Most-Active US Investors In July: Andreessen Horowitz Led Cool Month

This is a monthly feature that runs down some of the most-active investors in U.S.-based companies, looks at some of their most interesting investments, and includes some odds and ends of who spent what.

July was hot over most of the country, but apparently not at many venture firms.

Only one firm — Andreessen Horowitz — hit double digits in the number of funding rounds for U.S.-based startups in the month.

Big-named firms such as Khosla Ventures and New Enterprise Associates made only a couple of deals each, as no firm rolled up big numbers.

Let’s take a look at who went the biggest in a slow month

Andreessen Horowitz, 11 deals

The Menlo Park, California-based giant once again led the way in the number of deals involving U.S.-based startups — although it could be argued it was more in the news last month for politics.

Andreessen actually has been on a roll of late, announcing 30 deals in the past three months.

In July, the firm led or co-led three huge rounds — the largest being the $200 million round for space startup Astranis it co-led with Bam Elevate.

Andreessen also led a $175 million Series B for autonomous surface vessels maker Saronic at a $1 billion valuation, and a $130 million Series B for Hebbia, an AI startup that helps businesses analyze all types of data to answer more complex, multistep questions.

General Catalyst, 9 deals

Massachusetts-based General Catalyst closed nine deals last month. While the number isn’t huge, it’s actually 3x more than the VC firm closed in July 2023.

That number actually involved leading or co-leading four megadeals — $100 million or more — in the U.S., including a $200 million round for Troy, Michigan-based healthcare company HarmonyCares along with McKesson Ventures and a large unnamed national payor, it also co-led or led big rounds for Aven and Kandji.

Perhaps the most interesting round General Catalyst took part in was the large $300 million Series A for Skild AI. The Pittsburgh-based startup — valued at $1.5 billion — builds robot brains, with those brain models able to be used in a variety of robots and for different tasks.

Sequoia Capital, 9 deals

Sequoia Capital has been pretty consistent all year, averaging about seven deals a month involving U.S.-based startups.

Sequoia led compliance startup Vanta’s $150 million round that valued the company at $2.45 billion. The firm also participated in the previously mentioned Skild AI round and San Francisco-based AI legal tech startup Harvey’s $100 million Series C at a $1.5 billion valuation.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, 8 deals

Lightspeed Venture Partners has been similar to Sequoia concerning consistency, as it has taken part in seven deals involving U.S. startups in four of the past six months.

Last month, that meant actually co-leading Skild’s round with Coatue, SoftBank Group and Jeff Bezos, through his Bezos Expeditions.

The Silicon Valley giant also co-led a $150 million Series C for clinical-stage precision oncology startup Scorpion Therapeutics, as well as Kirkland, Washington-based software supply chain security startup Chainguard’s $140 million Series C that minted it a unicorn at a $1.12 billion valuation.

Also notable:

Index Ventures and Alumni Ventures came in next on the list with seven deals each.
Lightspeed Venture Partners led the way in most led or co-led deals in July with five.
Lightspeed Venture Partners also led the list for number of rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts, leading or co-leading four rounds that in total were worth almost $662 million.
Y Combinator once again was the top investing incubator and accelerator with 18 deals in July.

Methodology

This is a list of investors which took part in the most rounds involving U.S.-based startups. It does not include incubators or accelerators due to the fluctuations their investment numbers can have.