Andreessen Horowitz Raises $1.5B For Third Fund

Andreessen Horowitz has raised another whopper of a fund, the firm announced Tuesday.

The VC, as earlier reported, will bring another $1.5 billion into its coffers–coffers that have already backed some of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious startups.

One of its first deals, in Skype, proved to be a successful investment and since then, the VC has pumped cash into companies including Airbnb, Groupon and Zynga.

While overall the VC fundraising environment has been challenging, for some—particularly veteran firms with decades-long track records and a lengthy IPO hit list—the cash has kept coming in, even into 2012.

The Netscape veteran’s namesake firm has gotten off to a tremendous trajectory. When Andreessen Horowitz launched in 2009, it did so with $300 million and was subject to immediate scrutiny with deals like Skype. A $650 million fund the following year only attracted more detractors after it made huge late-stage bets. But with companies like Twitter and Foursquare in its portfolio, the VC had no difficulty adding another $300 million annex fund last year.