What a16z is actually funding (and what it's ignoring) when it comes to AI infra

Andreessen Horowitz just raised a whopping new $15 billion in funding (techcrunch.com/2026/01/09/the-venture-firm-tha…). And a $1.7 billion chunk of that is going to its infrastructure team (a16z.com/infra), the one responsible for some of its biggest, most prominent AI investments including Black Forrest Labs, Cursor, OpenAI, ElevenLabs (techcrunch.com/2026/02/04/elevenlabs-raises-50…), Ideogram, Fal (techcrunch.com/2025/12/09/fal-nabs-140m-in-fre…) and dozens of others.

A16z general partner with the infra team Jennifer Li (a16z.com/author/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 (techcrunch.com/podcasts/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:

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Where Li thinks the gaps still are when it comes to startups building an AI stack

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What makes the most successful AI portfolio companies different

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How tools like voice AI are rising in importance (yet still a bit uncomfortable to witness)

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The AI startups she's still searching for and is ready to fund

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

01:01 Andreessen Horowitz's $1.7B infrastructure fund

05:00 Crossing the uncanny valley in AI-generated content

07:14 Agents finally becoming real in 2026

09:30 Building your first productivity agent

11:56 Why email agents aren't quite there yet

15:00 Which jobs will agents replace first?

18:05 The most unhinged opinion: Creativity belongs to humans

20:21 The limits of LLMs and the rise of world models

22:13 AI-designed chips are coming

24:00 The truth behind those viral ARR numbers

26:10 Hiring at AI speed: The talent shortage problem

28:47 The pricing mistake that became a big deal

29:21 The future of search for AI agents

30:45 Outro

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube (youtube.com/@TechCrunch),Apple Podcasts (itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id1215439780),Overcast (overcast.fm/itunes1215439780/equity),Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?s…) and all the casts. You also can follow Equity onX (twitter.com/EquityPod) andThreads (threads.net/@equitypod), at @EquityPod.

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