a16z Invests $600M in Metaverse Gaming Fund
The Silicon Valley firm said in its announcement that gaming companies would build the Metaverse.
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Andreessen Horowitz has announced $600 million in funding for its new Games Fund One, an “inaugural fund dedicated to building the future of the games industry.”
a16z Looks to the Metaverse
Andreessen Horowitz—commonly styled a16z—has announced a dedicated fund for game development with an emphasis on Web3 and Metaverse applications. Stating in its announcement that “the coming Metaverse will be built by game companies,” the Silicon Valley investment giant is putting up $600 million to steer the direction of its development.
The firm announced three main “themes” it would invest in: game studios, infrastructure, and consumer appeal. Citing the success of the most popular online games on the market, such as Fortnite and League of Legends, a16z said that it thinks that games will become the “dominant way people spend time,” and claimed that the most innovative companies will be built around consumer communities.
While Games Fund One is a16z’s first fund dedicated to games, the firm has backed many successful game projects. Its previous investments include Zynga and Oculus and the firm has invested in veteran talent from notable studios such as Riot Games and Epic Games. The company said that its experience “has cemented [its] belief that games require a specialized focus—not just in dedicated investing capital, but also in operational prowess that’s as unique and forward-thinking as the games industry itself.”
a16z is not exclusively a crypto-oriented venture capital firm, but it has demonstrated itself to be committed to the space and willing to invest in its growth actively. In June of 2021, it committed $2.2 billion to funding crypto and blockchain innovation. At the beginning of the year, it was reported that it was seeking another $4.5 billion for similar purposes, although that raise is still yet to be confirmed.
The company has been publicly optimistic about crypto and blockchain for several years now. In 2018, Marc Andreessen famously compared the emerging asset class to the early days of the Internet, and more recently it’s invested in major projects like Solana, Sky Mavis’ Axie Infinity, and Uniswap.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, SOL, and several other cryptocurrencies.
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