VC Firm Andreessen Horowitz Dismisses Claim of Opening Bengaluru Office as 'Fake News'

After a report by Mint claimed that US-based venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) was setting up an office in Bengaluru, the firm swiftly denied the news. Anish Acharya, general partner at a16z, dismissed the report in a post on X.

“As much as I adore India and the many impressive founders + investors in the region, this is entirely fake news,” Acharya wrote.

The Mint article had suggested that the Bengaluru office would start with a small team of no more than two professionals to build a deal pipeline. It noted that a16z began scouting talent in India around April without the involvement of professional headhunting firms.

It further reported that the firm was in discussions with general partners leaving local VC funds, as well as operators from scaled-up startups and e-commerce companies with deep knowledge of the Indian market.

Acharya, with a16z since August 2019, has led investments in an AI music startup, food supply chain software company Silo, wealth management platform Titan, software-driven contracting platform Mosaic, and agentic AI startup HappyRobot.

This comes after a16z made limited investments in India despite earmarking $500 million for Indian startups in 2022. Its notable Indian investments include Bangalore-based cryptocurrency platform Coinswitch Kuber in 2021 and a seed round in hyper-casual gaming platform Plutus Labs.

Founded in 2009, a16z has backed global tech giants such as OpenAI, Slack, Airbnb, GitHub, Facebook, and Figma. The firm has made 1,762 investments to date, leading 790 of them, and currently manages 969 portfolio companies across 30 funds, with 259 successful exits, according to Crunchbase.

There are also reports that another Silicon Valley VC, Sequoia Global, is looking to expand its presence in India.

[Update (10 October 2025, 8:15 am): The story has been updated to include comments from a16z’s Anish Acharya denying the report.]