San Francisco (AFP) – Silicon Valley venture capital star Andreessen Horowitz said Tuesday it had raised $7.2 billion to invest in startups behind games, apps, artificial intelligence and more.
More than half of the money spread across five funds is dedicated to a “growth” strategy for late-stage startups, possibly bringing new life to a moribund trend of young companies being bought or going public with offerings of stock.
“This marks an important milestone for us,” VC firm cofounder and general partner Ben Horowitz said in a blog post.
Other “strategies” targeted for investment were apps, games, “American Dynamism,” and tech “infrastructure” including artificial intelligence (AI).
“AI represents a generational shift in computing — following in the footsteps of the microprocessor and the internet — and it will deliver commensurate improvements in cost, efficiency, and human productivity,” Horowitz wrote. “We believe that infrastructure underpins this coming shift just as it does for many other transformational technologies.”
The infrastructure fund raised $1.25 billion, according to Horowitz.
American Dynamism, funded with $600 million, will target investments at startups in “national interest” areas such as aerospace, defense, public safety, education, and supply chain, he explained.
An equal amount of investment money was raised to invest in gaming startups, with the VC veteran expressing belief “games will play a pivotal role in defining how we socialize, play, and work over the next century.”
A fund devoted to apps raised $1 billion, according to Horowitz.
The VC firm started in 2009 is known for investing early in tech stars such as Facebook and Airbnb.
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