Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a new education company incubated by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has launched in San Francisco with $42 million in funding and support from 10 founding technology partners, including OpenAI, NVIDIA, Google, Meta, and Anthropic. The Academy has opened applications for its inaugural tuition-free Founding Class Fellowship, which will welcome approximately 50 students in September 2027. The program is designed for ambitious young technology builders who want to develop companies, pursue careers in technology, and learn directly from Silicon Valley founders and executives.
The Academy was founded by Gagan Biyani, who previously co-founded Udemy and Maven, and will operate as a for-profit education company separate from Andreessen Horowitz but closely connected to the venture capital firm’s investment network. Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg will join Biyani on the Academy’s board.
The $42 million financing comes from a16z and a group of individual investors, including Adam D’Angelo, co-founder of Quora; Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify; Tony Xu, CEO of DoorDash; Fidji Simo, who recently served as CEO of Applications at OpenAI; Garry Tan of Y Combinator; Joe Liemandt of Alpha School; and Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palantir.
The Academy’s educational model emphasizes practical experience over traditional academic instruction. Students will spend their time developing real projects, building products, launching companies, and learning from technology executives rather than relying primarily on conventional coursework, examinations, and homework.
Admission to the founding fellowship will focus heavily on proof of work, including products applicants have built, projects they have launched, and achievements they have earned. Academic grades, essays, and standardized test scores will not be the primary determinants of admission.
The inaugural fellowship will last one year and be completely tuition-free. It will primarily serve recent high school graduates and students who have completed one or two years at a university. The Academy will also consider transfer students and international applicants, with priority given to graduating high school seniors.
Beyond the initial fellowship, the Academy intends to seek regulatory approval for a two-year educational program beginning in fall 2028. Unlike the founding fellowship, tuition for the proposed two-year program is expected to be comparable to that of elite private universities.
A significant component of the Academy’s model is its network of technology partners. Its 10 founding partners are Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, NVIDIA, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe.
These companies will contribute to curriculum development, provide access to software, hardware, and computing resources, and share their expertise through hands-on instruction and mentorship.
The Academy has also secured more than 40 additional hiring partners, including Applied Intuition, Base Power Company, Cognition, Databricks, Notion, and Shopify. These companies will provide opportunities for students and graduates to pursue internships and full-time employment.
Each student will receive more than $50,000 in computing credits and technology resources, along with a $5,000 travel and exploration budget. Participants will also receive access to Andreessen Horowitz’s network of investors, founders, and industry executives, as well as opportunities to spend time working alongside established technology companies and emerging startups.
The Academy has assembled an extensive group of instructors and guest lecturers, including Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Dylan Field, CEO of Figma; Fei-Fei Li, Co-Founder and CEO of World Labs; Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks; Naval Ravikant, Co-Founder of AngelList; and Michael Ovitz, Co-Founder of Creative Artists Agency.
Additional instructors include former Windows executive Steven Sinofsky and Shreyas Doshi, who has held product leadership roles at Stripe, Twitter, and Google.
The program’s curriculum will emphasize four core characteristics: AI-native building, high agency, ambition, and interpersonal skills. Students will receive practical instruction in designing AI systems, founder-led sales, business-to-business go-to-market strategies, storytelling, leadership, company formation, capitalization tables, finance, and fundraising.
Rather than operating as a traditional university campus, the Academy will use San Francisco itself as its educational environment. Students will participate in an in-person program, with access to local technology companies, venture capital firms, founders, and other entrepreneurs.
The Academy also plans to recommend housing providers where students can live near one another, encouraging collaboration and the development of professional and personal relationships.
The launch reflects Andreessen Horowitz’s interest in developing alternative education pathways for young entrepreneurs and technology professionals as artificial intelligence changes how companies are built and how employees develop specialized skills.
Applications are currently open for the founding fellowship, which begins in September 2027.
KEY QUOTES:
“The most ambitious young people today are building companies from their parents’ living rooms, launching websites that reach millions of people, and building robotic arms before they turn 18. College is still the right path for most students, but when the most elite and ambitious builders graduate high school, they need a program designed specifically for them. There’s no better moment than now, with AI moving this fast, to launch the Academy. When I co-founded Udemy and Maven, I imagined a future where education is purposefully designed for the modern era. The Horowitz Andreessen Academy is the next evolution of that vision, and leverages a16z’s vast network and financial resources so we can build a program that the most talented students deserve.”
Gagan Biyani, Founder and CEO of Horowitz Andreessen Academy
“In our estimation, the AI revolution is going to be as transformational to jobs as the Industrial Revolution was to the agricultural society that came before it. The training that worked for the Industrial Revolution isn’t going to map perfectly onto the AI revolution, so somebody has to pioneer how you train a person for this new world. That’s what we built the Academy to do. This isn’t just an investment idea for us. It’s an investment in the future of the country.”
Ben Horowitz, Co-Founder and General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz
“Ambitious young people aren’t waiting for permission to work on today’s most pressing problems. The Horowitz Andreessen Academy is a bet that the builders who will define the next generation of American technology should move to San Francisco and learn how to succeed directly from the best in Silicon Valley.”
Erik Torenberg, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and Horowitz Andreessen Academy Board Member
