A16z crypto

Basics

• The newly created, dedicated crypto fund by Andreessen Horowitz
• Has a thesis on Progressive Decentralization which states that for any successful network product, achieving product/market fit should be prioritized before aiming for complete decentralization.
• Chris Blec sent out a letter on a16z's voting policies regarding Uniswap (29-6-2021). This came after a vote got passed where it became clear that a16z was the driving force behind it, without major community support.

Projects

a16z announced they’re working on a rollup client made for the OP Stack called Magi.

Investments

• According to this thread (16-2-2023):

"Total Balance $310m (on Eth) • $257m $UNI • $15.5m USDC/ETH LP • $13.7m $COMP • $7.5m $BTC supplied on Venus Protocol ($2.5m ETH borrowed) • 7.5m $USDC supplied on Aave • $3m $MKR • $1.8m $wETH supplied on Radiant. a16z is also investing in $LDO, $DYDX, $STG, $OP and more. Wallets out there somewhere."

• Has started with an initial $300M and grew it to $34B AUM, spread over multiple funds (26-1-2023).
• a16z has raised $4.5 billion for its fourth crypto fund (26-5-2022).
• "Andreesen Horowitz's A16z is pivoting out of traditional venture capitalism and into higher risk assets like cryptocurrencies and digital assets; A16z recently registered all 150 employees as financial advisers, opening the doors to $1B in capital for riskier investments with less regulatory oversight "
• Aptos; lead their $200m strategic round (15-3-2022). Invested in both Aptos as Sui.
• Anchorage. Has invested in and is using Anchorage for security. Part of a $80M fund raise (25-2-2021).
• Angle; took part in the $5M raise (28-9-2021).
• Aztec; part of their Series B $100M raise (16-12-2022).
• Braintrust; according to this thread (8-2021).
• Celo has raised $30M led by Andreessen Horowitz's A16z
• Compound. Participated in a $25mil Series A for Compound (11-2019).
• dYdX raised $10M Series A led by a16z crypto and Polychain Capital
• EigenLayer; invested $100M in it (23-2-2024).
• Element Finance; took part in the $4.4M raise (1-4-2021). Reinvested in their Series A raise of$32M (19-10-2021).
• Espresso Systems; part of their $28 Series B (21-3-2024).
• Farcaster; participated in the $150M Series A (22-5-2024).
• Fei Protocol; part of a $19M raise (9-3-2021).
• Flow; "a16z partnered with Coatue, Greenfield One, Liberty City Ventures, Digital Currency Group, and Dapper Ventures in a $725 Million Ecosystem Fund to support developers building on the Flow Blockchain." (5-2022)
• Goldfinch; led a $11M raise (22-6-2021).
• Handshake. One of the backers of a $10.2M token sale (7.5% of the supply) for Handshake (3-8-2020).
• Helium; led a $111M token sale (11-8-2021). Participated again in the $200M Series D (30-3-2022).
• LayerZero; part of the Series A of $135 million (31-3-2022). Also participated in their Series B (4-4-2023).
• MakerDAO. As one of their first investments it has purchased 6% of the total MKR token supply for $15 million USD. "The strategic purchase in Maker DAO is one of the first from a16z crypto, the newly created, dedicated crypto fund from Andreessen Horowitz. The move was driven by General Partner Katie Haun, an accomplished former federal prosecutor who led the first government task force on cryptocurrencies and also led the investigation into the Mt. Gox hacks and into the federal task force investigating Silk Road. “As a first mover and innovator in stablecoins, MakerDAO represents a very compelling opportunity in the crypto space,” said Katie Haun, “MakerDAO’s technology, ecosystem and talent have put theory into action to deliver a decentralized stablecoin that we believe will help drive the future of the crypto economy.”"

As part of this partnership, MakerDAO will receive operating capital through the next growth stage, 3 years of support for the MakerDAO community, and most importantly, full operational support from the 80+ person Andreessen Horowitz a16z team. Specifically, Dai Stablecoin adoption and regulatory support are two of the first priorities.

• Matter Labs; part of the $200M series C (16-11-2022), also already joined earlier in their Series A.
• Morpho; took part in its second raise of $50M (1-8-2024)
• Nansen; led a $12M raise (6-7-2021). Joined again in the Series B (16-12-2021).
• Nym; lead the Series A round and took part in their $300M innovation fund.
• OpenSea; led a $100M raise (21-7-2021).
• Optimism; part of a $25M raise (28-2-2021). Led the $150M raise on 17-3-2022. a16z again bought $90M worth of OP tokens in a private purchase (1-5-2024).
• Sablier; had them as part of their a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator in early 2024.
• Sui; It was one of the lead investors in Sui's $300M Series B (9-9-2022). Invested in both Aptos as Sui. They also led the $36 million Series A funding for Mysten Labs, the company behind Sui.
• Synthetix. From DeFi Weekly #52 (27-11-2019): a16z invested $250k in Synthetix.
• TrustToken. Is backing TrustToken Platform and their TrueUSD stabletoken
• Uniswap. Was part of a $11M fund raise for Uniswap (7-8-2020).
• Uniswap Labs; participated in the $165M Series B, and mentioned as a 'longtime investor'.
• zkSync; due to the investment in Matter Labs, it can be expected that they also will own future zkSync token allocations.

Team, etc.

• Chris Dixon; leader at a16z