Andreessen Horowitz’s, (Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm and high-profile crypto investor) has raised the sum of $2.75 billion for two new funds, according to an announcement published on May 1.
The majority of the new capital will go to a specialized $2 billion late-stage venture fund (LSV Fund I) and will be headed by Andreessen Horowitz general partner David George.
The remaining $750 million, raised for a sixth general fund — concentrated on early-stage enterprise, consumer and Fintech offerings — will sit alongside the company’s existing specialized cryptocurrency and bio funds. Scott Kupo, the managing partner, stated in yesterday’s announcement, cryptocurrency was still in its nascency when the venture capital firm launched in 2013.
The creation of its crypto-dedicated $350 million crypto fund, a16z — which backs a range of ventures from blockchain projects to initial coin offerings (ICOs) — encouraged the firm to hire its first female general investing partner in 2018.
Andreessen’s Horowitz’s $350 million crypto fund, a16z, has since invested in blockchain startup MakerDAO (MKR) — which stands behind ether-based stablecoin Dai (DAI) — stablecoin project Basis and institutional crypto custodian Anchorage, as well as blockchain cloud computing startups DFINITY and Oasis Labs.
In the month February 2019, the University of Michigan’s $12 billion endowments revealed plans to reinforce its investment in Andreessen Horowitz’s “crypto network technology fund” (CNK Fund I).
Bitcoin (BTC), ether(ETH), decentralized DNS startup Handshake, dYdX exchange, and stablecoin trueusd operator Trusttoken are also listed on Andreessen’s Horowitz’s website among its crypto-related investments.
In April 2019, Andreessen’s Horowitz announced it was restructuring by registering all employees as qualified financial advisors and renouncing its former status as a venture capital firm. The restructuring will enable the company to take dicey bets on specific business areas, including cryptocurrencies.