Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, has raised $4.5 billion to pour into the cryptocurrency industry via a new fund. Thus, the company’s total funds raised for blockchain-related entities have shot up to $7.6 billion.
Founded over a decade ago, a16z has become one of the largest venture capital firms with a focus on the cryptocurrency industry, with multiple initiatives launched in the past. One of the most recent included a $2.2 billion fund announced in January this year.
However, the company took it a step further on May 25 when news broke that it had raised even more funds – $4.5 billion – to allocate in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
The firm’s first fund came four years ago, during the notorious bull market, and the latest one comes as the prices have tumbled quite a lot since the November 2021 highs.
According to Arianna Simpson, a general partner at a16z, these types of unfavorable market conditions provide the “best opportunities.”
“Bear markets are often when the best opportunities come about when people are actually able to focus on building technology rather than getting distracted by short-term price activity.”
Speaking on what requirements projects have to meet before receiving a16z backing, Simpson added:
“The technical diligence and the other kinds of diligence that we do are a key part of making sure that projects meet our bar. While our pace of investment has been high, we continue to invest really in only the top echelon of founders.”
The company is also very bullish on Web 3 protocols, as it recently launched such a designated crypto team.