Andreessen Horowitz Pledges $30 Million to Boost Tech-Centric Gaming Startups via SPEEDRUN Program
Summary:
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) plans to invest $30 million in gaming startups focused on AI, VR/AR, and Web3 games through its "SPEEDRUN" program. The beneficiaries of the 12-week accelerator course will receive industry coaching and mentoring. The diversity of startups can range from those in the ideation phase to those with market products. Past participants include Matchday and Promodium. Chen oversees a16z's $600 million Game Fund One, which supports established platforms like Roblox, Sandbox, and Axie Infinity. Their crypto division has also funded blockchain game startups, anticipating the Web3 gaming market to grow to $614 billion by 2030.
The investment firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has declared a plan to inject $30 million into gaming startups focused on technology, spanning AI, VR/AR, and Web3 games. Andrew Chen, a top-ranking member of a16z in charge of the Games One Fund, explained they are "investing at the common ground of TECH x GAMES, encompassing AI/infra, 3D tools, VR/AR, web3 games, game-inspired consumer apps, among others." This investment, amounting to $30 million, will be deployed over a span of 45 days through the company's fledgling accelerator platform, "SPEEDRUN", with each chosen startup gesturing an amount of $750,000.
The SPEEDRUN program involves guiding and supporting participants over 12 weeks with capital, industry coaching, mentoring, and interaction within a community of striving founders. Chen further specified that a16z is receptive to an array of startups, stretching from those still in the brainstorming phase to those with a product already in the market, garnering significant revenue. Despite high competition for acceptance into the SPEEDRUN program, with a mere 1% acceptance rate from the previous wave of applicants, Chen revealed that 80% of the initial program's companies secured investor funding after Demo Day.
Applications for participation can be lodged until May 19, and the accelerator course will take place from July 29 to Oct. 20, 2024, located in Los Angeles, California. Previous participants in the SPEEDRUN program, paving the way in the Web3 gaming space, include soccer-themed Matchday and nonfungible token-based Promodium. Chen is also a crucial part of the firm's $600 million Game Fund One initiative, which was inaugurated in 2022 and features investments in well-known entities like Roblox, Sandbox, and Sky Marvis, the brains behind the blockchain game Axie Infinity.
The Silicon Valley-based firm has also made notable investments in blockchain gaming startups via its digital currency division. Some of these include Mythical Games, Yield Guild Games, Azra Games, CCP Games, NOD games and Voldex. Predictions for the Web3 gaming market anticipate a leap from the current $154 billion to $614 billion by 2030, based on a January report from Fortune Business Insights. This impressive data underlines an annual growth rate of 21.8%.
Published At
4/2/2024 2:38:49 AM
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