a16z Launches Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a Free SF School for AI-Era Builders

On September 22, a16z officially announced the Horowitz Andreessen Academy in San Francisco, a free, highly selective school for ambitious 16-22 year-old builders, led by Udemy co-founder Gagan Biyani and incubated with Erik Torenberg, with Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz backing it. Positioned as an alternative to traditional college, its Founding Class Fellowship is open for applications. It marks a top VC directly running a school and publicly challenging the value of traditional university education.

Confirmed

• The school is in San Francisco, free and highly selective, targeting high-school graduates and first/second-year or former college students, with a project-based, build-first pedagogy; per amasad, Replit joined the board
• Per shaemcl, it is an unaccredited residential school with a founding class of about 50 students; per xiaohu, it grants no degree
• Per WSJ (via KateClarkTweets, jfiance), a16z is investing $35 million; other accounts (verdakorz, FinanceYF5) cite $42 million led by a16z—no official reconciliation
• Per jfiance, OpenAI, Nvidia and 10 companies are founding partners; Laura Modiano also announced as a founding partner
• Mentors include Sam Altman and Jensen Huang; Torenberg cites Bloom's 1984 tutoring research as inspiration
• Core thesis: the internet let people know anything, AI lets them do anything; learning shifts from mastering knowledge to choosing worthy problems and shipping work
• a16z's message to young talent: don't drop out to start a company—come to school here instead
• Ben Horowitz argued on a podcast that now may be one of the best times ever to be 18, as young people can outperform veterans with decades of experience

Unconfirmed

• Funding: $35M (WSJ) vs $42M (announcements/reposts); duration: two years (WSJ) vs one-year residential (shaemcl); curriculum and operational details undisclosed

Why it matters

• A top VC running a school is an open challenge to traditional higher education and a signal of shifting skill demands in the AI era; aleximm believes this generation's education will look fundamentally different, and mattslotnick sees a strong angle despite inevitable controversy

2026-09-22 ~ 2026-09-24 · 34 related posts

• [source] a16z launches Horowitz Andreessen Academy, betting on project-based learning for the AI era — a16z · 2026-09-22
• Andreessen Horowitz invests $35M in an unaccredited college alternative — KateClarkTweets · 2026-09-22
• Andreessen Horowitz Launches Free AI School for High School Grads and College Dropouts — Polymarket · 2026-09-22
• a16z launches Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a grades-free SF school for young builders — pjausovec · 2026-09-22
• Andreessen Horowitz backs The Horowitz Andreessen Academy for AI-era education — aleximm · 2026-09-22
• a16z's Horowitz and Andreessen Back a 2-Year Tech/AI Vocational School With Top Employers — matt_slotnick · 2026-09-23
• Ben Horowitz: 'One of the best times in history to be 18' as AI-era school HAA launches — a16z · 2026-09-23
• a16z-backed Horowitz Andreessen Academy launches in SF to train AI-era founders — LauraModiano · 2026-09-23
• a16z-backed Academy launches in SF with Replit as founding partner, teaching students to build — amasad · 2026-09-23
• a16z Backs $42M Unaccredited Residential Academy, Founding Class of ~50 Students — shae_mcl · 2026-09-23
• a16z Academy hiring founding team in SF to build a new school from scratch — verdakorz · 2026-09-23
• a16z and Horowitz launch two-year SF academy with Altman, Huang, Fei-Fei Li as mentors — verdakorz · 2026-09-23
• a16z Incubates Horowitz Andreessen Academy: From Infinite Knowledge to Infinite Doing — a16z · 2026-09-23
• a16z launches the Horowitz Andreessen Academy — tetsuoai · 2026-09-23
• a16z launches AI-era school: ~50 students a year, tuition-free, no degree — xiaohu · 2026-09-23
• a16z backs new school HAA with $42M to train young AI-era builders — xiaohu · 2026-09-23
• a16z launches two-year AI academy that grades what you ship, not what you memorize — sanjaykalra · 2026-09-24

17 near-duplicate retellings: jfiance · a16z · a16z · verdakorz · oyhsu · zack_overflow · verdakorz · verdakorz · floguo · henrymodis · soleio · philfung · BrianHie · soleio · FinanceYF5 · soleio · sanjaykalra