Andreessen Horowitz just raised a whopping new $15 billion in funding. And a $1.7 billion chunk of that is going to its infrastructure team, the one responsible for some of its biggest, most prominent AI investments including Black Forrest Labs, Cursor, OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Ideogram, Fal and dozens of others.
A16z general partner with the infra team Jennifer Li (who oversees such investments as ElevenLabs – just valued at $11 billion); Ideagram and Fal, has a clear thesis on where the team is looking to spend it’s latest chunk of cash.
Today on TechCrunch's Equity podcast, Venture and Startups editor Julie Bort talked with Li about where a16z sees this AI super cycle going next, including the talent crunch hitting AI-native startups, why search infrastructure matters more than people think, and what kinds of companies are actually getting funded right now.
Listen to the full episode to hear about:
- Where Li thinks the gaps still are when it comes to startups building an AI stack
- What makes the most successful AI portfolio companies different
- How tools like voice AI are rising in importance (yet still a bit uncomfortable to witness)
- The AI startups she's still searching for and is ready to fund
Chapters:
Intro
Andreessen Horowitz's $1.7B infrastructure fund
Crossing the uncanny valley in AI-generated content
Agents finally becoming real in 2026
Building your first productivity agent
Why email agents aren't quite there yet
Which jobs will agents replace first?
The most unhinged opinion: Creativity belongs to humans
The limits of LLMs and the rise of world models
AI-designed chips are coming
The truth behind those viral ARR numbers
Hiring at AI speed: The talent shortage problem
The pricing mistake that became a big deal
The future of search for AI agents
Outro
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