Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), the top American venture capital firm and one of the early investors in Coinbase has announced new crypto dedicated fund worth $2.2 billion. The Silicon Valley giant is also managing two other crypto funds worth $865 million combined, taking their total crypto AUM to over $3 billion.
Chris Dixon and Katie Haun the partners who run the crypto venture for the firm said,
“This fund allows us to find the next generation of visionary crypto founders, and invest in the most exciting areas of crypto. We invest in all stages, from early seed-stage projects to fully developed later-stage networks.”
Andreessen Horowitz launched their first crypto fund in 2018 during the crypto winter. The venture capital firm is known for its early backing for the likes of Facebook, Lyft, Pinterest, and Coinbase as well.
At the time of launch, the firm noted that there is a lot of similarity between their first crypto fund that came at a bearish juncture for the crypto market in 2018, and today when the market sentiments are more bearish than bullish. Bitcoin has lost nearly half of its valuation from the April high, while the crypto market cap has come below $1.5 trillion from an ath above $2 trillion just a couple of months ago.
Wall Street Giants Continue to Bet Big on Crypto
The recent downtrend in the crypto market might have deferred retail investors for the short term, but institutions are still showing strong confidence in the crypto market. Many top investors like Kevin O’Leary and Mike Novogratz have played down the recent price crash as the end of the bull market, and believe we are nearer to the market bottom than the top.
a16z’s announcement reinforces the institutional belief. The investment could also prove crucial for the venture capital firm as crypto investments are getting expensive by the day. In the first two quarters of 2021 alone, after six rounds of funding, crypto firms have amassed $2 billion in investment.
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