Marc Andreessen Makes a Massive Venture Capital Land Grab for $1.5 Billion

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Marc Andreessen Makes a Massive Venture Capital Land Grab for $1.5 Billion

All Your VC Monies Are Belong to Andreessen.

By Nitasha Tiku

He can now afford an actual throne.

With $1.2 billion under management across three funds, Andreessen Horowitz has the capital and connections to invest in, well, pretty much any damn startup it sees fit, even at later stages when a company’s valuation starts to look a little bubbilicious.

Last February, for example, Andreessen Horowitz invested more than $80 million in Twitter through stock in the secondary markets. And that was despite not being part of Twitter’s recent (at the time) $200 million round led by Kleiner Perkins. The Journal chimed in: between Facebook, Zynga, and Groupon, Andreessen Horowitz could connect all four!

More recently, between leading sought after rounds in Fab, Airbnb, Foursquare, and Pinterest, it’s hard to come up with a hot Internet startup that Andreessen Horowitz isn’t involved in.
But as Dealbook’s Evelyn Rusli reports, it’s reach might grow even bigger.

According to Dealbook’s sources, Marc Andreesseen, is currently trying to raise $1.5 billion for his VC firm, with $900 set aside for a primary fund and $600 for a parallel fund.

Betabeat has previously covered two trends in the venture capital sector: the difference between the VC have and the have nots, and the difficulty raising if you’re in the latter camp. While the National Venture Capital Association reports that industry raised $5.6 billion in Q4, a 162 percent increase year-over-year, the number of firms raising dipped to 41 percent.

“Mr. Andreessen is courting limited partners during a challenging period for the broader venture capital industry. A handful of elite firms, like Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, have managed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors over the last two years. However, the majority of firms, particularly those in the midsize category, have struggled to attract capital. Thus, while the biggest firms are getting bigger, the number of firms getting financed is dropping.”

In short, Andreessen Horowitz’s is the 1 percent’s 1 percent. But Mr. Andreessen isn’t immune to fundraising woes. Raising such a large fund is taking longer than his previous rounds. “Andreessen Horowitz, founded by Mr. Andreessen and his general partner, Ben Horowitz, in 2009, is still a relatively young venture firm with a modest number of exits,” says Dealbook. But hark, what light through yonder IPO window breaks?

Follow Nitasha Tiku on Twitter or via RSS. ntiku@observer.com

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