Most-Active US Investors: Andreessen Horowitz, GV And Alumni Have Big February

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. See January’s most active startup investors here.

It may be the year’s shortest month, but that didn’t mean Andreessen Horowitz didn’t have time for a big month.

For the second straight month, the Menlo Park, California-based investing giant led the way among all investors, sealing 15 funding deals with U.S.-based startups, per Crunchbase data.

In fact, Andreessen Horowitz more than doubled the number of deals the two second-place firms — GV and Alumni Ventures — consummated last month.

Let’s dive into the busiest firms from February.

Andreessen Horowitz, 15 deals

Andreessen Horowitz ramped up its investment pace even from January, when the firm completed 11 deals involving U.S.-based startups.

Last month, a16z seemed to have a thing for healthcare and biotech. The firm took part in a $70 million Series B for San Francisco-based Ambience Healthcare, a $170 million Series D for Richmond, California-based BioAge Labs and a huge $254 million round for South San Francisco-based blood-test developer Freenome.

Of course, a16z already has been in the news this month as it is reportedly “weeks away” from closing on as much as $7 billion in new funds.

We’ll see next month if a16z can make it three-for-three this year when it comes to being the leading monthly investor.

Alumni Ventures, 7 deals

For the second consecutive month, Alumni increased the number of venture deals in U.S.-based startups it took part in.

In February, the New Hampshire-based firm completed seven deals which ran the gamut from AI to healthcare to finance to VR.

For instance, the firm participated in a $21 million Series B for New York-based Ezra AI, which provides early cancer detection, and a $20 million Series A for Miami-based StatusPro, the creator of virtual reality simulation gaming franchise, NFL PRO ERA (which also made our list of interesting rounds for the month).

GV, 7 deals

However, the StatusPro round was actually led by the next firm on our list: GV.

GV, the investment arm of Alphabet, took part in the most deals involving U.S.-based startups it has in any month since last June. Similar to Alumni, it also has increased deal flow for the last two months after doing just three deals in December.

The StatusPro deal was the largest round GV led all month, but it also took the lead in a $9.3 million seed round for Los Altos, California-based Glass Imaging. The startup uses artificial intelligence to extract “the full image quality potential” from smartphone cameras by reversing “lens aberrations and sensor imperfections.”

GV also participated in a big $75 million Series A for asthma-focused Areteia Therapeutics.

Also notable:

Sequoia Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners both came in next on the list with a half-dozen deals apiece.
Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sands Capital Ventures, led the way in terms of firms leading or co-leading rounds. The trio each led or co-led three deals.
Disney actually led the list for rounds led or co-led with the highest dollar amounts for February on the heels of its big $1.5 billion deal with Epic Games to get more of its characters and properties exposure in the gaming world. Lightspeed came in next, with the three deals it led or co-led totaling $414 million.
Y Combinator once again was the top investing incubator and accelerator in February with 15 deals.

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.