Katie Haun – a General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (known as a16z) and one of the leaders of the company’s digital asset arm – revealed that she will leave the firm early next year. She will launch a venture capital fund focused on cryptocurrencies and Web3 startups.
Jumping into New Crypto Adventure
The cryptocurrency investor announced her decision on Twitter, indicating that she will leave a16z in early 2022. Following her departure, Chris Dixon – Co-Founder of the digital asset venture – will lead the unit alongside three other partners.
1/ Today @cdixon and I shared with the @a16z crypto team that I will be launching my own fund focused on crypto and web3 early next year. The current crypto fund will be my last at the firm
— Kathryn Haun (@katie_haun) December 15, 2021
The new fund will be joined by a small number of current Andreessen Horowitz employees, such as Rachael Horwitz – Head of Crypto Marketing. Additionally, a16z will be a limited partner in Haun’s new endeavor, while the company’s founders will personally contribute.
Apart from bitcoin and alternative coins, it will also focus on Web3. In her view, the latter has the ability to revolutionize the Internet:
“When Chris and I started our first crypto fund in 2018, it was a moonshot experiment. Thanks to the hard work of many, it has exceeded both of our wildest expectations. Today it’s more apparent than ever that web3 will transform the internet.”
Despite her leaving, Haun will keep her board seats at Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio companies:
“As a board partner, I will continue to work on managing the existing a16z crypto portfolio and will keep my board seats.”
Haun’s Achievements
Katie Haun’s successful reign at Andreessen Horowitz will be remembered with the launch of a $2.2 billion fund focused on the cryptocurrency industry earlier this year. Back then, the partners of the VC firm described the sector as “the future of finance.”
“The size of this fund speaks to the size of the opportunity before us: crypto is not only the future of finance but, as with the internet in the early days, is poised to transform all aspects of our lives,” Haun and Dixon concluded.
Shortly after, the company entered the NFT universe. In July, OpenSea raised $100 million from industry investors in a Series B funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The financing received support from numerous other prominent names, including Kevin Hartz, Kevin Durant, and Ashton Kutcher.
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