Jen Kha on $43B raised for a16z, sovereign wealth demand, and why the megafund model works
May 14, 2025 with Jen Kha
Key Points
- Andreessen Horowitz has raised $43 billion by scaling capital and vertical specialization while keeping deal teams at four to six people, preserving the quality of conversation that degrades in larger groups.
- Sovereign wealth funds and public pensions including CalPERS are entering venture after missing a decade-plus of returns as tech's GDP share has grown too large for long-duration capital managers to ignore.
- A16Z has brought over 300 portfolio companies into Saudi Arabia by positioning American Dynamism technology to serve a population where 70% are under 35, aligning with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's deliberate pivot from oil to tech infrastructure.
Summary
Jen Kha, operating partner at Andreessen Horowitz responsible for fundraising, spoke at a16z's LP Day after overseeing more than $43 billion raised across the firm's history, spanning crypto cycles and tech winters.
LP base evolution
The venture LP universe has expanded well beyond its traditional endowment-and-foundation base. Sovereigns now participate with a fundamentally different opportunity cost of capital, and large public pensions have entered the asset class after sitting out a decade-plus of returns. Kha points to CalPERS as the clearest example — the pension famously missed the last 10–15 years of venture returns and is now actively making up for lost time. The underlying driver is straightforward: tech's share of GDP has grown to the point where any institution managing long-duration capital can no longer ignore the asset class.
Sovereign demand and the Saudi dynamic
A16Z has brought more than 300 portfolio companies into Saudi Arabia and the broader GCC. The demand pattern Kha describes is consistent: governments want to modernize on Silicon Valley technology, and a16z's American Dynamism portfolio is a particular focus. She frames Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as unusually tech-forward for a head of state — 70% of Saudi Arabia's population is under 35 — and argues he is deliberately redirecting capital away from oil toward technology infrastructure to serve that demographic. Trump's visit to Riyadh during the same week as a16z's LP Day added geopolitical backdrop to what is already an active commercial relationship.
The megafund defense
Kha pushes back on critics who argue scale degrades venture quality. A16Z's answer has been to scale capital and vertical specialization simultaneously while keeping individual deal teams at four to six people — no larger than the original firm's team structure. The logic is that small deal teams preserve the quality and frankness of conversation that breaks down once a meeting becomes a formal presentation. Each vertical carries dedicated domain expertise rather than generalist coverage.
The commercial counterargument she offers is blunt: ask any Series C or D founder whether they prefer having hundreds of millions available in the private markets or grinding through a small-cap IPO, and the debate answers itself.