this year, according to lobbying records filed with Congress. Even more so, a16z is newly outspending.
The pace of lobbying appears to be accelerating pace, according to a TechCrunch review of lobbying disclosures. It is also worth mentioning that a16z spent $1.8million on lobbying disclosures. A16z spent $1.8 million on lobbying during all of 2024 and $950,000 in 2023.
A16z’s lobbying strategy also stands out among major VC firms, most of which still report little to no federal lobbying. Sequoia Capital has also reported just $120,000 year-to-date, while General Catalyst reached $500,000 for the same period. By comparison, a 16z’s spend is just ahead of the NVCA’s $1.40 million.
As a response to questions, an a16z representative referred TechCrunch to articles written by the firm’s co-founders on its views on policy and the “Little Tech” agenda. More so, in a December 2023 article, Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of the company, has said that the firm was non-partisan and one-issue voters, “If a candidate supports an optimistic technology-enabled future, we are for them. If they want to choke off important technologies, we are against them.”
The company’s in-house lobbying team is tasked with influencing lawmakers on a wide range of issues, from digital-asset regulation, stablecoins as well and AI. While a16z’s moves to shape laws which are surrounding crypto are well documented, the lobbying disclosures show how the firm has set even more ambitious insights on shaping the country’s defense priorities.
Defense makes its first explicit appearance in a16z’s third quarter report from 2023, which added the National Defense Authorization Act as a specific lobbying issue. The company has continued to lobby on the annual defense policy bill in subsequent quarters.
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The National Security Council also showed up for the first time in a filing covering the second quarter of 2024 and remains on the list this year, a signal that the company is framing questions on finance and tech along national security lines.
Even though the company’s co-founders, Marc Andreessen and Horowitz, staked their support on President Donald Trump in the last election, the in-house policy team is notably bipartisan, having a government affairs leader recruited from both sides of the aisle.
The growth observed in spending comes as a16z has been making a more aggressive push into regulated industries, such as defense, and the industrial base, both of which are focus areas of the American Dynamism practice, and technologies such as AI.
The company’s in-house lobbying team is tasked with influencing lawmakers on a wide range of issues, from digital-asset regulation, stablecoins as well and AI. While a16z’s moves to shape laws which are surrounding crypto are well documented, the lobbying disclosures show how the firm has set even more ambitious insights on shaping the country’s defense priorities.
Defense makes its first explicit appearance in a16z’s third quarter report from 2023, which added the National Defense Authorization Act as a specific lobbying issue. The company has continued to lobby on the annual defense policy bill in subsequent quarters.
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The National Security Council also showed up for the first time in a filing covering the second quarter of 2024 and remains on the list this year, a signal that the company is framing questions on finance and tech along national security lines.
Even though the company’s co-founders, Marc Andreessen and Horowitz, staked their support on President Donald Trump in the last election, the in-house policy team is notably bipartisan, having a government affairs leader recruited from both sides of the aisle.
The growth observed in spending comes as a16z has been making a more aggressive push into regulated industries, such as defense, and the industrial base, both of which are focus areas of the American Dynamism practice, and technologies such as AI.
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