What is a16z? Find out detailed information about a16z investment fund

Surely you have also heard of a16z investment fund if you have ever participated in this market. It is no exaggeration to say that this is the largest and most active Crypto investment fund in the cryptocurrency market today through many large investment deals with "unbelievable" investment funds in projects. So what is a16z ? Let's join Haymodgame.com to find out all details from A to Z about the above investment fund.

What is a16z Investment Fund?

a16z, also known as Andreesen Horowitz, was founded by computer science engineers and venture capitalists Andreesen and Horowitz in 2009. This is an investment fund operating in Silicon Valley, California. and long-term investments across all sectors such as technology companies, consumer, corporate, bio, healthcare, crypto and fintech. Andreessen Horowitz invests in projects in stages from Seed Round to Stages A, B, C, … a16z has invested billions of dollars in various projects and funds over the course of 13 years. year of operation. 

What is a16z Investment Fund?

a16z has $19.2 billion in assets under management across multiple funds: $1.4 billion Bio, $3.1 billion crypto fund, and cultural leadership fund. In addition, a16z has also invested in big companies such as Facebook, Pinterest, LyA, GitHub, Instagram, Skype, etc.

The team in the a16z investment fund

In addition to Andreessen and Horowitz, a16z is led by many top talent in different fields. a16z team clearly divides categories such as:

• Investing.
• Capital Network. 
• Go-To-Market Network.
• Talent Network.
• People Practices.
• Marketing.
• Operations.
• Board Partners.
• Special Advisors.

You can check out more details here .

Marc Andreessen

Marc Andreessen (full name Marc Lowell Andreessen) was born on July 9, 1971 in Cedar Falls, USA, and grew up in New Lisbon, where both parents worked in incubation and business development companies. .

Marc Andreessen

About Marc's career:

• He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in Computer Science and did an internship at IBM in Texas.
• He is the founder of Netscape, Loudcloud - two companies that were acquired for $ 4.3 billion and $ 1.6 billion respectively.
• Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have become super angel investors, collectively investing more than $80 million in startups including Twitter and Qik.
• On July 6, 2009, Anderson and Horowitz co-founded the a16z hedge fund with an initial capital of $300 million. That number multiplied nine times to $2.7 billion three years later (due to more investment in the fund), with a portfolio that includes Facebook, Foursquare, GitHub, Pinterest, Twitter, and more.

Ben Horowitz

Ben Horowitz (full name is Ben Jamin Abraham Horowitz) was born on June 13, 1966 in London, England and raised in Berkeley, California.

Ben Horowitz

About Ben Horowitz's career:

• He graduated from Columbia University with a degree in computer science in 1988 and a master's degree in computer science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
• In 1990, he began his career as a computer engineer at a Silicon Valley computer hardware and software manufacturer. He and Marc Andreessen then joined Netscape as chief product officer, co-founded LoudCloud, and later launched a mutual fund 16z with an initial capital of $300 million.

Ali Yahya

Ali Yahya has worked for a large engineering company like Google X and Google Brain, with algorithms, interacting with robots, and configuring Google's open source libraries, Tensorflow. He first learned from Bitcoin's official report in 2010, but he was involved in research in the Stanford computer security lab and BTC continues. A16Z has worked closely with Class 1 projects in the Fund's portfolio, such as DapperLabo, Flow, Compound, Avalanche, Proximity, Rally, and Inhibitors.

Ali Yahya has worked for tech companies like Google for a long time, working for a16z and Crypto Investment since November 2017, especially in early 2010.

Arianna Simpson

Arianna Simpson is Andreessen Horowitz's general partner and oversees crypto investing. Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, Ariana founded Autonomous Partners, an investment fund focused on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. She also helped found Crystal Towers Capital in 2015. Arianna previously served as a sales and product manager at Facebook and BitGo, companies that provide security solutions to businesses using BTC and cryptocurrencies. other cryptocurrencies. Arianna holds a dual degree in International Politics and Spanish from Pennsylvania State University's SchreyerHonors College. She grew up in Milan, Italy.

As you can see, Arianna Simpson has extensive experience handling investment trusts ranging from traditional financial industry trusts to crypto market trusts. It can be said that she was the first to enter the crypto market. In her Twitter bio, she writes “Encrypt before it gets cool” or “Encrypt before it gets hot.”

Chris Dixon

Chris Dickson has been Andreessen Horowitz's general partner for the past six years and has invested in businesses from start to finish. Previously, Chris co-founded two startups, SiteCity and Hunch. These are two companies that were acquired by McAfee and eBay. Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, Chris co-founded Founder Collective, a venture capital fund that has invested in numerous technology companies. Chris started programming at an early age, and after graduating from college, became a professional programmer at the options trading company Arbittrade. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy from Colombia and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University. In addition, Chris Dixon also has many valuable media articles and podcasts that you can refer to here .

Chris Dickson has extensive experience in mutual funds and many successful startups, and found that he worked for various financial firms in his youth. Chris Dixon also shares a lot about market investment philosophies and ideas on topics like Decentralization, NFT and Web3…

Kathryn Haun

Kathryn Haun is a general partner of Horowitz. Previously, she previously focused on fraud crimes in federal prosecutors. They investigated major surveys in multiple cult claims in multiple cult claims to investigate the first e-Government claim. Katy serves on the Scrolls and Hackers Committee and invests in tech startups and advises. She has also taught a business administration course at Stanford University and a cybercrime course at Stanford University Law School.

As you can see, Katie Haun's past is mostly experience working in the legal field, as he has been involved in various disputes and the law of cryptography is still unclear. 

Overview of a16z portfolio

Infrastructure and data projects

A16z's leading projects in the infrastructure and data array include:

• Arweave : Arweave received $8 million in investments from various funds including a16z, USV, Coinbase Ventures. The investment was announced in March 2020.
• Deso Labs : In September 2021, Deso announced they were invested $200 million by multiple funds including Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Pantera Capital, Sequoia. This is Labs that has created many products in the past including BitClout.
• Nym Technologies : This privacy project has just completed the next round of funding led by a16z at a valuation of $270 million, successfully raising 13 million in November 2021.
• WorldCoin : This eyeball-scanning personal identity project successfully raised a private round at a valuation of $ 1 billion, received an investment of $ 25 million with the participation of a16z, Coinbase, Coinfund, Digital Currency Group, Hashed , Multicoin, Sam Bankman-Fried, Three Arrows, Variant Fund, 1Confirmation.
• Nansen : Nansen was invested $12 million by a16z and other funds in July 2021.
• Kosen Labs : This lab has just received a $5 million seed round investment in November 2021 from a16z and Framework Capital, to bring AI to web3 in the future.
• Aleo : In April 2021, a16z announced they were leading a $28 million investment round in Aleo – a private data project using zero-knowledge proofs technology. Other investors include Placeholder VC, Galaxy Digital, Variant Fund, Coinbase Ventures…
• Forta : In September 2021, a16z announced they were at the forefront of a $23 million investment round in Forta, an enterprise-grade security platform.
• Protocol Labs : Labs with many popular infrastructure projects such as IPFS, Filecoin, etc. It is not clear when and how much a16z invested in Protocol Labs.
• Alchemy : An infrastructure piece that helps developers develop Dapps has just completed a $250 million funding round at a $3.5 million valuation in mid-November 2021. a16z leads this Series C, starring Lightspeed and Redpoint.

Project on exchange platform

Exchange projects invested by a16z include (including DEX, CEX, Derivatives):

• Uniswap : Andreessen Horowitz, USV, Paradigm, Parafi Capital invest in Series A of Uniswap $11 million, announced July 2020.
• dYdX : The largest decentralized derivatives exchange today, completed a Series C investment round in June 2021 with a $65 million funding round, led by Paradigm.
• Yellow Card : Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain invests $1.5 million in this exchange to attack the crypto market in Africa.
• CoinSwitch Kuber : October 2021, a16z and Coinbase Ventures have completed a $260 million investment round at a valuation of nearly $2 billion in CoinSwitch Kuber – a CEX exchange focusing on the Indian market.

Project Layer 1

Layer 1 projects invested by a16z (besides Bitcoin and Ethereum) include: Avalanche, Celo, Chia, Difinity, Filecoin, Near, Oasis Network, Keep Network, Handshake, Helium.

• Near Protocol : In May 2020, a16z led a round investing $21.6 million in Near Protocol at an unknown valuation. Before this investment round, Near Protocol had previous funding rounds in 2018 and 2019, with the participation of Multicoin Capital and many other funds.
• Avalanche : Avalanche was invested by a16z in Series A with $6 million in funding in 2019, with the participation of many large investment fund names such as Initialized Capital, Polychain Capital or Naval Ravikant. Avalanche's valuation for this round is unknown.
• Solana : a16z and Polychain invest in Solana $314 million, announced June 2021. 
• Dfinity: a16z invested in Dfinity very early, since the project called for the first rounds. They and Polychain invested twice in this project at the valuations of $ 1.3 billion (information is verified) and $ 9.5 billion in February 2018 and the end of August 2018. a16z and Polychain led two investment rounds worth $61 million and $102 million. These aren't very early rounds for Dfinity (earlier rounds have had an ICO since 2017 with a valuation of less than $1 billion), but a16z has proven themselves to be a strong believer and investor in Dfinity with a double down payment at ascending valuations.
• Celo : a16z lead round invested 20 million USD in Celo in February 2021, before that there were some fundraising rounds of Celo with the participation of Polychain Capital, Reid Hoffman, Jack Dorsey, Coinbase Ventures with the initial amount. about 45 million dollars.
• Oasis Network : a16z led the round of $45 million investment in Oasis Labs in July 2018. The round also featured multiple funds including Accel, Binance, Pantera, Polychain, Metastable, Foundation Capital, Electric Capital, DCVC, and Coinbase. The valuation of the project is unknown at the time.

Stablecoin Project

Stablecoin projects invested by a16z include:

• MakerDAO : In September 2018, a16z invested $15 million to buy 6% of the total supply of MAKER token – the governance token of the MakerDAO project, at a project valuation of $240 million. As of now, their investment has had a 1,200% ROI within 3 years, and it is also the most popular decentralized stablecoin solution on the market at the moment.
• Trust Token : Trust Token is an issuer of stablecoin TUSD, with a centralized stablecoin capitalization of up to $1.2 billion. The project has raised capital many times, including two times with the participation of a16z.
  • In June 2018, a16z led a strategic investment round in a $20 million project at an unspecified valuation, with participating funds such as BlockTower, Founders Fund, Jump Trading Capital, Foundation Capital, Danhua Venture Capital (DHVC). , Distributed Global,…
  • On August 5, 2021, they were invested by a16z and many funds such as BlockTower, Alameda, and invested $12.5 million at an unspecified valuation. However, this investment is not only used to develop stablecoins, but also to develop the project's lending protocol.
• Basis : An early rebase algorithmic stablecoin project, raised $133 million from many investors including a16z and many other funds such as Lightspeed, Foundation Capital, Sky9, Digital Currency Group, etc. in April/ 2018. However, after 8 months of operation, the project stopped working and returned the remaining investment money to investors. This is a rare project that a16z participates in without being an investment round lead.
• Reflexer : In February 2021, Reflexer Labs announced the completion of a $4 million funding round to develop an ETH-collateralized stablecoin called RAI. The investment round was led by Pantera and Lemniscap, which involved a16z. Currently, the project has 52,641 ETH locked in the protocol.
• Fei Protocol : Fei Labs announced in March 2021 that it raised $19 million from multiple funds including a16z, Framework Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, Naval Ravikant. It is not clear what the project's valuation was at the time of their investment, but this is a fairly innovative project in creating algorithmic stablecoins with a collateral factor. This is not the protocol's first funding round.
• Angle Protocol : Angle Labs raised $5 million in September 2021 from multiple funds, including a16z and many others, to build a Derivatives-Backed stablecoin solution.

Project about NFT/Metaverse/Gaming

NFT / Metaverse / Gaming projects invested by a16z include many different large and small projects, here I will mention all the projects I have collected but only analyze a few typical projects.

Projects featured by a16z in the NFT/Metaverse/Gaming array include:

• Crypto Kitties : Dapper Labs cat NFT collectibles project successfully raised $12 million in Series A funding in March 2018 from Andreessen Horowitz, Union Square Ventures, Naval Ravikant (CEO and founder of AngelList), Mark Pincus ( founder of Zynga) and Fred Ehrsam (founder of Coinbase).
• Dapper Labs : In March 2021, Dapper Labs – developer of Crypto Kitties, NBA Top Shots and Flow Blockchain – successfully raised $305 million. The funding round was led by Coatue, and involved a16z, USV, and more. Dapper Labs' valuation in this round is $2.6 billion. Then, in September 2021, Dapper Labs completed another $250 million funding round also led by Coatue, but without the participation of a16z, bringing the project's valuation to $7.6 billion.
• OpenSea : a16z joins OpenSea's Series A and Series B, investment announced in March and July 2021. OpenSea's Series A was spearheaded by a16z and successfully raised $23 million, with the participation of many funds and giants such as Mark Cuban, Naval Ravikant. OpenSea's Series B was also led by a16z and raised $100 million for the project at a valuation of $1.5 billion.
• Sky Marvis : Sky Mavis Series B was completed in October 2021, with a valuation of nearly $3 billion. They completed a $152 million funding round led by a16z and the participation of many large investment funds such as Paradigm, Accel, FTX and many others.
• Royal : An NFT Music platform called Royal has just completed a $55 million funding round in November 2021 with investors including a16z, Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, and more.
• Forte : In May 2021, Forte successfully raised $185 million at a valuation of $1 billion. The valuation of the project in this round is unknown at this time, and a16z is one of the investors in the project rather than leading the round. In November 2021, a16z participated in another round of Forte funding, with a Series B funding round of $725 million.
• Many other projects are also invested by a16z, including: Foundation (NFT Marketplace); Virtually Human Studio (ZED RUN, July 2021); Fingerprints (9/2021); Manifold (October 2021); OnChain Studios (October 2021); Bitski (May 2021); Cryptoys (seed round, $7.5 million, October 2021); RTFKT (seed round, $8 million, May 2021).
• Many game projects have been focused on recently by a16z, including: Mythical Games (Series C, $150 million, November 2021); Faraway (Series A, $21 million, November 2021); Core Loop ($12 million, November 2021).

Ethereum Layer 2 Solution Project

A16z's leading projects in the infrastructure segment include:

• Optimism : Ethereum's scaling solution, powered by the Optimistic Rollup mechanism, was led by a16z in a $25 million Series A investment round in February 2021.
• Matter Labs : Ethereum's scaling solution, powered by zero-knowledge proofs, led by a16z in a $50 million Series B investment round in November 2021.

Project about Lending/Yield

Lending/Yield Farming projects invested by a16z include:

• TrustToken : This project I mentioned above, they not only work on TUSD centralized stablecoin but also on TrueFi lending protocol – a lending solution without collateral. The total assets locked in the protocol are currently $1 billion, and the amount borrowed by users is $520 million.
• MakerDAO : MakerDAO is actually a debt protocol lending, and I won't repeat it because I've analyzed this project above.
• Compound : Compound Finance has two funding rounds attended by a16z.
  • The first was a $8.2 million Seed Round funding round in May 2018, attended by Bain Capital Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, Coinbase, etc.
  • The second is a $25 million Series A funding round announced in November 2019. Participating in this round of funding are Polychain Capital, Paradigm Capital and Bain Capital Ventures, and the valuation of the projects in these two rounds is unknown.
• Goldfinch : $11 million funding round announced in June 2021, led by a16z and attended by Divergence Ventures, Defi Alliance, Jason Choi from Spartan, and more.

Portfolio review by Andreessen Horowitz

Project results

The top 5 projects with the best performing Tokens (price of ATH compared to ATL) are:

• Solana (SOL): 51.80%
• Helium (HNT): 49.890%.
• Arweave (AR): 30.772%.
• Avalanche (AVAX): 5.177%.
• Uniswap (UNI): 4.361%.

The Top 5 Top 5 projects with the best performing Tokens from the beginning of 2021 are:

• Solana (SOL): 11,500%
• Avalanche (AVAX): 3,150%.
• Arweave (AR): 2.130%.
• Oasis Network (ROSE): 910%.
• Near Protocol (NEAR): 600%.

Andreessen Horowitz's investment trends in 2021

In 2021, Andreessen Horowitz invests in many deals, in many different areas. But as you can see, they pay a lot of attention to projects in the NFT / Gaming / Metaverse array with many projects with large raise amounts, and many infrastructure, data and solution projects. layer 2 for Ethereum.

Andreessen Horowitz's investment trends in 2021

With the explosion of NFT/ Gaming and Metaverse, 5/9 projects they invested in in November 2021 are in this segment, 4 projects are in the infrastructure and data segment. 

Through this article, you must have had basic information and your own objective view of the a16z investment fund. With the fund's history of development as well as great influence, this is also a consideration when you are feeling anxious in this cryptocurrency market. Haymodgame.com will support you all to succeed in this extremely potential market! So be sure to keep up to date with the latest posts!