Why a16z’s ‘speedrun’ accelerator is playing a new game April 2, 2025 |
The term “speedrun” is usually reserved for Super Mario.
“In games, a speedrun is a runthrough where you try to beat the game as fast as you possibly can,” said Josh Lu, principal at Andreessen Horowitz. “A canonical example is Super Mario Brothers, where there’s a set number of levels and you have to beat them all as fast as you can. You don’t get extra credit for getting more coins, larger Marios, flower Marios. You just get credit for how quickly you beat the game.”
And, in startups, certain principles of this can apply.
“Speed really matters in early-stage startups, the speed by which teams execute, the speed by which they answer the important questions,” said Lu. “Can you get to product-market fit? Do you know your audience? Are you able to hire great people to fill out your team? Speed matters.”
Lu helps run a16z speedrun, an accelerator the firm started in 2023 in San Francisco and Los Angeles to focus on games. Since its founding, speedrun has backed more than 120 companies and, this week, the accelerator opened applications for its 5th LA cohort, bumping up investment per company to $1 million from $750,000. For the last cohort, more than 6,000 companies applied, but only around 40 were accepted, marking an acceptance rate of slightly less than 1%.
I’d been seeing a16z speedrun all over social media over the last year, so when they offered Fortune an exclusive look at the accelerator at a key moment, we said yes—this March, speedrun expanded its mission to focus more broadly on “the intersection of tech and sort of entertainment,” said Lu.
“We think games are at the heart of a lot of entertainment, and what makes games special are the same things at the heart of entertainment experiences,” he told Fortune. “These are all things that cause people to feel, to play with each other, to evoke emotion. We consistently saw that the best game-makers were just really great storytellers.”
So far, a16z has deployed more than $100 million in capital towards speedrun—to be sure, that’s small by a16z standards: Per its latest SEC filing, a16z has about $74.74 billion in assets under management. Still, $100 million over a short time has been used to back a striking variety of companies, including online child safety startup k-ID, content creation platform Hedra, Echo Chess maker Echo Chunk, and AI consumer company Dream Voyage. The accelerator also has previously backed various blockchain-based companies, like Voldex and Mythical Games, and now’s a time when crypto is very “in” in Washington, as is a16z itself.
“When we select a company, that’s our belief in the ability of the team to build something really great,” said Lu. “If we tried to over-rotate towards where we think policy is going, we have less visibility on that and it’s not part of our process.”
Coco Chen, cofounder and CEO at Dream Voyage, was part of the second speedrun cohort, and said she wanted to be around other people specifically building in consumer.
“I haven’t done any other accelerator so it’s hard to say, but as I’ve talked to friends who’ve been through others, I think the programming seems similar—other programs have, say, a weekly speaker session,” said Chen. “But I do think the network is different. When I hang out with my friends who work in B2B SaaS they care about different things, like long sale cycles and finding key decision makers. When people build games for consumers, they ask different questions.”
Sami Ramly, founder and CEO at Echo Chess, was in the third speedrun cohort, and says that he still uses key things he learned, in a way that actually all ties back to the accelerator’s name.
“I had this preconception that when you speedrun through something, there are fundamental prerequisites, like facing the exact same challenge 1,000 times before you finally speed through it,” said Ramly. “That’s speedruns in the game world. And I think it’s a great metaphor, but doesn’t fully do the program justice. What I’ve learned is that speedrunning isn’t just about improvement, practice, or repetition, that you can learn to separate good insights from a pattern of success, without having to go through them 1,000 times.”
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE DEALS
- ReliaQuest, a Tampa-based AI-powered security solutions provider, raised $500 million in funding at a $3.4 billion valuation. EQT, KKR and FTV Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors Ten Eleven Ventures and Finback Investment Partners.
- Retym, a Cupertino, Calif.-based semiconductor company, raised $180 million in funding. Kleiner Perkins led the $10 million Series A round and was joined by others. Mayfield led the $39 million Series B round and was joined by others. Fidelity led the $60 million Series C round and was joined by others. Spark Capital led the $75 million Series D round and was joined by others.
- Playback, a San Francisco-based sports live-streaming platform, raised $22 million in funding. Khosla Ventures led the $2.6 million pre-seed round. Khosla Ventures led the $8.4 million seed round and was joined by NBA Investments and Soma Capital. Seven Seven Six led the $11 million Series A round and was joined by Khosla Ventures and NBA Investments.
- Venteur, a San Francisco-based health benefits provider, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Informed Ventures and American Family Ventures led the round and were joined by Morgan Health, Catalyst by Wellstar, Ingeborg Investments, and existing investors Plug and Play, Techstars, Revelry Venture Partners, and Houghton Street Ventures.
- Prowler, a global open-source cloud security platform, raised $12.5 million in seed funding. Decibel VC led the round and were joined by SNR and angel investors.
- Airvet, a Los Angeles-based pet telehealth company, raised $11 million in Series B-2 funding. HighlandX led the round and was joined by HIPstr.
- Atomic, a Salt Lake City-based financial connectivity company, raised $10 million in funding from Capital One Ventures, Citi Ventures, and F.N.B. Corporation.
- Incentify, an El Segundo, Calif.-based AI-powered credits and incentives platform, raised $9.5 million in Series A funding. Innovent Capital Group led the round and was joined by Ryan LLC, Gary Gilbert, and others.
- Limitless Travel, a Birmingham, England-based disability-friendly travel company, raised £6.5 million ($8.4 million) in Series A funding. Beringea led the round and was joined by Active Partners, Social Impact Enterprises, Adjuvo, Miroma Ventures, existing investors Nigel Wray, and others.
- Gierd, a Sandpoint, Idaho-based B2B ecommerce sales orchestration software company, raised $8 million in funding. Nyca Partners led the round and was joined by Fortson VC and Kick Start.
- Deacon Health, a Nashville-based specialty care management services provider, raised $7 million in seed funding from Herb Fritch, Larry Cash, David Vandewater, and others.
- FurtherAI, a San Francisco-based AI-powered insurance assistants developer, raised $5 million in funding. Nexus Venture Partners led the round and was joined by Pioneer AI Fund, South Park Commons, Y Combinator, and others.
- Vallor, a Miami-based procurement contracts management AI agents developer, raised $4 million in seed funding. Dynamo Ventures and Bloomberg Beta led the round and were joined by Liquid 2 Ventures, El Cap Ventures, Rock Yard Ventures, and angel investors.
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PRIVATE EQUITY
- 65 Equity Partners agreed to acquire an approximately 40% stake in HAS Healthcare Advanced Synthesis, a Biasca, Switzerland-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, that agreed to acquire Cerbios-Pharma, a Lugano, Switzerland-based generic APIs manufacturer. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- American Medical Staffing, backed by Great Point Partners and Stonehenge Partners, acquired Nexus Therapy, a Bellingham, Wash.-based education professional services provider. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Sequoia Financial, backed by Valeas Capital Partners and Kudu Investment Management, acquired Carlson Capital Management, a Northfield, Minn.-based wealth management firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
EXITS
- Audax Private Equity acquired a majority stake in Lanter Delivery Systems, a Des Peres, Mo.-based Original Equipment Manufacturer parts delivery services provider, from Equity Group Investments. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Comcast Business acquired Nitel, a Chicago-based Network-as-a-Service provider, from Cinven. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- EQT agreed to acquire Eagle Railcar Services, an Eastland, Texas-based railcar repair services provider, from JM Texas Companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Providence Equity Partners acquired Tax Systems, a London-based tax and accounting software provider, from Bowmark Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
- AMD acquired ZT Systems, a Secaucus, N.J.-based AI infrastructure provider for hyperscale computing companies, for $4.9 billion.
- LPL Financial agreed to acquire Commonwealth Financial Network, a Waltham, Mass.-based business services provider for financial advisors, for approximately $2.7 billion in cash.
- Cantor agreed to acquire the U.S. wholesale market making business of Canaccord Genuity, a Toronto-based financial services firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
- Wendel acquired a 75% stake in and AXA IM Prime acquired a minority stake in Monroe Capital, a Chicago-based asset management firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.
IPOS
- Circle Internet Group, a New York City-based stablecoin issuer, filed to go public on the NYSE. The company posted $1.7 billion in revenue for the year ending Dec. 31, 2024. Accel, Breyer Capital, General Catalyst, IDG Capital, Oak Investment Partners, and FMR back the company.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
- Linden Capital Partners, a Chicago-based private equity firm, raised $400 million for its second structured capital fund focused on middle-market healthcare companies.
PEOPLE
- Index Ventures, a London-based venture capital firm, added Mark Xu as a partner. Previously, he was at Lightspeed Venture Partners.
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