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ToggleAndreessen Horowitz (a16z), the Silicon Valley-based enterprise capital agency, at present introduced it raised a whopping $4.5 billion for a brand new crypto fund, the agency’s fourth and the most important thus far.
Crypto Fund 4 doubles the dimensions of a16z’s earlier crypto fund raised in June final yr, showcasing that regardless of the turmoil within the crypto market, the agency’s companions are more and more seeking to get extra publicity to promising Web3 startups.
“We predict we are actually coming into the golden period of web3. Programmable blockchains are sufficiently superior, and a various vary of apps have reached tens of thousands and thousands of customers,” a16z associate Chris Dixon wrote in a publish accompanying the elevate.
“Extra importantly, a large wave of world-class expertise has entered web3 over the past yr. They’re sensible and passionate and need to construct a greater web,” he added.
Of the $4.5 billion raised, $1.5 billion will likely be going in the direction of seed investments, with the remainder put aside for enterprise investments, mentioned a16z.
Based on Dixon, the agency is particularly “excited” in regards to the newest development in sectors together with Web3 video games, decentralized finance (DeFi), decentralized social media, self-sovereign id, layer-1, and layer-2 infrastructure, DAOs and governance, NFT communities, privateness, creator monetization, regenerative finance (ReFi), new functions of ZK proofs, decentralized content material and story creation, and plenty of different areas.
Deal with the ‘high echelon of founders’
The information of a16z’s newest crypto fund comes at a time when the broader crypto market has entered a serious downturn following the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin and its sister coin LUNA.
Regardless of the stoop, Andreessen Horowitz associate Ariana Simpson assured traders that the agency is assured about its bets.
“Bear markets are sometimes when one of the best alternatives come about, when persons are truly in a position to deal with constructing know-how somewhat than getting distracted by short-term worth exercise,” Simpson mentioned in an interview with CNBC.
She went on to say that “the technical diligence and the opposite sorts of diligence that we do are a key a part of ensuring that tasks meet our bar.”
“Whereas our tempo of funding has been excessive, we proceed to take a position actually in solely the highest echelon of founders,” mentioned Simpson.
The agency’s present crypto portfolio consists of the likes of Alchemy, Avalanche, Celo, Dapper Labs, Phantom Pockets, OpenSea, Solana, and Yuga Labs.
Earlier this week, the agency invested in Flowcarbon, a blockchain-based carbon-credit buying and selling platform which additionally backed by controversial WeWork founder Adam Neumann.
In a separate transfer earlier this month, Andreessen Horowitz introduced the launch of GAMES FUND ONE, which can make investments $600 million throughout the gaming business.
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