Andreessen Horowitz plans to raise its first private equity fund, according to disclosures reviewed by Fortune, in yet another sign of the venture capital giant’s push into new businesses.
The documents, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of March, say that the fund will be called a16z Perennial Private Equity Fund, and that it will “invest in the private equity asset class,” without revealing further details or a launch date. It’s unclear whether the fund will invest directly in companies or whether it will invest in third-party PE funds.
An a16z spokeswoman declined to comment.
The move into buyouts would be a notable shift for a16z, whose rise has been rooted squarely in the world of early-stage venture capital, where Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz made their initial wealth as founders during the early days of the internet, then later as investors. A16z has been expanding its scope into other areas, too, debuting a public investing strategy and hiring academics and researchers to influence policy-making for the tech and finance industries. Some other firms, including Bessemer Venture Partners, have also launched private equity funds in recent years.
Andreessen Horowitz made the disclosure through its wealth management arm, dubbed “Perennial,” which was set up in 2022 with the goal of managing the personal wealth and philanthropy for the families of entrepreneurs and investors it had already built relationships with. Based on its name, the new private equity fund may cater to those customers. It’s unusual for firms to run both a family office and VC firm in unison—though Iconiq Capital has for a decade operated this way.
Perennial was started by a16z’s long-time investor relations head Scott Kupor and its investments are overseen by Michel Del Buono, a former chief investment officer at the multi-family office Jordan Park Group. Andreessen has already brought on 14 people into the new division, many of whom have backgrounds in family offices or ultra-high-net-worth wealth management firms like UBS or Jordan Park, to manage its clients’ money, estate planning, and philanthropic efforts, according to a new page on the a16z website that first appeared last fall, according to website archives. The firm already has attracted approximately 19 clients and $822 million of assets to manage, as of mid-May, according to the disclosures.
As part of the disclosures, Andreessen also said it anticipates in the “near future” a first close of two new funds from its family office division: A real assets fund, which invests in real estate, as well as a “diversifying investments” fund, which focuses on “income-producing and diversifying strategies,” according to the filings.