“Software is eating the world. We back bold, technical founders building category-defining companies.”
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture firms, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. They manage over $40 billion in assets across multiple funds covering crypto, bio/health, games, infra, and American Dynamism (defence, energy, manufacturing, housing).
What makes a16z different is their platform model. Beyond capital, every portfolio company gets access to a roughly 700-person team of operators covering go-to-market, recruiting, finance, regulatory, and communications. They also publish extensively, and their investment theses, research, and sector analyses are all public. This is a feature, not a bug: founders who study a16z's published thinking before pitching have a real advantage.
In 2024, a16z launched Speedrun, their dedicated accelerator for earliest-stage companies, investing up to $1M per company across a 12-week in-person programme in San Francisco. Speedrun is now the primary entry point for pre-seed and seed-stage founders.
Key stats:
| Partner | Role | X | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Chen | General Partner, Speedrun | linkedin.com/in/andrewchen/ | @andrewchen |
| Jonathan Lai | General Partner, Speedrun | linkedin.com/in/jonathanlai/ | @jonathanlai |
| Joshua Lu | GM, Speedrun | linkedin.com/in/joshlu/ | Not disclosed |
| Marc Andreessen | Co-founder | linkedin.com/in/pmarca/ | @pmarca |
| Ben Horowitz | Co-founder | linkedin.com/in/benhorowitz/ | @baborowitz |