a16z spends $1.49M in Washington lobbying, while rivals mostly sit out

Andreessen Horowitz’s plan to push its agenda in Washington shows no sign of slowing down, with the firm reporting $1.49 million in federal lobbying so far this year, according to lobbying records filed with Congress. a16z is even narrowly outspending its own industry trade group, the National Venture Capital Association.

The pace of lobbying appears to be accelerating from last year, according to a TechCrunch review of lobbying disclosures. a16z spent $1.8 million on lobbying in all of 2024 and $950,000 in 2023. 

a16z’s lobbying strategy stands out among major VC firms, most of which still report little to no federal lobbying. Sequoia Capital has reported just $120,000 year-to-date, while General Catalyst is at $500,000 for the same period. By comparison, a16z’s spend is just ahead of the NVCA’s $1.40 million.

In response to questions, an a16z person referred TechCrunch to articles written by the firm’s co-founders on its views on policy and the “Little Tech” agenda. In one December 2023 article, co-founder Ben Horowitz said 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 firm’s in-house lobbying team is tasked with influencing lawmakers on a wide range of issues, from digital-asset regulation, stablecoins, and AI. While a16z’s moves to shape laws around crypto are well documented, the lobbying disclosures show how the firm has set even more ambitious sights 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 firm has continued to lobby on the annual defense policy bill in subsequent quarters.

The National Security Council shows 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 firm is framing questions on finance and tech along national security lines.

Although firm 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, with government affairs leaders recruited from both sides of the aisle.

The increase in spending comes as a16z makes a more aggressive push into regulated industries, like defense and the industrial base, both of which are focus areas of the American Dynamism practice, and hot-button technologies like AI. The firm has paired this push with bringing on in-house policy talent; last week, former deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger joined as a senior advisor focused on “American Dynamism, AI, and cyber,” Horowitz said on X.

Lobbying dollars don’t neatly correlate with influence, however. 

Founders Fund, for example, reports little to no federal lobbying, yet its network has outsized access in the Pentagon and White House. Partner Trae Stephens helped lead the 2016 DOD transition and was floated in 2024 for Deputy Secretary of Defense, while Michael Kratsios, a longtime Thiel Capital aide, served as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in 2020 and is now the science advisor to the President.

Venture funds can influence politics in other ways. In parallel to registered lobbying, the firm also channels money through political action committees (PACs). Most recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that a16z is helping back a new pro-AI network of PACs called Leading the Future.