Key highlights:
- Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has announced its latest fund, the $4.5 billion Crypto Fund 4
- a16z general partner Chris Dixon says the firm believes web3 is entering its “golden era”
- The new fund is more than double the size of a16z’s most recent crypto fund, despite the bearish conditions in the crypto markets
Andreessen Horowitz doubles down on its crypto and blockchain investments with $4.5 billion fund
While the cryptocurrency markets are now firmly in a bearish trend, some venture capital investors are looking to take advantage of the opportunity to score favorable deals. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the biggest venture capital firms that’s investing in the cryptocurrency space, has announced a mammoth $4.5 billion fund to invest in crypto and blockchain companies.
Approximately one third of a16z’s new $4.5 billion fund will be used exclusively for seed deals.
The new fund is more than double the size of the company’s $2.2 billion Crypto Fund III, which was announced in 2021. Altogether, the company has raised more than $7.6 billion across its crypto funds.
a16z has backed notable crypto companies like Coinbase, Avalanche, Solana, Alchemy, OpenSea, Yuga Labs and many others.
Chris Dixon, a general partner at a16z, explained why the firm decided to double down on investing in crypto and blockchain startups through its new fund:
“We think we are now entering the golden era of web3. Programmable blockchains are sufficiently advanced, and a diverse range of apps have reached tens of millions of users. More importantly, a massive wave of world-class talent has entered web3 over the last year. They are brilliant and passionate and want to build a better internet.”
Arianna Simpson, who is also a general partner at the firm, told CNBC that bear markets often present the best opportunities, since teams can focus more on building their tech instead of price action.
Recently, a16z led a $70 million investment in Flowcarbon, which is creating a blockchain-based system for carbon credits. The move raised some eyebrows since one of Flowcarbon’s co-founders is Adam Neumann, the controversial ex-CEO of WeWork. Flowcarbon is being built on top of the Celo blockchain platform, which is also backed by a16z.
