Andreessen Horowitz Makes a $3 Billion Bet Against the AI Bubble

An artificial intelligence startup that helps developers write and debug code is now worth nearly as much as United Airlines. A two-month-old AI computer company raised a massive $475 million seed round, with plans to secure even more financing soon. And a platform for ranking AI models is now valued at nearly $2 billion, less than a year after it was spun out of an academic project. READ MORE

Rogue agents and shadow AI: Why VCs are betting big on AI security

What happens when an AI agent decides the best way to complete a task is to blackmail you?

That’s not a hypothetical. According to Barmak Meftah, a partner at cybersecurity VC firm Ballistic Ventures, it recently happened to an enterprise employee working with an AI agent. The employee tried to suppress what the agent wanted to do, what it was trained to do, and it responded by scanning the user’s inbox, finding some inappropriate emails, and threatening to blackmail the user by forwarding the emails to the board of directors. READ MORE

The Private Equity Executive Talent Trends That Will Define 2026

Private equity is still a capital business, but it’s increasingly a leadership business. Deal flow isn’t what it was a few years ago and capital is more selective, according to a new report from Beecher Reagan. “Many funds are sitting on dry powder longer than expected,” the report said. “And when that happens, the spotlight shifts from buying to building.”

That shift is already changing which roles matter most inside portfolio companies and even inside funds themselves. Heading into 2026, here’s where Beecher Reagan sees as the pressure points emerging across private equity and portfolio companies in professional, business, & technology services. READ MORE

Private equity recruiting returned with its usual chaos — and better candidates

The hiring restart came just as first-year bankers returned from the winter holidays. Firms began outreach for 2027 associate roles they had originally planned to fill in the summer, before banks cracked down on the practice. In recent years, the timeline had crept steadily earlier, with 2024's process kicking off in June, before many analysts had even hit the desk.

Blackstone, Apollo, KKR, and Thoma Bravo were among the more than a dozen firms that interviewed candidates and extended offers, according to people familiar with the process. Some firms declined or did not respond to requests for comment. But sources said the cycle's customary theatrics — late-night interviews, exploding offers — were back in full force. READ MORE

Competing In An Era Of Accelerating Disruption

I believe few leaders fully realize the speed at which technology cycles are accelerating. Major inventions used to take decades to become widely adopted; today, they can transform entire sectors in a matter of months. For instance, the telephone took 75 years to reach 100 million users, but the internet reached that milestone in only seven years, and GenAI in several months.

This acceleration presents a challenging reality for most executives: markets are developing faster than most enterprises realize, and disruption increasingly comes from competitors outside of the traditional boundaries, driven by technology innovations. READ MORE

More money, fewer winners: Inside venture capital’s uneven comeback

So, why did Andreessen Horowitz just raise 15 billion bucks? Let’s ask Ben Horowitz.

The entrepreneur and co-founder of the Silicon Valley venture capital firm said he’s looking to back the USA.

“At this moment of profound technological opportunity, it is fundamentally important for humanity that America wins,” Horowitz said in a Jan. 9 statement. “There is no other country that comes close to giving everyone a chance to grab that opportunity and build.” READ MORE

The Return of the IPO Could Spell Trouble for Private Equity

Going public used to be a sign that a company had made it. In the last decade or so, however, IPOs started to become a little … cringe. That could change this year, as initial public offerings seem poised for a comeback — which in turn could provoke a long-overdue reckoning not only for tech optimism but also for private markets.

IPOs in 2026 could be big and splashy, such as SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, as well as smaller and quieter, with many lesser-known technology firms also filing. In some ways this is an encouraging sign. More IPOs suggest confidence in the market and the tech sector, and it’s good for the economy when the best, fastest-growing companies are available to investors in the public markets. But there is also a less optimistic take. READ MORE

A16z’s $15 Billion Fund Vacuumed Up A Fifth Of Venture Dollars Raised Last Year

Andreessen Horowitz has raised $15 billion for five new growth and venture funds in one of the largest-ever fund raises for a venture capital fund.

The fund raise will see Andreessen Horowitz’s backers plow $6.7 billion into a new growth fund, and $5.1 billion across three funds focused on apps, infrastructure and “American Dynamism.” The massive haul more than doubled its $7.2 billion raise in 2024, and marks a huge leap from its biggest raise to date of $9 billion in 2022. READ MORE

VCs predict enterprises will spend more on AI in 2026 — through fewer vendors

Enterprises have been piloting and testing different AI tools for the past few years to figure out what their adoption strategy will look like. Investors think that period of experimentation is coming to an end.

TechCrunch recently surveyed 24 enterprise-focused VCs and an overwhelming majority predicted enterprises will increase their budgets for AI in 2026 — but not for everything. Most investors said this budget increase will be concentrated and that many enterprises will spend more funds on fewer contracts. READ MORE

Venture Capitalists Likely to Continue Pivoting Away From Climate in 2026

Investors in climate technology have butted up against changing regulations, a loss in support for environmental policies and the growth of artificial intelligence this year. In 2026, they are expecting more of the same, but there is some hope for the sector if it can adapt. 

“It’s been hard to be in an environment where climate has become a dirty word,” said Amy Duffuor, co-founder and general partner of Azolla Ventures, a Cambridge, Mass.-based early-stage investor. READ MORE

The Era of “Illiquid for Longer” in Private Equity

Private equity runs on exits. When exits slow down, everything else starts to feel tighter: fund timelines, liquidity planning, and even conversations with investors.

That’s where many sponsors are today. Exits are taking longer, buyers are tougher on price, and financing isn’t as easy as it used to be, so more companies are staying in portfolios past the “normal” timeline. That means slower distributions, more pressure from limited partners (LPs), and more questions about when liquidity will arrive, not just how well the assets are performing. READ MORE

The Art Of Board Membering: Lessons From The Board Room

Along my journey as an early stage investor, I have seen all kinds of boards and I like to believe I have learned something from each of them. Reflecting on the most effective boards that I feel privileged to have served on, I do think there are some lessons absolutely worth sharing.

First and foremost, I really believe that “board member” should be a verb. The two nouns together “board’ and “member” are actually - when done well - a verb. Something akin to “board membering.” READ MORE

The Silicon Renaissance: US Fabs Go Online as CHIPS Act Shifts to Venture-Style Equity

As of December 18, 2025, the landscape of American semiconductor manufacturing has transitioned from a series of ambitious legislative promises into a tangible, operational reality. The CHIPS and Science Act, once a theoretical framework for industrial policy, has reached a critical inflection point where the first "made-in-USA" advanced logic wafers are finally rolling off production lines in Arizona and Texas. This milestone marks the most significant shift in global hardware production in three decades, as the United States attempts to claw back its share of the leading-edge foundry market from Asian giants.

The final quarter of 2025 has seen a dramatic evolution in how these domestic projects are managed. Following the establishment of the U.S. Investment Accelerator earlier this year, the federal government has pivoted from a traditional grant-based system to a "venture-capital style" model. This includes the high-profile finalization of a 9.9% equity stake in Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), funded through a combination of remaining CHIPS grants and the "Secure Enclave" program. By becoming a shareholder in its national champion, the U.S. government has signaled that domestic AI sovereignty is no longer just a matter of policy, but a direct national investment. READ MORE