Former a16z Partner Vijay Pande Launches AI-Driven VZVC

Vijay Pande, who oversaw nearly $4 billion at Andreessen Horowitz, has launched VZVC after leaving the venture-capital firm. The new fund will focus on artificial intelligence and biotechnology while pursuing a concentrated portfolio, a marked shift from the broad dealmaking common at large venture platforms. The strategy is designed to give VZVC greater conviction and deeper involvement in a smaller number of companies.

In a recent interview, Pande said VZVC would not make 30 investments a year and would rely heavily on AI in its daily operations. He also highlighted a structural obstacle for AI-driven biotechnology: biological and clinical data are often proprietary, fragmented or unavailable for public web scraping. The resulting costs of access, licensing and standardization could constrain model development and the ability of startups to scale.