Andreessen Horowitz Venture Company’s main areas of focus
Last year, Andreessen Horowitz fund general partner Chris Dixon was ranked by Forbes as one of the 100 most successful venture capitalists. At the company, Dixon manages the crypto-investment area and finances large companies in this sector, such as Coinbase, OpenSea, and others.
Chris Dixon talked about how the Andreessen Horowitz Venture Fund is structured and where it is going now.
The fund has operational teams whose main task is to support portfolio companies. This enables the latter to expand their network and actively develop. It should be noted that this feature is unique to Andreessen Horowitz; other funds do not have this structure.
The company invests in various market sectors and considers crypto, fintech, and healthcare to be the most promising. The fund devotes special attention to web3 – the division has around 60 people, which is quite a lot. Employees are engaged in solving operational problems, investing, and consulting.
The company is also concentrating resources on marketing communications – here 5 specialists are auditing smart contracts to ensure a high level of security. Work is underway to promote and publicize the company to potential customers.
Andreessen Horowitz allocates about $3 billion to invest in cryptocurrency projects. The fund cooperates with both university endowments and non-profit organizations. When analyzing the prospects of investing in one direction or another, it should be taken into account that the company works with venture capital, which means that profit should be expected no earlier than 10-15 years. This is a long-term view, and it is not an investment model that suits everyone. That is why Andreessen Horowitz is careful in its funding process, selecting only the most promising projects.
When it comes to collaborating with technology and crypto start-ups, they can demonstrate a record leap, and often their founders think and act outside the box, which often leads to success. However, you have to keep in mind that only a few projects get recognition in the market.
At Andreessen Horowitz, they are of the opinion that the decision should be made by individuals, not by the team. Usually, one general partner makes an investment and then discusses it with the others. Thus it is possible to reduce the time of making deals and shift the responsibility to one person who will have enough motivation to lead the project to success.
Andreessen Horowitz is not afraid to experiment; the fund invests in cryptocurrency exchanges, NFT marketplaces, and other new areas that many investors are just looking at.
