Toggle search
Toggle menu
5.4K
6.1K
230
53K
VR & AR Wiki
Toggle preferences menu
Toggle personal menu
Not logged in
Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits.

Andreessen Horowitz

vrarwiki.com · VR & AR Wiki
More actions
Andreessen Horowitz
Information
Industry Venture capital
Founded 2009
Founder Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz
Headquarters Menlo Park, California, United States
Website https://a16z.com


Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z, is an American venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.[1][2] Its registered main office is at 2865 Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California.[3] The firm invests from seed to growth stage in areas that include AI, bio and healthcare, consumer, crypto, enterprise, fintech, games and infrastructure, as well as companies it groups under "American dynamism".[1]

In virtual and augmented reality, Andreessen Horowitz led the US$75 million Series B round of Oculus VR in December 2013, a few months before Facebook agreed to buy the company for about US$2 billion.[4][5] It also took part in Magic Leap's US$542 million Series B in 2014, put US$20 million into the simulation company Improbable in 2015, and led early rounds for the VR companies Within and Bigscreen.[6][7][8][9] In 2022 it opened Games Fund One, a US$600 million fund for game studios, games-related consumer companies and games infrastructure.[10]

Reviewed 19 October 2026. Founding, SEC registration, offices and every dated XR and games investment (round, amount, lead or participant) checked against the cited sources. About review dates.

History

Andreessen co-founded Netscape Communications before starting the firm with Horowitz.[2] The firm launched in July 2009 with a first fund of US$300 million.[2] Its own description says it was founded on the conviction that "software would eat the world".[1] As of 30 April 2026 the firm stated that it had more than US$100 billion under management across multiple funds.[1]

The firm's offices page lists offices in Menlo Park, San Francisco, Santa Monica, New York, Washington, D.C., Seoul and Tokyo.[11] SEC adviser records list the firm under the name Andreessen Horowitz, with AH Capital Management, L.L.C. and a16z Capital Management, L.L.C. among its other names, and show its registration as an investment adviser with the SEC effective 11 April 2019.[3] The firm's current legal disclosures refer to a16z Capital Management, L.L.C. as an investment adviser registered with the SEC.[12]

XR and gaming investments

Oculus VR

Andreessen Horowitz did not invest in Oculus VR's US$16 million Series A in June 2013. Fortune reported in April 2014 that the firm had passed largely because of latency, the failure of the software to update in sync with head and eye movements. Partner Chris Dixon told Fortune that Oculus had since built a system with very low motion-to-photon latency that, in his words, "solves the motion sickness issue", and the firm invested once he was convinced the company could build a consumer version with the same performance.[13]

On 12 December 2013 TechCrunch reported that Oculus had raised a US$75 million Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Spark Capital, Matrix Partners and Formation 8 also investing. Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon joined the Oculus board as part of the round. TechCrunch reported that the money was meant to help Oculus launch a consumer version of the Oculus Rift.[4] When Facebook announced its roughly US$2 billion purchase of Oculus in March 2014, TechCrunch reported that Andreessen Horowitz held a stake equal to those of Spark Capital and Matrix Partners, the co-leads of the Series A. Marc Andreessen, who sat on Facebook's board of directors, recused himself from the negotiations.[5]

Magic Leap

Andreessen Horowitz was one of the investors in Magic Leap's US$542 million Series B, which Google led in October 2014. Qualcomm Ventures, Legendary Entertainment, KKR, Vulcan Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Obvious Ventures also took part.[6][14] Global Venturing also listed the firm among the investors in Magic Leap's US$793.5 million Series C of February 2016, which Alibaba led.[15]

Improbable

In March 2015 the London company Improbable, founded at Cambridge University by Herman Narula and Rob Whitehead, raised US$20 million from Andreessen Horowitz, and Chris Dixon joined its board. TechCrunch described Improbable's platform as a way to run large simulated worlds, including VR and AR environments, by spreading the workload across many servers while developers wrote code for engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine.[7] Andreessen Horowitz also took part in Improbable's US$502 million Series B, led by SoftBank, in May 2017.[16]

VR content and social VR

Andreessen Horowitz led the Series A of Vrse, the VR film company whose CEO was Chris Milk, in June 2016. The company renamed itself Within at the same time. The round totalled about US$12.56 million, with 21st Century Fox, Raine Ventures, William Morris Entertainment, Live Nation, Vice Media, Tribeca Enterprises, Annapurna Pictures, Legendary Pictures and Freelands Ventures also investing.[8][17] Within later made the VR fitness app Supernatural, and Meta completed its acquisition of the company in February 2023 after an antitrust challenge from the US Federal Trade Commission.[18]

In February 2017 the firm led a US$3 million round for Bigscreen, a VR social app that TechCrunch described as built around experiencing web content with others in a shared environment. True Ventures, Presence Capital, Ludlow Ventures, David Bettner and SV Angel also invested.[9] Road to VR later described this round as Bigscreen's seed funding.[19] Andreessen Horowitz then participated in Bigscreen's US$11 million Series A, led by True Ventures, in October 2017.[19]

Other XR-related investments

Andreessen Horowitz was named in June 2011 among the investors that had put US$50 million into the light field camera maker Lytro, together with NEA, K9 Ventures and Greylock Partners.[20] In February 2015 Lytro announced an additional US$50 million Series C round and a strategic change into video and virtual reality; the report did not name the investors in that round.[21]

In August 2022 the firm led a US$56 million Series B in Ready Player Me, a cross-platform avatar service whose more than 3,000 partner integrations included VRChat and Somnium Space. The round brought the company's total funding to US$72 million.[22] Netflix acquired Ready Player Me in December 2025, and its public services were scheduled to shut down on 31 January 2026.[23]

On 27 February 2025 Anjney Midha of Andreessen Horowitz wrote that the firm had led the Series A of Sesame, an AI company co-founded by former Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe and Ankit Kumar. His post argued for an audio-first AI system in place of the displays of AR glasses.[24] Road to VR reported in June 2025 that Sesame was developing lightweight smart glasses alongside its AI assistant, and that its backers included Midha and Marc Andreessen at Andreessen Horowitz.[25]

Games Fund One

On 18 May 2022 general partners Andrew Chen, Jonathan Lai and James Gwertzman announced Games Fund One, the firm's first fund dedicated to the games industry, at US$600 million. It was to invest in game studios, games-related consumer companies and games infrastructure. The announcement listed VR/AR among the emerging technologies the firm had backed and named Oculus among its 2010s games-related investments.[10]

Summary of documented rounds

Company Date Round Amount (US$) Andreessen Horowitz role
Lytro Reported June 2011 Early funding (cumulative) 50 million Investor[20]
Oculus VR December 2013 Series B 75 million Lead[4]
Magic Leap October 2014 Series B 542 million Participant[6]
Improbable March 2015 Not specified 20 million Sole investor named[7]
Magic Leap February 2016 Series C 793.5 million Listed as investor[15]
Within June 2016 Series A About 12.56 million Lead[8]
Bigscreen February 2017 Seed 3 million Lead[9]
Improbable May 2017 Series B 502 million Participant[16]
Bigscreen October 2017 Series A 11 million Participant[19]
Ready Player Me August 2022 Series B 56 million Lead[22]
Sesame Announced February 2025 Series A Not disclosed by the firm Lead[24]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "About a16z". Andreessen Horowitz. https://a16z.com/about/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Gareth Halfacree (2009-07-07). "Andreessen launches venture capital firm". bit-tech. https://bit-tech.net/news/andreessen-launches-venture-capital-firm/1/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Andreessen Horowitz (CRD 160489)". Investment Adviser Public Disclosure. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/160489. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chris Velazco (2013-12-12). "Oculus VR Raises $75 Million To Help Bring Virtual Reality Goggles To The Masses". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/12/oculus-vr-raises-75-million-to-help-bring-virtual-reality-goggles-to-the-masses/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kim-Mai Cutler (2014-03-25). "Facebook's $2B Oculus Deal Happened Over The Last Five Days". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/facebook-oculus-deal/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Robert Lavine (2014-10-23). "Google leads huge $542m series B for Magic Leap". Global Venturing. https://globalventuring.com/blog/2014/10/23/google-leads-huge-542m-series-b-for-magic-leap/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Jon Russell (2015-03-24). "Improbable Lands $20M From Andreessen Horowitz For Distributed Simulation Tech". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2015/03/24/improbable-andreessen-horowitz/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Jamie Feltham (2016-06-16). "One of VR's Best Storytellers has a New Name and a Lot More Funding". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/one-vrs-best-storytellers-new-name-lot-funding/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lucas Matney (2017-02-24). "VR social productivity app Bigscreen raises $3M in round led by Andreessen Horowitz". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2017/02/24/vr-social-productivity-app-bigscreen-raises-3m-in-round-led-by-andreessen-horowitz/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Andrew Chen, Jonathan Lai, James Gwertzman (2022-05-18). "GAMES FUND ONE: Building the Future of Games". Andreessen Horowitz. https://a16z.com/games-fund-one-building-the-future-of-games/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  11. ↑ "Offices". Andreessen Horowitz. https://a16z.com/offices/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  12. ↑ "Disclosures". Andreessen Horowitz. https://a16z.com/disclosures/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  13. ↑ Dan Primack (2014-04-09). "Why Andreessen Horowitz changed its mind on Oculus VR". Fortune. https://fortune.com/2014/04/09/why-andreessen-horowitz-changed-its-mind-on-oculus-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  14. ↑ Ben Lang (2014-10-21). "Magic Leap Closes $542m Series B Investment, Now Soliciting Developers for Its "Digital Lightfield" Wearable". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/magic-leap-closes-542m-series-b-investment-now-soliciting-developers-digital-lightfield-wearable/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Robert Lavine (2016-02-03). "Magic Leap tops $790m in massive series C". Global Venturing. https://globalventuring.com/blog/2016/02/03/magic-leap-tops-790m-in-massive-series-c/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Robert Lavine (2017-05-12). "SoftBank makes Improbable investment in $502m round". Global Venturing. https://globalventuring.com/blog/2017/05/12/softbank-makes-improbable-investment-in-502m-round/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  17. ↑ "Virtual Reality Startup Within Raises $12.6 in Series A Funding Round". Cooley. 2016-06-23. https://www.cooley.com/news/coverage/2016/2016-06-23-virtual-reality-startup-within-raises-12-6-in-series-a-funding-round. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  18. ↑ Amanda Silberling (2023-02-09). "Meta acquires Within despite FTC concerns". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/09/meta-acquires-within-despite-ftc-concerns/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Scott Hayden (2017-10-10). "'Bigscreen' Raises $11 Million Series A Funding to Grow, Improve & Expand Services to More AR/VR Headsets". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/bigscreen-raises-11-million-series-funding-grow-improve-expand-services-arvr-headsets/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Sarah Lacy (2011-06-21). "Lytro Launches to Transform Photography with $50M in Venture Funds (TCTV)". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2011/06/21/lytro-launches-to-transform-photography-with-50m-in-venture-funds-tctv/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  21. ↑ Helen Vince (2015-02-28). "Lytro to Shift to Video and Virtual Reality". Display Daily. https://displaydaily.com/lytro-to-shift-to-video-and-virtual-reality/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Yogita Khatri (2022-08-23). "Metaverse avatar platform Ready Player Me raises $56 million from a16z and others". The Block. https://www.theblock.co/post/164947/ready-player-me-raises-series-b-metaverse-avatar-platform. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  23. ↑ Isa Muhammad (2025-12-22). "Netflix acquires avatar-creation platform Ready Player Me". PocketGamer.biz. https://www.pocketgamer.biz/netflix-acquires-avatar-creation-platform-ready-player-me/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Anjney Midha (2025-02-27). "Investing in Sesame AI". Andreessen Horowitz. https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-sesame-ai/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
  25. ↑ Scott Hayden (2025-06-27). "Former Oculus Execs Are Jumping Back into Wearables with Sesame Smart Glasses". Road to VR. https://www.roadtovr.com/ex-oculus-execs-sesame-smart-glasses-nate-mitchell/. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
Retrieved from "https://vrarwiki.com/index.php?title=Andreessen_Horowitz&oldid=52675"