brett kim

Today we are excited to announce that we are promoting Guy Wuollet (@guywuolletjr) to General Partner. We first met Guy in 2018 while he was studying computer science at Stanford, where he also rowed varsity crew. He initially joined the firm as an intern working on the enterprise go-to-market team, but it soon became clear he was most passionate about crypto. We kept running into Guy: first when he joined our Crypto Startup Accelerator to build a decentralized ISP, then while doing research at Protocol Labs, and finally as a teaching assistant for our research partner @danboneh. After joining us full-time in 2020, Guy began investing in infrastructure, DeFi, and DePIN. He has been a steady and creative force, making significant contributions to more than 20 investments, including Solana, LayerZero, Gensyn, EigenLayer, Daylight, and Morpho. Based on insights from prior investments like Orchid, Nym, and Helium, Guy defined our thesis on what would become known as DePIN. He wrote one of the defining blogs on why DePIN matters and helped us invest in Gensyn. Next he wrote about decentralized energy and led our investment in Daylight. Guy also invested in decentralized transportation, robotics, and AI projects as he helped run our accelerator. DeFi has always been central to Guy’s thesis, but his early investment in Morpho was driven above all by conviction in the founders. He recognized in @PaulFrambot and his team a rare combination of technical depth and clarity of vision. Since then, Morpho has grown to billions in total value locked and become one of the leading protocols in DeFi. Their V2 launch marked a major leap forward in efficiency and scale for on-chain lending. Through his work with founders, Guy has shown a rare mix of deep technical expertise and thoughtful pragmatism. Founders often tell me how impressed they are that Guy systematically reads, understands, and provides useful feedback on protocol design and other hard technical topics. His writing and advice on token and protocol design have helped influence many projects in our portfolio. Beyond his investing skills, Guy has been a calm and positive presence, with a wry sense of humor, both inside the firm and for founders. As the crypto team grew from a small group to more than 80 people, he helped recruit and mentor many of the talented investors, researchers, and operators who make the team what it is today. Guy is an invaluable member of the team, and it has been great to see him grow and develop over the last five years. Guy joins me, @alive_eth, and @AriannaSimpson as @a16zcrypto’s fourth General Partner.

I’m excited to announce the cohort for our fourth Crypto Startup Accelerator program (CSX 04), starting this week in San Francisco. CSX helps early-stage startups building on blockchain technologies to accelerate development and product-market fit. It is an intensive program that provides the expertise, mentorship, and support that startups need to build ambitious products across industries. Over the next two months, the founders of these companies will get firsthand guidance and support from a16z crypto’s investing and operating teams. We connect founders with capital, industry experts across the a16z network, and a cohort of leading web3 teams. a16z CSX also invests a minimum of $500,000 in each company that’s accepted. The founders in CSX 04 are coming to San Francisco from countries around the world: Canada, France, Germany, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, and across the US. Here are the companies participating in CSX 04: Ambient: building a blockchain that integrates large language models for verifiable, censorship-resistant AI capabilities @CambrianNetwork: provides verifiable data for AI agents engaging in DeFi @inconetwork: enables confidential compute to existing blockchains @KYDLabs: building a fully integrated commerce layer designed for live events @launchercapital: building the next generation of AI agents through gamification and blockchain technology @MahojinAI: a search-to-generate AI platform that provides exact images through a remixable library @getoro_xyz: a decentralized intelligence platform unlocking private data for frontier AI Toji: makes onchain popularity markets for videos @zardotapp: building a decentralized cash-to-stablecoin platform for emerging markets Some companies that have been accepted are currently in stealth, and will be named soon. We may also add more companies to the cohort. Congratulations to each of our CSX 04 companies. I can’t wait to kick things off with them this week.

CSX is coming to San Francisco this spring, and starting today we’re accepting applications to join the cohort! If you’re a passionate and visionary crypto startup founder, we want to hear from you. Apply using the link in my next post. @a16zcrypto CSX is an intensive, in-person program for early-stage startups building with blockchain technologies. It focuses on the expertise, mentorship, and support startups need to build ambitious products across industries. Participating founders are connected with capital, a network of industry experts, and a cohort of leading web3 teams. Each week of CSX is focused on a different pillar of company-building, such as research and engineering, marketing and social strategy, go to market, and people best practices. Founders can go as deep as they need to on the components that matter most for their project, through workshops and 1:1 discussions with specialists from a16z crypto and other experienced operators. We invest a minimum of $500,000 in each company accepted to CSX. The CSX 04 program will start in April and end in June with a Demo Day event, where each company gets the opportunity to pitch their project to an audience of prominent investors, thought leaders, and executives from many of the top crypto companies. I can’t wait for the CSX 04 program to get started. The last day to apply is February 7th, so submit your application today, and I hope to see you in SF! 🌉