a16z Crypto Fund Managing Partner Chris Dixon: Why are we renaming the fund to a16z Frontier?
Author: Chris Dixon (Managing Partner at a16z Frontier)
Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow
Deep Tide Guide: In the face of the reality that blockchain underlying infrastructure is gradually integrating into the mainstream financial system, Silicon Valley venture capital giant a16z officially announced the renaming of its multi-billion dollar a16z Crypto to a16z Frontier. Managing Partner Chris Dixon elaborates on the paradigm shift behind this change: in the post-AGI era, the focus of technology is shifting from "using new technology to do old things better" to "creating unprecedented native use cases." From full-stack startups deeply bound with hardware and software to the machine era network where machines collaborate autonomously (M2M) and programmable cryptocurrencies serve as the economic settlement base, a16z is fully sounding the horn for its advance into the frontier of technology.
Today we announce the expansion of our new fund's investment scope from crypto startups to a broader category of "Frontier Startups": those companies that are building new technologies and exploring emerging markets that may take years to cultivate. To reflect this change, we officially rename a16z Crypto to a16z Frontier. This is a strategic expansion: we will continue to invest in cryptocurrencies and related fields, and as always advocate for reasonable and sensible crypto regulatory policies.
When we first began investing in the crypto space, it was a self-contained independent world. However, as the application of blockchain technology has become increasingly widespread, industry boundaries have blurred, and underlying infrastructure has gradually retreated to the background. Today, Wall Street institutions and fintech companies frequently launch products built on blockchain. Does this mean they are crypto companies? Nowadays, the importance of such labels is diminishing. It is clearly more meaningful to define them by the substance of their business rather than the technology they employ.
Our expansion aligns with the core philosophy that has guided many of our investments over the years: to bet early on directions that are highly futuristic before future technologies become mainstream. When I joined a16z in 2013, I made this long-cycle perspective investment a focus. One core theme at that time was new computing devices. The rapid proliferation of smartphones prompted cameras, sensors, and chips to become higher quality and cheaper, giving rise to new terminals such as drones, AR/VR headsets, and wearable devices. Based on this theme, we invested in Oculus and later in drone startups like Skydio and Zipline.
Another theme was cryptocurrency, which I viewed as a new wave built on social media and the open-source movement. Social media allowed networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum to achieve penetration and expansion from the outside in, enabling communities to form independently without prior acceptance from mainstream society. Open-source culture provided a paradigm for software, allowing anyone to review, modify, and build upon it. Blockchain technology took this paradigm further, expanding it from purely software to services and network ecosystems. It was this investment logic that guided our early investment in Coinbase and the establishment of our dedicated crypto fund, followed by investments in representative projects like Solana and Uniswap.
Today, we find ourselves in another major technological transformation centered around artificial intelligence (AI). While the construction of AI models and computational infrastructure will continue to advance, the technology itself has matured enough to give rise to a new generation of products and services. No one can precisely predict what the next generation of products will look like, but we are beginning to see signs. We are particularly interested in the new products and markets spawned by these technological advancements, including innovative explorations that cannot be categorized within existing frameworks.
The key focus is on the emergence of native application scenarios: creating entirely new experiences that people could not previously achieve. The early applications of a new technology often focus on doing old things better. So far, AI has mostly been used to empower existing activities (such as programming and other knowledge work), making them faster, better, and cheaper. But soon, native use cases will unlock entirely new experiences that disrupt traditional perceptions and exceed expectations. In the early stages, many explorations may seem strange, unserious, or even like frivolous toys or hobbies; but over time, some of them will evolve into mainstream products. The key to discerning their differences lies in a profound understanding of their potential evolution rates and the core elements that can transform seemingly marginal growth into exponential growth curves.
We are fortunate to live in one of the most impactful growth curves in human history. Technological progress is accelerating at an astonishing rate, and we are beginning to capture early signals of the post-AGI world. On one hand, software and an increasing amount of hardware are becoming easier to create. Just as the proliferation of smartphones drove the last computing cycle, we expect a large number of new smart devices to become the solid foundation supporting this cycle. Some of these will be autonomous machines capable of perceiving, reasoning, and acting independently in the physical world; others will draw on breakthroughs in biology and modern medicine; and some will lie in between, existing within cyber-physical systems.
All these breakthroughs will give rise to entirely new models of company building. As entrepreneurs fully leverage new capabilities and seek new types of competitive barriers, we will see more full-stack startups that combine software, hardware, and services. As humans gain more superpowers, and as AI intelligent agents increasingly possess autonomous decision-making and action capabilities, the very concept of "entrepreneur" may also be redefined. With the widespread penetration of these capabilities, they will reshape organizational forms across industries and even give birth to unprecedented new industrial ecosystems.
AI will also create a new network form that deeply connects humans with intelligent agents, supporting continuous learning, efficient collaboration, value production, and economic transactions within the network. The large-scale internet networks we use daily are primarily designed for humans; however, networks built specifically for machines will present a completely different appearance. Many projects will initially enter as single-user tools and then gradually evolve into networks of multiple users and agents collaborating together. The potential of the machine era network is immense, and current builders have only scratched the surface.
In this historic transformation, blockchain will play a crucial role. Cryptographic technology provides the internet with a fast, low-cost, global, and programmable native currency settlement track. Stablecoins are rapidly becoming the universal standard tools for fintech companies, traditional financial institutions, and other market participants. Additionally, thanks to the programmable nature of blockchain, both centralized and decentralized financial services can be built upon it. Cryptographic technology can endow new networks with native economic functions, facilitating seamless settlements between machines (M2M) and opening up new pathways for the early cold start of these emerging networks.
The examples mentioned above are just a few frontier cases and by no means the boundaries of innovation. In past technological waves, the most defining great companies of the era were often difficult to predict accurately in advance. As always, we look forward to entrepreneurs once again bringing us surprises and shocks, creating entirely new species that we cannot imagine today.
I will co-lead the fund with a16z co-founders Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, along with general partners Eddy Lazzarin and Guy Wuollet. Our post-investment operations team will continue to provide comprehensive support for our existing and future portfolio companies in areas such as policy regulation, market expansion, talent recruitment, marketing, and cutting-edge technology research and development.
We firmly believe that some of the most important technological waves in human history are still ahead. Ideas that seem strange or incredible today will eventually evolve into indispensable, iconic products that define entire eras. If you are an entrepreneur building the next generation of technology frontiers, we welcome you to reach out to us at any time.
Disclaimer: This article does not constitute any offer or investment solicitation, and any information contained herein should not be construed as investment advice; some companies mentioned are members of a16z's portfolio. For more information, please refer to a16z.com/disclosures. The complete list of a16z's portfolio can be found at a16z.com/portfolio.