The Allocation
Andreessen Horowitz closed a $15 billion fundraise and dedicated $1.7 billion specifically to AI infrastructure. That is not a general AI allocation: it is infrastructure only. Models, storage, developer tools, and security.
General Partner Jennifer Li runs the portfolio. Her investments include ElevenLabs ($11 billion valuation), OpenAI, Cursor, Black Forest Labs, Ideogram, and Fal. She backed ElevenLabs from Series A through Series D, watching it scale from early voice AI to an enterprise category.
Why Infrastructure
The entire stack is being rebuilt. Storage, compute, orchestration, memory: all designed for cloud workloads, not AI workloads. Li's thesis is that the companies rebuilding this infrastructure will capture the returns, not just the application layer.
Voice agents were the first AI category to scale in enterprise because accuracy mattered less than fidelity. Once ElevenLabs crossed the uncanny valley, adoption moved faster than text or image AI. That speed to default brand matters more in AI than it did in traditional SaaS. The gap between number one and number two is harder to close.
What This Means for Sales Teams
If you are selling into AI infrastructure companies, expect budgets. a16z is deploying $1.7 billion, and they are not the only fund going heavy on infrastructure. These companies will hire: engineering, product, and go-to-market.
Li noted that over 90% of code is now written by agents. That changes how developer tools companies build and sell. If your patch includes AI tooling companies, watch where the infrastructure investment is flowing. Models, storage, orchestration, and security are the focus areas.
For sales professionals looking at AI companies: the infrastructure layer is where the capital is moving. Application companies still need to sell, but infrastructure companies are getting funded and scaling teams. Worth tracking which ones are hiring AEs and what the comp looks like.