Amid the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, Andreessen Horowitz, often known as ‘a16z,’ has created Crypto Fund 4 to support talented Web3 entrepreneurs and businesses.
The firm has raised a $4.5 billion fund for this cause, raising the total amount of crypto money received to more than $7.6 billion, as revealed on Twitter and the company’s website on May 25 by Arianna Simpson, General Partner at a16z.
Today we are announcing a16z crypto Fund 4. We’ve raised $4.5B to invest in promising web3 founders and startups, bringing our total crypto funds raised to more than $7.6B. 💪 https://t.co/w5fr6QN0Xb
— AriannaSimpson.eth (@AriannaSimpson) May 25, 2022
a16z has been investing in the cryptocurrency field since 2013, and its fourth crypto fund worth $4.5 billion is the most recent investment. It will give around $1.5 billion to seed investments and $3 billion to venture capital.
Golden Age of Web3
The news statement explained why Andreessen Horowitz spotlighted crypto by stating:
“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.”
In particular, the funds will be used to develop decentralised finance (Defi), web3 games, non-fungible token (NFT) communities, decentralised social media, decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), self-sovereign identity, layer 1 and layer 2 infrastructure, and governance, bridges, and many other fields.
Expanding the Crypto Team
Simultaneously, the firm declared its plans to expand its operations teams to provide the best services in research and engineering, security, talent and people, legal issues and go-to-market sectors.
a16z began extending its crypto team in the summer of 2021 by recruiting Arianna Simpson to manage its growing crypto fund and Brian Quintenz, a former official of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, to consult on crypto-related subjects.