Today, I will take you to learn more about it."and"and"Currency benchmark"Known as the top stream - A16z.
"Theyre like lunatics, aggressively putting their foot in every deal"。
The full name of A16z is Andreessen Horowitz, taken from the surnames of the two founders. Founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, it is a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley, California, USA. The companys slogan is"Supporting bold entrepreneurs to build the future through technology". With its aggressive style, a16z has rapidly expanded its territory. From Facebook, Twitter, GitHub to Clubhouse, a16z has bet on a series of companies that will become giants or phenomenal products in the future, and thus become the top venture capital institution in Silicon Valley. It can be one of the most dazzling stars in the entire Internet investment industry, ranking third in the United States after Sequoia and Accel Partner.
A16z manages nearly $1.66 billion in assets across multiple funds, including a $1.4 billion bio fund.
It can be said that A16z itself has been in the investment circle for more than ten years, and it has always existed like chicken soup.
see the future
The Ignition Man of the Internet"The Ignition Man of the Internet", because Anderson was the first person to develop browser software. At that time, he was just a college student who did not graduate.
This person with extraordinary computer skills is destined to have an extraordinary life—although he was born in New Lisbon, a typical small town on the prairie in the Midwest of the United States, which seems to have nothing to do with computers, where people are keen on football, Anderson seems to be an outlier. He started to contact computers at the age of 9 and taught himself the Basic language in the library.
The story that happened later was simply pie in the sky-one day in March 1994, Anderson sat in front of his computer as usual, and he suddenly received an email from a strange old man-in this email, Veteran venture capitalist Jim Clark offered him an olive branch.
Naturally, Mark Anderson was ecstatic, you know, he is a fresh graduate.
In April 1994, the two jointly founded Mosaic Communications (the predecessor of Netscape). Clark invested 4 million US dollars. Anderson and his partners were in charge of technology and devoted themselves to the development of web browsers. They worked day and night for 6 months. In a week, the UNIX version of the Mosaic browser was mainly developed. A year later, the company of 3 people grew to 220 people, and they accounted for more than 80% of the Internet.
On August 9, 1995, 16 months after the company was established, Mosaic Communications was successfully listed, and its market value was once as high as 3 billion US dollars. On that day, its stock price soared after the opening of the market, reaching a peak of 71 US dollars, and within two hours, Five million shares were snapped up, and eventually, Netscape closed at $58.25 per share.
Anderson, the golden boy of Silicon Valley, became rich overnight and became an entrepreneurial myth. In the eyes of many people, he is not only a technician, but also an entrepreneurial genius. For example, he has no entrepreneurial experience or work experience, but in management When he was at Netscape, his head was full of business strategy, including marketing, positioning, and finding the best way for Netscape to win.
Later, although Netscape did not compete with Microsoft in the end and was forced to sell to AOL (America Online), the JAVA, SSL, and cookie technologies they left behind have now become common standards in the entire industry. In a sense, Anderson is the Cangjie of the Internet, creating many basic languages.
However, after being sold, Anderson was appointed as the chief technology officer of America Online in the terms of the transaction. However, Anderson was naturally suitable for entrepreneurship, so he chose to leave and turned to venture capital in 2009. Lowitz co-founded A16z.
But in 2019, a16z ushered in a turning point——
The stock prices of the four most eye-catching companies in its investment portfolio have plummeted after listing. Although a16z has already obtained rich returns, it means that the trend of the mobile Internet has passed. So a16z began to transform, looking for new fields that can meet the needs of the next few decades.
Break into the cryptocurrency market
Going back to 2014, I believe that most people have not yet entered the currency circle at this time. A16z invested an unprecedented $25 million when Bitcoin was still in the midst of the debate. Yes, at the time no one knew what Bitcoin was, was it a currency or a financial asset, or was it a blatant scam?
But for Anderson, who was a programmer, he seemed to see the past. How was this scene different? When the Internet came out, everyone thought that the Internet was a technology for scientists and engineers only. Everyone says that the Internet is a liar and a hiding place for unreliable people. When the Internet bubble burst, the so-called engineers and Internet experts could not hold their heads up and walk outside Silicon Valley.
It was Andersons browser that brought the Internet into thousands of households, and afterwards the Internet proved to be a trend that changed the world. Logic is evolving, which is why Anderson dared to invest in Coinbase first. Yeah, why not? If you understand the logic, then do it! In 2015, the valuation of Coinbase’s C round was as high as US$1 billion, and it is roughly estimated that Andreessen Horowitz had a floating profit of more than US$100 million.
Among the top streams of cryptocurrencies
In June 2018, A16z established a $300 million cryptocurrency fund, A16z Crypto Fund. As the name suggests, it specializes in blockchain.
bear market"bear market"The arrival has become the consensus of many people.
However, for A16z, there is no so-called winter and summer. Because, they describe themselves as an all weather fund: We will continue to invest over time. If there is another crypto winter, we will continue to invest actively.
From 2018 to this year, in just three years, A16z has strategically invested in 33 blockchain risk projects, including Coinbase, Uniswap, Solana, Maker Dao, Dfinity, Chia, etc., most of which are encrypted The currency has grown to become a giant in every sector of the crypto market.
If the previous investment logic of a16z was software is swallowing the world, now they are going to swallow the encrypted world. And in 2021, a16zs investment will be more aggressive.
long-term cryptocurrency
It is worth noting that although a16zs investment seems aggressive, they have never sold any of the investment projects, and plan to hold these investments for more than 10 years. In contrast to domestic crypto investment institutions, 1-year investment + 1-year exit is considered conscience...
Looking back on how Facebook has come to this day, A16z has contributed a lot. When Yahoo was preparing to acquire Facebook for US$1 billion, the rest of the investors were eager to cash out, but A16z told the 22-year-old Zuckerberg to insist that the shareholding is not high. However, they persisted until the end, encouraging Zuckerberg along the way and helping him make suggestions. In the end, A16z received more than 100 million US dollars in return.
So A16z insists on holding cryptocurrencies now, what will happen in the future, we will wait and see!
Current A16z portfolio:
On the sand dune road where VCs gather, A16z is a name that cannot be avoided. Now it has become the top venture capital in the field of cryptocurrency, and its investment portfolio deserves the attention of the market and the scrutiny of investors."wind vane"The title is not an exaggeration!
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