Cointime

Cointime

Download App
iOS & Android

Spotting Trends with a16z VC

Validated Individual Expert

Watching VC money can help you spot trends early.

A16z is one VC you MUST watch.

Here's what @a16z has looked at so far in Q1 2023 🧵👇

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a private venture capital firm founded in 2009.

They invest in both early-stage start-ups and established growth companies across various industries, including healthcare, consumer, crypto, gaming, fintech, education, and enterprise IT

AUM: $35B

Investment Focus:

• BioTech

• Consumer

• Enterprise IT

• Crypto

• FinTech

• Games

[Narratives/Trends]

AI is a huge trend a16z is hopping on, evident from investments in:

• $300M to OpenAI (AI research)

• $50M to HippocraticAI (Medical AI)

• $100M to Pinecone (Vector database)

• $97.4M to Replit (AI tool called Ghostwriter)

Other trends are:

[A16Z Crypto]

Largest portfolio holdings:

$UNI - $74.40M

$COMP - $8.82M

$MKR - $2.59M

Portfolio performance👇

Comparison with other VCs

Credits: @defi_mochi's VC trackooor dashboard

Top 5 crypto investments Q1 2023

1️⃣ Story Protocol (@StoryProtocol)

Raise: $29.3

Seed Lead

investor: A16Z

Other investors: Hashed, Mirana Corp, DAO5, Samsung Next and more

TLDR of Story Protocol:

• Story Protocol is a web3 technology designed to revolutionize how narrative universes are created.

• It offers a way to create, govern, and license IP on-chain.

• Potential to change the way we create and consume stories.

2️⃣ LayerZero Labs (@LayerZero_Labs)

Raise: $120M, Series B

Lead investor: A16z

Other investors: Circle Ventures, Sequoia, OpenSea, Christie's

TLDR;

• Blockchain messaging protocol developer that allows dApps to go cross-chain

• Solves the problem of cross-chain communication by providing a way for dapps to communicate with each other without having to worry about the underlying blockchains.

3️⃣ Capsule Wallets Raise: Stealth raise

Lead investor: A16z

Other investors: Spice Capital, Celo, Sommelier Finance

TLDR of Capsule

• Capsule Wallets is a crypto wallet infrastructure provider dedicated to helping developers create wallets with interoperable transactions.

• Provides SDKs that make it easy for developers to create wallets that can interact with multiple blockchains.

4️⃣ Town (HNT Labs)

Raise: $25M, Series

A Lead investor: A16z

Other investors: Benchmark, Framework Ventures

TLDR of Town & HNT Labs;

• Here Not There Labs develops a fully decentralized chat protocol for online communities.

• They are the developer of Towns, a protocol and a web-based chat app designed to facilitate self-owned and self-governed online communities.

5️⃣ Stelo Labs

Raise: $6M, Seed

Lead investor: A16z

Other investors: First Round Capital, Opensea Ventures, Chainforest

TLDR of Stelo Labs;

• Stelo Labs is a software company that protects users from phishing, fraud, and scams.

• They provide a solution that allows users to avoid phishing attacks and comprehend transactions before signing them.

Top 5 non-crypto investments Q1 2023

1️⃣ OpenAI - $300M The company behind ChatGPT developing generative A solutions and receives backing from Microsoft, Tiger Global, Sequoia and more. This is riding on the AI narrative.

2️⃣ Orbital Therapeutics - $270M Orbital Therapeutics is a BioTech company developing new treatments for eye diseases. They use gene therapy to deliver drugs directly to the eye, which could potentially cure or slow the progression of a number of eye diseases.

3️⃣ Character ai - $150M Character AI using AI to create realistic and engaging characters for video games and other applications. They use machine learning to generate visually appealing and emotionally resonant characters.

4️⃣ Pinecone - $100M Pinecone is a company developing a platform to help businesses collect and analyze customer feedback. They make it easy for businesses to create surveys, collect feedback, and analyze the results.

5️⃣ Replit - $97.4M Replit is an integrated development environment (IDE). This is also part of the investment trend regarding generative AI tech. Case in point, Replit, is a code-generating AI-powered tool called Ghostwriter for its IDE.

A16z Enjoyooors @DefiIgnas@crypto_linn@crypthoem@defi_mochi@OvrCldJonny@0xTindorr@DeFi_Cheetah@LouisCooper_@defiprincess_@milesdeutscher@francescoweb3@0xFinish@TheDeFISaint@Hercules_Defi@Louround_@TheDeFinvestor@ViktorDefi@alpha_pls@CJCJCJCJ_@arndxt_xo

a16z
Comments

All Comments

Recommended for you

  • Matrixport: Solana’s funding rate is currently as high as 70% annualized, and a price correction may occur

    According to a report, Matrixport has released a chart today stating that Grayscale has submitted an application to convert Solana Trust into a spot ETF. Although the current asset management scale of the product is relatively small at $134 million, if approved, it will set an important market precedent for other ETF issuers. It is important to note that Solana's financing rate is currently as high as 70% annualized, which creates significant pressure on leveraged long positions. Historical experience shows that similar high financing rates are often related to price corrections, as was the case in March of this year when the SOL-USDT price fell under similar financing rate backgrounds.

  • Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is cautious about separate taxation of cryptocurrencies and approval of ETFs

     Japanese Prime Minister Shizuo Shima expressed caution about the unified 20% separate taxation rule for cryptocurrency in a representative issue at a plenary session of the House of Representatives. "Is it appropriate to encourage investment in cryptocurrency such as stocks and investment trusts that have investor protection regulations? Will the public understand the idea of applying separate self-assessment taxation? There are several issues that need to be resolved. We need to consider it carefully." At the same time, "whether cryptocurrency should be included in ETFs depends on whether cryptocurrency is an asset that needs to be made more easily accessible to the public."

  • AI computing economy layer GAIB completes $5 million seed round of financing, led by Hack VC, Faction VC and Hashed

    GAIB, an AI computing economic layer, announced the completion of a $5 million seed round of financing, with Hack VC, Faction VC, and Hashed leading the investment. Other participating investors include Spartan, Animoca Brands, MH Ventures, Aethir, Near Foundation, Chris Yin from Plume Network, and Lucas Kozinski from Renzo Protocol.

  • Cadenza, an investment institution focusing on blockchain and AI, has raised $50 million for its early-stage AI venture capital fund

     Cadenza, a risk investment company focusing on blockchain and artificial intelligence, announced that its early AI venture capital fund has raised $50 million. The new fund will focus on seed and pre-seed investments, with a focus on infrastructure and enterprise applications. Cadenza's investment portfolio in the Web3 field currently includes: Web3 infrastructure Validation Cloud, Malaysian digital asset exchange Hata, Web3 API platform Uniblock, L1 blockchain Linera, and encrypted wallet application Zulu.

  • Union Completes $12 Million Series A Funding, Led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Others

    cross-chain settlement layer Union has announced the completion of a $12 million Series A financing round, led by Gumi Cryptos Capital and Longhash Ventures, with participation from Borderless Capital and Blockchange, as well as blockchain founders from Polygon, Movement, and Berachain. The funding will be used for core team expansion, partner integration, and ecosystem development.

  • Russia sentences Hydra market founder to life in prison

     Stanislav Moiseev, founder of the online black market and cryptocurrency mixing service Hydra, has been sentenced to life imprisonment by a Russian court.

  • Portal Ventures raises oversubscribed $75 million crypto fund

    , Portal Ventures, a cryptocurrency venture capital fund before the seed round, raised a $75 million cryptocurrency fund with oversubscription, supported by Chris Dixon and Marc Andreessen.

  • South Korea's ruling party may ask Yoon Seok-yeol to quit the party and propose the resignation of the entire cabinet and the dismissal of the defense minister

    According to multiple media reports on December 4th, the ruling party of South Korea, the National Power Party, held an emergency meeting to discuss the measures to be taken after President Yoon Seok-yeol announced the lifting of martial law. Several attendees stated that they had reached a certain consensus on issues such as demanding Yoon Seok-yeol's resignation from the party, the resignation of the entire cabinet, and the dismissal of the Minister of Defense. Prior to this, Han Dong-hoon, a representative of the ruling party, stated that the president's decision to declare a state of emergency was wrong.

  • Cryptocurrency firms invest $78 million in political action committee Fairshake to channel support for cryptocurrencies

    Cryptocurrency companies have significantly increased their donations to US politicians. Companies such as Coinbase, Circle, and a16z have invested $78 million in Fairshake, a federal super PAC that can receive unlimited funds from corporations and individuals for elections, with the goal of guiding "cryptocurrency-friendly leadership." Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said, "We will do everything we can to depoliticize cryptocurrency." "Our lobbying, grassroots work, and now Fairshake will create space for the public to debate its benefits, rather than our industry being used as a political football by those who do not understand the social benefits of this technology."

  • Web3 consumer application Setter completes $5 million in seed round financing, led by a16z

    On November 28th, according to CoinDesk, Web3 consumer application Setter completed a $5 million seed round of financing, led by a16z, with participation from Marcy Ventures Partners, Superlayer, Thirty Five Ventures, and retired tennis star Serena Williams. Setter plans to help brands innovate and promote exclusive products, and provide customers with limited edition products. Setter aims to solve the complexity and unfriendliness of current wallet technology, providing a more seamless Web3 experience for more users.

Daily Must-Read

Popular Activities

Delysium $AGI & AI Private Yacht Party

Delysium $AGI & AI Private Yacht Party

March 27 - March 27
Seoul

Popular Tags

Cointime
News
Contents
RSS
Company