Andreessen Horowitz, a venture capital firm, has been reportedly looking to start a new crypto fund soon.
According to a report from the Financial Times, the venture capital (VC) firm is hoping to raise US$450 million [AU$706 million] for their second round of funding for crypto investments. As of yet, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has not closed the fund.
Financial Times added, however, that there is still not much information available to the public about the actual size of the new crypto fund. But a16z may possibly disclose this information over the weeks ahead.
As of this writing, a16z has not yet made any statement about the second crypto fund.
Andreessen Horowitz raised millions in first funding round
Andreessen Horowitz is a VC firm established by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz after the 2009 global financial crisis. Their very first capital fund was focused on the search for “megalomaniacal” pioneers for technologies that can “put a dent in the universe.”
The firm invests in “seed to late-stage technology companies, across the consumer, enterprise, bio/healthcare, crypto, and fintech spaces.”
Prior to their announced second funding round for crypto investments, they have earmarked an amount of $350 million for crypto funding.
Among the unicorns they helped with funding in their early stages were firms like Airbnb, Lyft, PagerDuty, Pinterest and Slack.
In just a few years, they have generated over $10 billion from their investments. The firm is also a member of the Libra Association.
VCs play an important role in the tech ecosystem
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has made the “new normal” a popular catchphrase. Businesses, from start-ups up to the largest ones, were not spared from the global recession that struck the world.
There is a shared anxiety among enterprise owners and employees that their companies would eventually fold. VC firms play a very important role in this ecosystem.
“This pandemic has shed light on how technology can be used to rethink many core services like healthcare, education, and small business,” said Hemant Taneja, managing director of the VC firm General Catalyst.
General Catalyst is one of the many VCs that established new funds for businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The entire venture community understands the dire situation that the world is in, and technology is more important than ever,” said Ken Chenault, chairman of General Catalyst.
With the quarantine protocol in place at almost every country in the world, people turned to technology in order to access a semblance of the outside world. Hopefully, VCs will be able to keep the industry afloat.
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