A fund announcement states a size, not a fit

The record

On 16 April 2024, Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz posted 'New Funds, New Era' on the firm's own site, stating: 'we have just raised $7.2B for the following venture strategies: American Dynamism ($600M), Apps ($1B), Games ($600M), Infrastructure ($1.25B), and Growth ($3.75B).' On 9 July 2018, Index Ventures published its own post, 'Announcing $1.65B in New Funds to Back Entrepreneurs with Global Ambitions,' stating the firm had 'secured $1.65 billion — $650 million for our ninth venture fund to support businesses in the earlier stages, and $1 billion for our fourth growth fund to help them scale.'

What the sources establish

Both announcements state a total size and a breakdown by strategy or stage: a16z's post names five specific strategy funds and their individual sizes; Index's post names two funds by stage, early venture and growth, and their sizes. Neither states a fee structure, a fund term, the limited partners behind the capital, or a specific check-size range per company; a16z's post frames the raise in terms of market size, since 'each submarket... has become as big as the original entire Venture Capital market,' while Index's post frames its raise around firm history and geography, Europe and the US, rather than deployment plans. Both are the fund's own account of its own raise, not a third party's verification of the amount actually closed or called from limited partners.

Scope and revision

Each post is a single firm's own announcement, published on its own site, and neither is a filing verified by a regulator; a Form D filed with the SEC for the same funds, where one exists, would show a sold amount and investor count but not the strategy narrative either post gives. The Index post is from 2018 and describes funds from that vintage only, not the firm's current sizes; the a16z post likewise describes only the named 2024 raise. Neither announcement states whether the amount raised was the firm's original target, or above or below one.

The decision in front of you

Editorially: a founder reading a fund announcement to judge whether that fund can lead their round should look for the same elements both posts contain, total size and a breakdown by stage or strategy, and treat the narrative framing each firm builds around its own raise as marketing, not evidence of check size, fund term, or how much of the stated total is still uncalled and available to deploy.

• Does the announcement break the total down by stage or strategy, and does that breakdown match the round being discussed?
• Does the post state when the fund began investing, and how much of its stated size might already be committed elsewhere?
• Is there a corresponding Form D or other filing that corroborates the announced amount independently of the firm's own account?

A fund announcement is a company's own press release, written to attract founders and future limited partners alike; reading two of them side by side shows what such a post reliably states, size and thesis, and what it never says, terms and availability.