Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) currently has two partners serving on the boards of companies, Databricks (Ben Horowitz) and Fivetran (Martin Casado), which are now rivals. While seemingly unremarkable, the Department of Justice has reportedly been examining this setup for nearly a year, invoking a rarely applied 112-year-old antitrust statute against venture capitalists.
Conflicts arising from board memberships are not uncommon, and these particular firms were not direct rivals when a16z initially invested. However, with portfolio companies increasingly encroaching on each other’s markets, the DOJ’s investigation poses a significant challenge for venture capital firms: how can board appointments be effectively managed as the competitive landscape among portfolio companies continuously evolves?
In this installment of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane delve into the a16z investigation, its potential ramifications for venture capitalists, and other key news stories from the week.
Tune into the complete episode for further details on:
- The rationale behind Stripe’s $7.5 billion acquisition of AI model router OpenRouter, and why the concept of “singularity” is not the actual motive.
- The fate of AI companies positioned between the accelerating advancements of industry leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Nvidia.
- The reasons for Rivian’s spinout, Also, securing an additional $150 million to intensify its focus on autonomous vehicle technology.
- Uber’s latest collaboration for deliveries with drone firm Zipline, and the implications for other autonomous startups whose futures are tied to Uber.
- An exploration of whether AI dictation applications have hit their peak valuation following Wispr’s $280 million funding round, valuing it at $2 billion.
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