Andreessen Horowitz Closes $1.5 Billion New Fund

Last week, we heard from Evelyn Rusli at the New York Times that Andreessen Horowitz was in the process of raising $1.5 billion for the venture firm. Today, partner Ben Horowitz has confirmed that the fund has closed, bringing Andreessen Horowitz’s total funding under management to $2.7 billion.

The firm says that the $1.5 billion was raised for its Fund III. “a16z’s Fund III is all about extending our capabilities to more disruptors and pioneers,” said Horowitz in a release. “We’re remaking the modern venture capital firm, and entrepreneurs are responding to our unique approach.”

One of the differentiators Horowitz and Andreessen made with their fund is that the firm’s network be made available firm wide, Horowitz explains in his blog post. This has helped create a vast network for portfolio companies, he says.

Horowitz reveals that in 2011, the firm hosted over 600 portfolio presentations to corporate customers and partners at their office in Menlo Park. These presentations resulted in more than 3,000 introductions between portfolio companies and prospective Fortune 500/Global 2000 senior executives.

The firm has relationships with over 4,000 engineers, designers and product managers, has made more than 1,300 introductions to portfolio companies, resulting in 130 hires within the portfolio. And Andreessen Horowitz has added over 550 executives to its network in 2011 and made more than 300 executive introductions to portfolio companies.

“Software is the catalyst that will remake entire industries during the next decade. We are single-mindedly focused on partnering with the best innovators pursuing the biggest markets,” co-founder Marc Andreessen explained in the release announcing the new fund. This is the third fund for the firm.

In October, Michael Arrington reported that AH was raising a $900 million new fund, and AllThingsD revealed in December 2011 that the firm was raising as much as $1.5 billion for the fund. As stated in a filing from last year, the new $1.5 billion fund will provide Andreessen Horowitz with the flexibility to invest anything “from $10,000 to $100 million” in fledgling startups and growth companies. Founded in 2009, the firm currently has six general partners including Jeff Jordan, Peter Levine, John O’Farrell, Scott Weiss, plus Horowitz and Marc Andreessen.

Andreessen Horowitz’s investments include Zynga, Foursquare, Airbnb, Kno, Groupon, Airtime, Box.net, Pinterest, Asana, Lytro, BOKU, and Jawbone.