Most Active US Investors: Andreessen Horowitz Leads The Way In Slow March

This is a monthly feature that runs down the most active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what. Check out February’s feature here.

The changes in venture from just 12 months ago are becoming more pronounced.

In March of last year, five different venture firms participated in 20 or more funding rounds.

Last month, only two venture firms took part in at least 10 rounds.

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That is not necessarily surprising since it was March 2022 when many in venture were coming to the reality that a significant slowdown was well underway. Nevertheless, it is still interesting to look at some of the numbers from big-name investors.

In March 2022, Tiger Global participated in 19 rounds. New York-based Insight Partners participated in 17 rounds in that same month. Similarly, Lightspeed Venture Partners took part in 13 deals. However, last month each of those firms participated in only three rounds apiece.

But for now, let’s focus on those who invested in the most rounds for the month of March.

Andreessen Horowitz, 12 deals

Andreessen Horowitz is not new to the list. The Menlo Park, California-based investments giant makes the cut here more often than not. Its one dozen deals is good enough for third place in March.

While the firm’s investments always run the gamut from fintech to crypto to enterprise software, this month it’s a consumer-facing startup that caught our attention. Andreessen led a $5.7 million seed round for San Francisco-based Zarta.

Zarta is an ad-free, micro pay-per-view video platform for creator content. The platform allows creators to get paid for their videos, while users can pay as little as 10 cents to watch, with no subscription and no commitment.

Everyone is balancing a lot of subscription services nowadays. Maybe pay-as-you watch will catch on — although that plan does not appear to be on Netflix’s or Hulu’s radar.

Techstars, 10 deals

Techstars is the last firm to have at least made it to double-digit rounds last month.

Included in those deals was participating in a $120,000 seed round for Chicago-based LifeWeb 360. LifeWeb 360 creates digital spaces to honor a person’s late loved ones.

The idea is simple. A person can create a free LifeWeb for another person, then invite others to join and share special memories and remembrances of the person. The startup then gathers all the “Life Threads” together and creates a mosaic about the person’s life.

For all the bad on the internet, there is some good.

Also notable:

Gaingels came in next on the list with seven deals, while Y Combinator, SVA and Sequoia Capital followed with six deals each.
The top four firms on the above list also led or co-led the most rounds. Techstars, Sequoia Capital and Google Ventures tied for fourth place, as the trio led or co-led four rounds apiece.
All the firms that were credited with leading or co-leading Stripe’s huge $6.5 billion round — General Catalyst, Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive Capital, MSD Partners, Founders Fund and Baille Gifford — came in at the top of the list for rounds led or co-led totaling the most dollar amounts for March.