Andreessen Horowitz increases fifth growth fund to $8.5 billion
Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, has increased the size of its fifth fund for investing in growth-stage companies to $8.5 billion. Since the fund was launched in January, when it stood at $6.75 billion, it has grown by $1.75 billion, TechCrunch reports.
Investments for companies in the scaling stage
The fund's capital is intended for startups at the growth stage that are developing products, entering new geographic markets and scaling their businesses. Over seven years, the growth fund has invested in more than 100 companies.
Andreessen Horowitz General Partner David George, who leads the team investing in growth-stage companies, wrote in a blog post that companies are reaching this stage faster in the era of artificial intelligence. At the same time, he said, they require more capital at higher valuations.
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A separate fund for AI hardware
The announcement of the growth fund's increase came a few days after a16z reported $1.1 billion for another fund, the Machine Age Fund. It focuses on startups developing hardware for artificial intelligence, including chips, memory, networking solutions and data storage systems.
a16z plans to direct the capital from the expanded growth fund toward enterprise and consumer AI technologies, defense technologies, robotics, infrastructure software and hardware, as well as healthcare technologies. In January, the company also announced $15 billion in new funding; at that time, its assets under management stood at $90 billion.
