Andreessen Is Said to Seek $1.5 Billion in Fund-Raising

Marc Andreessen's venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, currently has $1.2 billion under management. Ryan Anson/Bloomberg NewsMarc Andreessen’s venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, currently has $1.2 billion under management.

A name like Andreessen goes a long way in Silicon Valley.

Marc Andreessen, the venture capitalist who was a co-founder of Netscape, is in the process of raising $1.5 billion from investors for his namesake firm, with $900 million earmarked for a main fund and $600 million for a parallel fund, according to two people briefed on the matter. The round, if filled, will more than double assets for the firm, Andreessen Horowitz, which currently has $1.2 billion under management, spread across three funds.

A spokeswoman for Andreessen Horowitz declined to comment.

Mr. Andreessen is courting limited partners during a challenging period for the broader venture capital industry. A handful of elite firms, like Andreessen Horowitz and Accel, have managed to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from investors over the last two years. However, the majority of firms, particularly those in the midsize category, have struggled to attract capital. Thus, while the biggest firms are getting bigger, the number of firms getting financed is dropping.

Over all, the venture capital industry raised $5.6 billion in the fourth quarter, 162 percent more than the year-ago period, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters. But the number of firms raising capital dropped 41 percent.

It is unclear whether Mr. Andreessen will be able to raise the full amount from his limited partners and new investors.

The fund-raising process for this round has so far taken longer than his previous round, according to two other people with knowledge of the matter, but the firm is tackling a far larger amount. Andreessen Horowitz, founded by Mr. Andreessen and his general partner, Ben Horowitz, in 2009, is still a relatively young venture firm with a modest number of exits.  It holds stakes in several notable consumer Internet brands, including Groupon, Zynga, Foursquare and the photo-sharing site Instagram. One holding, Skype, was sold to Microsoft last year for $8.5 billion.

Though some of Andreessen Horowitz’s investments have been small financing rounds for early-stage companies, the firm has not shied away from big-ticket late-stage deals. Last year, it bought shares in several billion-dollar-plus companies, including Twitter and the room rental site Airbnb.