Andreessen Horowitz renames crypto fund a16z Frontier in AI pivot

Key points

• The fund, previously a16z Crypto, becomes a16z Frontier, per an email to newsletter subscribers on Thursday.
• The firm says it raised more than $15bn across its funds in January; the renamed fund's latest recorded size is $2.2bn, announced in May.

Andreessen Horowitz has renamed its crypto fund a16z Frontier, widening its remit to AI and other long-horizon technologies, according to an email sent to its newsletter subscribers on Thursday and reported by Decrypt. The venture firm, widely known as a16z, described the change as an expansion rather than a retreat, saying it will keep backing crypto ventures and lobbying for workable rules for the sector.

Chris Dixon, the general partner who has run the crypto team, argued that blockchains have become part of the background of products from Wall Street and fintech firms. In his view, it now makes less sense to sort companies by the technology they use than by what they actually do.

In January, a16z said it had raised more than $15bn across its funds, with Horowitz writing that the mission begins with winning the key architectures of the future, AI and crypto.

Dixon expects AI to produce brand-new activities rather than only speeding up existing work, and said early versions may look like toys before some become mainstream. He also sees crypto giving autonomous AI agents a way to pay one another.

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