May 26, 2022
By Murtuza Mohammed
At a time when the broader crypto market has entered a downturn following the collapse of TerrraUSD and LUNA, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, has announced the raise of a whopping $4.5 billion for a new crypto fund.
The firm’s fourth and biggest so far, Crypto Fund 4 doubles the size of the company’s
previous crypto fundraised in June last year. It is showcasing that despite the ongoing turmoil, partners at Andreessen Horowitz are looking to get more exposure to promising Web3 startups.
“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,” a16z partner Chris Dixon stated in a post.
He added that 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.
Here are 5 things you should know about the fund:
- Of the $4.5 billion raised, $1.5 billion will be going towards seed investments, with the rest set aside for venture investments
- The firm is specifically “excited” about the latest advancement in sectors including Web3 games, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized social media, self-sovereign identity, layer-1, and layer-2 infrastructure, DAOs and governance, NFT communities, privacy, creator monetization, regenerative finance (ReFi), new applications of ZK proofs, decentralized content and story creation, and many other areas
- The firm’s current crypto portfolio includes the likes of Alchemy, Avalanche, Celo, Dapper Labs, Phantom Wallet, OpenSea, Solana, and Yuga Labs.
- Earlier this week, the firm invested in Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon-credit trading platform which also backed by controversial WeWork founder Adam Neumann.
- In a separate move earlier this month, Andreessen Horowitz announced the launch of GAMES FUND ONE, which will invest $600 million across the gaming industry.
About the author
Murtuza Merchant is a senior journalist and an avid follower of blockchain and cryptocurrencies.
