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Andreessen Horowitz
Andreessen Horowitz is a venture capital firm that invests other people's money in promising young technology companies and takes a cut of the profits when those startups succeed.
Andreessen Horowitz is one of the biggest and loudest venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. It raises large pools of money from universities, pension funds, wealthy families, and other institutions, then uses that money to buy ownership stakes in young private companies — mostly technology startups — and tries to sell those stakes later for far more than it paid. The firm is not a household name, but the companies it backed early are: Facebook, Airbnb, GitHub, Slack, Instacart, and Coinbase all took its money when they were small.
Venture capital is a simple bet dressed up in complicated paperwork. A startup needs cash to hire engineers and grow before it has any real revenue, so it sells a slice of itself to investors. Most of those bets go to zero, a few do okay, and one or two become giants that pay for everything else. Andreessen Horowitz makes money the same way: it charges investors a management fee, usually around 2% of the money committed each year, plus roughly 20% of the profits, called carried interest. So the partners get rich only when their startups actually win. The firm was founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, two entrepreneurs who had already built and sold companies, and it grew fast by doing something unusual for venture capital: it hired a large team of marketers, recruiters, and policy experts to help its portfolio companies directly, instead of just writing checks and waiting. It also invested across stages, from tiny seed rounds to enormous late-stage deals, and now runs dedicated funds for crypto and biotech. Its bets on crypto made it one of the loudest voices in that world, and also one of the most exposed when prices crashed.
The firm's real power is its network and its brand. Founders want an investor whose name opens doors to customers, hires, and later investors, and Andreessen Horowitz has spent years building that reputation. The risks are equally clear. It is a private partnership answerable to its own investors, not the public, and its fortunes rise and fall with the startup and technology market — when interest rates climb and easy money dries up, venture funding slows and valuations drop. It has also become a political player, with partners publicly weighing in on regulation and policy, which cuts both ways for a firm whose startups depend on friendly rules.
Saved answer · last researched 9 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
One venture firm raised 18% of all U.S. venture capital in 2025
- 18% U.S. venture capital raised by Andreessen Horowitz
- 82% U.S. venture capital raised by all other firms
Andreessen Horowitz pulled in more than $15 billion across its new funds, which added up to over 18% of all U.S. venture capital allocated in 2025. The firm's cut of every dollar going into American startups means founders who want big checks often end up in the same few rooms. Source: XT.com, data from 2025
Timeline
Two Netscape Veterans Start a Firm
Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz had already built companies together, and in 2009 they reunited to start their own venture capital firm with a $300 million fund aimed at software. Their twist was to treat founders like customers: instead of just writing checks, they hired marketing and recruiting experts to help the companies they backed. The bet was that a venture firm could win deals by being genuinely useful.
Software Eats the World
Andreessen wrote an essay arguing that software was eating the world, and the firm invested as if it believed every word. Deal activity jumped sharply, and the firm's early bets on companies like Facebook, Lyft, GitHub and Slack made it look like it had spotted a whole generation of winners before anyone else.
Billions Under Management
In about three years, the firm went from one fund to $2.7 billion under management across three funds. A track record that included Facebook, Airbnb, GitHub and Twitter turned it into one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after backers.
a16z Changes Its Legal Structure
The firm ditched the traditional venture capital structure and became a registered investment advisor, which freed it to invest in crypto, public companies and other assets beyond early-stage software. It raised a $2 billion late-stage fund alongside a $750 million flagship fund, widening its reach. But around the same time, high-profile IPOs from its portfolio slumped and reports said returns were falling off, closing one era and opening another.
Future Media Arm Shuts Down
a16z launched Future, its own media arm that was proudly pro-tech, hoping to shape the conversation around its investments. The audience never showed up, and Future stopped publishing about a year and a half after launch, a public failure for the firm.
Public Portfolio Slumps
Of the 17 companies in its portfolio that went public at billion-dollar-plus valuations in roughly 18 months, all but one traded below their offer price. Coinbase fell from an $86 billion debut to below $15 billion, Robinhood dropped more than 75%, and Roblox lost nearly half its value. The selloff raised hard questions about the firm's late-stage strategy of backing loss-making unicorns.
Forty-Two Billion in Assets
By 2024 the firm managed $42 billion, up from that first $300 million fund, with bets spread across AI, crypto, bio and consumer. Its portfolio had grown to over 1,100 companies, a long way from its software-only start.
Biggest Fundraising Haul Yet
a16z raised more than $15 billion in its biggest haul ever, pushing assets under management past $90 billion. Nearly half went to its growth fund, its AI funds were each boosted to $1.7 billion, and its defense-focused American Dynamism fund nearly doubled to about $1.2 billion. Andreessen had also become a high-profile supporter of President Trump, and the firm was increasingly loud on policy.