Mark Cuban told the a16z Show that slow corporate AI adoption creates an opening for a single entrepreneur, backed by AI agents, to build unprecedented wealth, calling this figure the 'trillionaire in the basement.' He demonstrated the risk by having ChatGPT draft a rival recipe to a food company's bestselling cookie in minutes, reportedly stunning the company's executive. Cuban added that AI alone isn't enough, arguing it lacks real-world judgment and still needs a human entrepreneur directing it.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-10-29
Andreessen Horowitz announced it is rebranding its digital asset investing arm from a16z Crypto to a16z Frontier. The unit, led by Chris Dixon alongside general partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet, has raised nearly $10 billion across five funds since 2018 and backed companies like Coinbase. Under its new name, the team will expand beyond crypto to invest in AI, robotics and other emerging technologies, while Dixon says blockchain will remain part of the mix.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-22
Character.AI announced a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing and plans to sell the company through a court-supervised process. The chatbot startup, once valued above $1 billion without revenue, had already lost founders Noam Shazeer and Daniel de Freitas to Google in a 2024 deal worth $2.7 billion, and faced lawsuits including one from a mother who said her teenage son died by suicide after interacting extensively with its bots.
futurism.com
· 2026-10-13
A venture capitalist from a16z revealed discovering an innovative marketing method involving AI-created jokes shared on Instagram. Comedians have accused these jokes of being stolen, raising concerns about originality and copyright. The strategy appears to leverage humor to drive traffic to OnlyFans pages.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-10-06
Safeworld, founded by Carnegie Mellon's Dr. Ding Zhao, Kyle Wong, and Simo Rachidi, has emerged from stealth with a seed round exceeding $12 million led by Shine Capital and a16z Speedrun. The company evaluates robotic control systems using simulations populated with realistic human models, aiming to assess risk in generative AI-driven robots before deployment.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-05
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is starting a new academy aimed at training aspiring startup founders, backed by $42 million in funding. The program is positioned as an alternative to traditional college education for people who want to build tech companies.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-23
Thyme Care, a virtual navigation platform for cancer patients, closed a $125 million Series E round led by Morgan Health with Humana and CVS Health Ventures participating, doubling its valuation to over $2 billion in less than a year. The company is also creating a new parent entity, Thyme Companies, to launch additional businesses tackling gaps in cancer care delivery, access and payment, with co-founder Robin Shah as executive chairman.
cnbc.com
· 2026-09-02
Andreessen Horowitz has boosted its fifth growth-stage fund by $1.75 billion, bringing its total to $8.5 billion after launching in January at $6.75 billion. The expansion comes just days after the firm closed a separate $1.1 billion 'Machine Age Fund' targeting AI hardware startups working on chips, memory, networking, and storage.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-31
Vijay Pande, who built Andreessen Horowitz's biotech investing practice into a nearly $4 billion operation, has departed to co-found a much smaller firm called VZVC with longtime investor Zach Werner. The new fund makes only a handful of concentrated investments each year instead of dozens, forgoes associates, and leans heavily on AI tools to run its operations.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-29
Andreessen Horowitz has closed a new $1.1 billion fund called 'Machine Age' dedicated to physical AI infrastructure rather than software. The fund targets investments across chips, memory, data centers, cooling systems, power and robotics, marking a shift from the firm's usual software-centric approach.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-28
Fashion startup Atorie has closed a $9.5 million seed round backed by a16z speedrun, Night Capital, and Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew. The company sells handbags and apparel made from the same materials and in the same factories as luxury brands like Prada, but at a fraction of the retail price. Founder Redouane Ramdani, previously of Snipfeed, says the products aren't dupes but genuine goods sourced directly from luxury manufacturers who now have excess capacity.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-27
Fashion startup Atoire has closed a $9.5 million seed round backed by a16z Speedrun, Night Capital, and Lightspeed's Jeremy Liew. The company sells handbags and apparel made from the same materials and in the same factories as high-end luxury brands, but at a fraction of the price by working directly with manufacturers rather than through traditional brand markups. Founder Redouane Ramdani, previously behind Snipfeed, says the goods are not dupes but genuine products from the same supply chains as names like Prada and Louis Vuitton.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-08-27
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