Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is on the verge of pouring lots of of tens of millions into start-ups in India, the world’s sixth-largest economic system, and residential to 94 unicorns, 13 of which have been born simply this yr.
The U.S.-based enterprise capital agency is planning to take a position $500 million into the rising panorama of Indian start-ups, as reported by TechCrunch, which cited nameless sources conversant in the matter. A16z, a enterprise capital fund that invests in crypto and Net 3.0 startups, has issued no official touch upon the subject as of this writing.
Reportedly, this isn’t the primary time a Silicon Valley agency has entered the Indian market. Andreessen Horowitz made its first $260 million funding into cryptocurrency change ‘CoinSwitch Kuber’ final yr. The four-year-old buying and selling startup turned India’s second crypto unicorn with a $1.9 billion valuation in October 2021.
Andressen Horowitz shouldn’t be the one agency eyeing India for potential funding. A number of different enterprise capital sharks are exploring potentialities and rising their investments on the planet’s second-largest inhabitants.
Only a week in the past, VC agency Lightspeed India Enterprise Companions disclosed plans to boost $500 million for its Indian funds. Tiger International Administration, Sequoia Capital, Coinbase Ventures, FTX Ventures, South Korean Hashed, and China’s Sino International Capital additionally reportedly have plans to extend tech hirings and investments in India, in response to insiders conversant in the matter.
Enterprise capitalists cumulatively invested over $23.5 billion in India’s start-ups final yr. The determine represents virtually double the quantities of 2019 and 2020 mixed. To place that quantity in perspective, enterprise capital companies invested $33 billion in complete to crypto and blockchain-related start-ups throughout 2021.
A16Z’s Crypto Portfolio
Based in 2009, Andreessen Horowitz, additionally identified by A16Z, is without doubt one of the largest enterprise capital companies available on the market, and the most important crypto VC investor worldwide. The agency runs crypto funds of over $2.2 billion, as per 2021’s knowledge, and has funded at the least 50 crypto-related start-ups.
The enterprise capital agency is considered one of Coinbase’s main traders, one of many largest cryptocurrency exchanges at this time. The crypto portfolio of A16Z at the moment consists of distinguished names like Anchorage Digital, Avalanche, Celo, MakerDAO, Nansen, NEAR, OpenSea, Optimism, Solana, Uniswap, and Yuga Labs.
