A16z eyes $10B in new funds, leaves crypto behind despite bullish talk

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is reportedly seeking to raise about $10 billion to invest in the artificial intelligence and defense industries, but crypto, long one of its flagship sectors, is notably missing.

According to a Thursday Financial Times citing anonymous sources, a16z is aiming to raise about $10 billion for new investments, including $6 billion for investing in more mature companies, $1.5 billion for each of the company’s AI applications and AI infrastructure funds, and over $1 billion for a defense and manufacturing-focused vehicle.

No crypto-focused fund was mentioned, marking a rare omission for one of Silicon Valley’s most influential backers of the digital asset industry.

A16z has been one of the most influential venture capital companies in shaping the modern crypto ecosystem. It runs a dedicated a16z Crypto arm, which has backed heavyweights including Coinbase, Uniswap, Dapper Labs, and MakerDAO, while actively .

Crypto’s complete exclusion from its purported plans is even more surprising, given the published Wednesday. In the report, the venture capital firm highlighted that the crypto market is now global and growing, stablecoins are going mainstream and financial institutions have “embraced crypto.”

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Crypto exclusion doesn’t mean abandonment

Despite crypto’s absence from the reported $10 billion raise, a16z has not stepped away from the sector entirely. Earlier this month, its crypto investment arm , a liquid staking protocol that underpins the Solana network.

In mid-April, the company also , a Web3 company that runs a crosschain messaging protocol. In fact, the investment company is so bullish on the US crypto ecosystem that in late January, it announced the closure of its United Kingdom offices to .

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Venture capital in crypto is controversial

Venture capital funding in the crypto industry has long been a contentious topic. Still, Ethereum co-founder Joseph funding for ecosystem development.

Lubin admitted that the main goal of venture capital companies is to “suck as much value as possible from the Ethereum and broader ecosystem.” Still, he said that their secondary goals include “progressing the systems toward rigorous decentralization” and claimed that there was “no reason for concern.”

His comments followed Ethereum developer Federico Carrone saying that the growing influence of companies such as venture capital firm Paradigm . “I believe this will become increasingly clear to everyone in the months ahead,” he said.

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