What a16z funds at the early stage

For founders and investors

Breakout industries in speedrun

Industries whose share of speedrun companies grew most in the last two cohorts (SR006–SR007) compared with the two before (SR004–SR005).

For investors

Where a16z is putting new early-stage money

Each a16z team's share of the companies it first backed at seed or venture stage in 2023–2026, compared with 2019–2022. a16z adds new investments to its public list with a delay, so recent years are incomplete.

For founders and investors

Trend any sector

Pick a speedrun industry or an a16z team and see how many companies it had in each cohort or year.

For founders

Crowded or open?

Speedrun companies per industry in the last 3 cohorts, compared with all earlier cohorts. 5 industries are crowded.

For investors

How often a16z comes in at seed

Share of each year's new early-stage portfolio companies that a16z first backed at seed (the rest at venture stage).

For investors

How each team played out

Share of companies a16z first backed in 2021 or earlier that it lists as exited by IPO or acquisition.

For investors and founders

Where speedrun founders are based

1.3% of SR007 companies are based outside the US, down from 16% in SR001.

For investors

Compare two a16z teams

For founders

What a16z says it wants vs what it funds

a16z's Big Ideas 2026 lists what its partners want to fund. Next to each idea: the matching team's share of new early-stage companies.

• American Dynamism

  American Dynamism: 3.6% → 14.6% of new early-stage companies (2019–2022 → 2023–2026)

• Bio + Health

  Bio + Health: 15.2% → 21.2% of new early-stage companies (2019–2022 → 2023–2026)

• Consumer Tech

  Consumer: 19.2% → 10.9% of new early-stage companies (2019–2022 → 2023–2026)

• Crypto & Web3

  No matching team on the public list.

• Enterprise + Fintech

  Enterprise: 19.9% → 22.6% of new early-stage companies (2019–2022 → 2023–2026); Fintech: 13.9% → 5.8% of new early-stage companies (2019–2022 → 2023–2026)

Read a16z’s Big Ideas 2026, summarised on Questd

Every speedrun cohort

• SR007

  79 companies · AI Agents

• SR006

  59 companies · AI Agents

• SR005

  59 companies · AI Agents

• SR004

  42 companies · Consumer

• SR003

  32 companies · Gaming

• SR002

  25 companies · Gaming

• SR001

  25 companies · Gaming

a16z teams and speedrun industries

Methodology

Every number here is a count of companies a16z lists publicly. Nothing is estimated, and we never show dollar amounts: a16z doesn’t publish what it invested.

Sources and freshness

Two public a16z lists: its portfolio page and its speedrun accelerator directory. We store facts only (names, dates, stages, teams, industries, exits and location), never a16z’s descriptions, and every company links to its a16z page. Data as of 2026-10-26, refreshed monthly. Each refresh is reviewed by a person before it goes live.

Which companies count

The portfolio page is a selection of a16z’s investments, not all of them. We keep the companies a16z says it first backed at seed or venture stage, and leave out growth-stage entries. Years are the year of a16z’s first investment, from 2012. a16z adds new investments to the list with a delay, so the most recent years look smaller than they are. Speedrun counts every company in each cohort a16z lists.

Teams and industries

Teams are a16z’s own investing groups (for example Enterprise, Bio + Health, American Dynamism). A company can belong to more than one. Industries are the labels speedrun companies carry in a16z’s directory, and a company can have several.

Breakout themes

Speedrun industries compare each industry’s share of companies in the last 2 cohorts with the 2 before. An industry needs 8+ companies in the recent cohorts to rank. “Barely existed before” means 6+ recent companies and at least three times the earlier count. Teams compare their share of new early-stage companies in 2023–2026 with 2019–2022; four-year windows, because recent years are thin.

Trend any sector

Counts per cohort (industries) or per year (teams). “Rising” means the recent share is at least 25% higher than before; “cooling” at least 20% lower. With fewer than 8 companies across both windows we don’t call a trend.

Crowded or open

From speedrun companies in the last 3 cohorts. An industry is Crowded with 20+ companies, Active with 8–19, and Open below 8. The arrow compares the per-company rate with all earlier cohorts (up or down by more than 15%). “Open” describes speedrun only, not the whole market.

How each team played out

For companies a16z first backed in 2021 or earlier (at least five years ago): the share a16z lists as exited by IPO (including direct listings and SPACs) or by acquisition. A team needs 20+ such companies. a16z doesn’t mark companies as shut down, so “active” means “not listed as exited”. This shows how often companies exited, not how much anyone made.

Where speedrun founders are based

The city and country each speedrun company lists. The portfolio page has no locations.

Download

Every number on these pages is in the CSV download. You’re welcome to cite it; please link to this page.