Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced that it has raised $7.2 billion to invest across various technology sectors, including gaming and artificial intelligence, but will not allocate additional funds toward crypto.
The largest portion of the raise, $3.75 billion, will go to the firm’s “Growth” venture strategy, which supports a range of early-stage startups.
The firm will allocate $1.25 billion to its “Infrastructure” strategy, focusing on AI, computing, and data industries, and $1 billion to its “Apps” strategy, which targets consumer, enterprise, and fintech application builders. Another $1.2 billion will be evenly split between the “Games” fund, which supports gaming projects, and the new “American Dynamism” fund, which invests in founders and companies working in aerospace, defence, safety, education, and manufacturing.
Of the $600 million allocated to games, a portion will be used for the firm’s second game-focused fund. General partner Andrew Chen, who oversees the firm’s Games Fund One, expressed a particular interest in funding games that integrate generative AI, as he believes it will revolutionise various product categories, particularly gaming and interactive entertainment.
Additionally, a portion of the gaming funds will support a16z’s accelerator program, which was launched in early April and will offer $750,000 to up to 40 gaming startups during a 12-week course in Los Angeles starting in late July.
The focus funds will each have their own specialised experts to increase the chance of success. Co-founder Ben Horowitz emphasised the importance of having deep expertise in specific areas, as each focus area requires different networks and capabilities.
“Each area requires deep expertise, so it’s not wise to try to cross-train someone in, for example, Games and Infrastructure,” said Horowitz. “Founders building AI foundation models need an entirely different set of networks and capabilities than founders building biotech therapies.”