Andreessen Horowitz boosts growth-stage war chest to $8.5B, adds AI hardware fund

Andreessen Horowitz has increased its fifth growth fund to $8.5 billion, adding $1.75 billion since its January launch. The firm also recently closed a $1.1 billion fund dedicated to AI hardware startups, focusing on chips, memory, networking, and storage. The growth fund has backed over 100 companies in seven years, with investments spanning AI, defense, robotics, and health tech.

The growth fund's expansion reflects a trend where AI companies reach scale faster and require larger capital injections at higher valuations than earlier startup generations. David George, who leads the growth investment team, noted the fund has backed over 100 companies across seven years, with deployment spanning enterprise and consumer AI, defense, robotics, infrastructure, and health technology.

The Machine Age Fund's $1.1 billion allocation targets foundational hardware layers—chips, memory, networking, and storage—signaling a bet on physical infrastructure beneath the AI software boom. Combined with January's $15 billion raise, a16z's total assets under management reached $90 billion, and the firm has also increased political spending during the current election cycle.