Andreessen Horowitz introduced the firm’s newest general partner, Angela Strange in an announcement that was released earlier this month. Strange will be only the second partner at Andreessen Horowitz who has been promoted from within and only the third woman to be named a partner at the storied Silicon Valley firm. This announcement brings the total number of general partners at the firm up to 13.
Prior to the announcement, Strange had been working alongside one of Andreesen Horowitz’s general partners, Alex Rampell, on a variety of deals. She graduated from Stanford Business School and previously worked at Google as a Product Manager.
The move comes amid a call for more diversity amid Silicon Valley’s top VC firms, where the percentage of female and minority employees has been low in comparison to other fields.
Andreessen Horowitz has been adding more general partners at a pace of almost one a month since the beginning of the summer. In recent years, the firm has also moved toward raising sector-specific funds in place of one large fund. This approach could be one of the reasons that the firm is choosing to recruit new general partners at such a rapid pace. The firm has two bio funds and another $300 million “crypto” fund is being overseen by Katie Haun, Andreessen Horowitz’s first female general partner.
Founded in 2009, Andreessen Horowitz (or “a16z”, as it is commonly known) manages $7.1 billion across seven funds. The firm leverages a stage agnostic strategy, investing in everything from late stage ventures to early stage seed companies. According to the firm’s website, the company recruits general partners who have developed domain expertise in areas such as distributed systems, crypto and financial services.
Notable investments include three unicorn companies: Stripe, Robinhood and TransferWise.
Other areas of interest include real estate as an asset class and startups that incorporate lending into their business models. Point, one of Andreessen Horowitz’s recent investments, lends money to users in exchange for a stake in the ownership of their home. OpenDoor, another company, will offer to buy qualifying user’s homes virtually at the drop of a hat. Strange will likely be on the lookout for similar innovative ideas to add to Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio.
