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Silicon Valley begins building its own talent pipeline: a16z invests to 35000000 USD launch a “university alternative”
Beating AI news flash: a16z is investing 35000000 USD to incubate Horowitz Andreessen Academy, enrolling 16 to 22-year-olds. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, Palantir, Stripe, and other 10 technology companies are all founding partners.
The school largely does not follow the traditional university model. Admissions place greater emphasis on what applicants have already done, and after enrollment, students can devote up to 80%of their time to projects, such as training AI models, developing products, or starting companies. Each student can also receive more than 50000 USD in computing power and technical resources.
Most instructors also come from technology companies and the startup ecosystem. Sam Altman, Fei-Fei Li, Figma CEO Dylan Field, and others are on the list. Students can also directly join partner companies for learning and internships. More than 40 companies, including Cognition, Databricks, Notion, and Shopify, have already joined the recruiting partnership.
a16z has also incorporated startup financing. Partner Erik Torenberg said they will likely invest in founders emerging from the academy in the future. Admissions, training, internships, recruiting, and venture investment—activities previously dispersed across different parts of universities and Silicon Valley—have been incorporated into one system.
The inaugural cohort plans to enroll approximately 50 students, with classes beginning in fall 2027. Tuition will be fully waived for 1 years. The formal 2-year program is planned to launch in 2028, and is currently awaiting regulatory approval and has not yet received university accreditation. Future tuition is expected to be close to that of top private universities in the United States.
Original link https://m.theblockbeats.info/flash/368500