Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, or a16z, plans to raise $4.5 billion for a new series of cryptocurrency funds.
What Happened: The firm intends to raise $3.5 billion for its latest crypto venture fund and $1 billion for another fund focused on seed investments in crypto startups, according to a report from Financial Times.
People familiar with the matter said that the firm expects to finalize the new funds as early as March.
A16z has been investing in crypto since 2013 and has more than $3 billion in assets under management across three funds.
“We invest in all areas of crypto, including infrastructure, new layer 1s, DeFi, NFTs, gaming, DAOs, social tokens, decentralized social networks, web 3 apps — and new ideas that don’t have names or categories yet,” the firm said on its website.
Why It Matters: A number of companies have embraced opportunities in the space. In 2021 alone, BNN Bloomberg reported that venture funds allocated $17 billion to crypto and blockchain-focused startups.
The single largest deal involved Block. one, backed by Peter Thiel, Alan Howard and Louis Bacon, that injected $10 billion in digital assets and cash into crypto exchange Bullish Global.
If the $4.5-billion round is successfully raised, a16z will surpass any other funds raised to invest in early stage cryptocurrency start-ups.
