Marc Andreessen

Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, and software engineer. Andreessen rose to prominence in 1994 when he co-created Mosaic, one of the first web browsers. He also co-foundedcofounded the Netscape Communications Corporation. Along with Ben Horowitz, he is the co-foundercofounder of venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, also known as a16z.

Marc Andreessen was born on July 9, 1971, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, US. As a child, Andreessen taught himself BASIC, a programming language, so he could design his own computer games. Initially planning on being an electrical engineer, Andreessen changed his career path after being admitted into the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and getting a part-time job at the school's computer lab, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Andreessen graduated from the university in 1993 with a degree in computer science.

Andreessen later founded and sold the software company LoudCloud, later renamed Opsware, in 1999. It was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2007 for $1.6 billion. Andreessen also co-foundedcofounded Ning, a company that provides a platform for social networking websites, with Gina Bianchini in 2005. The company was acquired by Glam Media in 2011 for $150 million.

In 2009, Andreessen and Ben Horowitz founded venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), where he also serves as general partner. The company is stage agnostic and invests in seed- and late-stage technology companies in the consumer, enterprise, bio/healthcare, crypto, and fintech spaces. a16z has $19.2 billion in assets under management across multiple funds, which include $1.4 billion in Bio funds, $3.1 billion in Crpytocrypto funds, and the Cultural Leadership Fund. As of 2021, the firm has made over 1,000 investments, acting as lead investor in 444 of them, and 179 exits.