had been wooing Jess Lee (left) since 2012. She’s the co-founder and chief executive officer of Polyvore, a shopping site for fashion and home decor. Yahoo acquired it last year for $230 million, and as it is now being bought by Verizon Communications, Lee agreed to join Sequoia.

When she starts next month, Lee, 33, will become the 11th partner and one of the youngest investing part- ners at the firm. In an e-mail to Bloomberg, she wrote she was “excited to join Sequoia to help the next generation of founders.”

Sequoia is among the world’s most respected firms because of its early bets on companies including Apple and Google. The firm has several female investors overseeing its global funds, but like many venture firms, its Silicon Valley headquarters is run by a group of older men.

Women make up just 6 percent of the senior investment teams at top venture firms in 2016, according to researcher PitchBook Data, up slightly from 5 percent in 2010.

“Getting the first female venture capitalist into a top-tier partnership is a big deal,” said Kate Mitchell, the co-founder and partner of Scale Venture Partners and the chairwoman of the National Venture Capital Association’s task force on diversity. “Whether that translates into a long-term commitment to better inclusion, only time will tell.”

As standard-bearers in the industry, Sequoia and Kleiner Perkins have been lightning rods in the diversity debate. Kleiner Perkins, which was unsuccessfully sued by Ellen Pao for sexual discrimination, has added several female investing partners over the last decade or so. In India and China, Sequoia has a to- tal of five female investing partners. In the US, Sequoia was slower.

Sequoia Chair Mike Moritz said last year he was working to find a female partner but that it was difficult and the firm wasn’t prepared to “lower standards.” The statement sparked outrage. (He later clarified his remarks in an e-mail saying, “I know there are many remarkable women who would flourish in the venture business. We’re working hard to find them.”)

Other VC firms, including Accel, Bessemer Partners, General Catalyst, IVP and Mayfield Fund, still list only men among their US partners, according to their Web sites.