Crypto Startup School Applications Now Open for Spring 2024 in London
Crypto Startup School (CSS) is our twelve-week accelerator program for early-stage companies, providing expert guidance, capital, and resources tailored for crypto founders. The program is focused on speeding up their path to product-market fit and setting them up for long-term growth and success. As we previously announced, we are planning the next CSS program will take place in London in 2024, following the opening of a16z’s new London office this fall.
Today, we’re excited to announce that applications for CSS Spring 2024 are now open until October 20, 2023. You can apply here. CSS will be an in-person program, starting in March and culminating with a Demo Day in June.
We plan to host CSS Spring 2024 in London for many of the same reasons that we decided to open our first international office there: the UK has deep pools of talent, world-leading academic institutions, a strong entrepreneurial culture, and we believe that the UK is on the right path to becoming a leader in crypto regulation. While we hope to receive more applications from excellent founders based in the UK and Europe than in our previous CSS cohorts, we’ll be considering and accepting teams from around the world to participate.
We are searching for outliers; founders who are intent on taking big, bold swings in crypto and are hellbent on building something transformational. Applicants should be builders who are developing a crypto product, or interested in learning a web3 programming language like Solidity to develop them. a16z crypto invests in each participating company, with standard terms of $500,000 for 7% equity and other standard rights.
In addition to the funding and expert guidance from a16z crypto, CSS Spring 2024 participants will meet industry-leading founders and receive mentorship from some of the most effective operators in web3. Speakers at our CSS 2023 program in Los Angeles included founders and leaders from Coinbase, Optimism, Solana, Uniswap, and many more companies. Fifteen mentors also provided hands-on support to our 2023 cohort, including the founders of Aptos, Boys Club, and Sound.xyz.
CSS Spring 2024 participants will also draw inspiration and support from dozens of other founders in their cohort, and join a growing network of top-tier CSS alumni from around the world. The most recent CSS cohort in Los Angeles included founders originating from eleven countries, including the UK, U.S., India, Germany, France, Argentina, Ecuador, and Canada.
As with previous cohorts, all of the CSS Spring 2024 content will be publicly available for anyone to watch following the program. We are also expanding CSS to host two programs each year.
This will be my first cohort leading Crypto Startup School, and I can’t wait to meet and collaborate with our next wave of founders and builders.
***
The views expressed here are those of the individual AH Capital Management, L.L.C. (“a16z”) personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. Certain information contained in here has been obtained from third-party sources, including from portfolio companies of funds managed by a16z. While taken from sources believed to be reliable, a16z has not independently verified such information and makes no representations about the current or enduring accuracy of the information or its appropriateness for a given situation. In addition, this content may include third-party advertisements; a16z has not reviewed such advertisements and does not endorse any advertising content contained therein.
This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. You should consult your own advisers as to those matters. References to any securities or digital assets are for illustrative purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors, and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any fund managed by a16z. (An offering to invest in an a16z fund will be made only by the private placement memorandum, subscription agreement, and other relevant documentation of any such fund and should be read in their entirety.) Any investments or portfolio companies mentioned, referred to, or described are not representative of all investments in vehicles managed by a16z, and there can be no assurance that the investments will be profitable or that other investments made in the future will have similar characteristics or results. A list of investments made by funds managed by Andreessen Horowitz (excluding investments for which the issuer has not provided permission for a16z to disclose publicly as well as unannounced investments in publicly traded digital assets) is available at https://a16z.com/investment-list/.
Past performance is not indicative of future results. The content speaks only as of the date indicated. Any projections, estimates, forecasts, targets, prospects, and/or opinions expressed in these materials are subject to change without notice and may differ or be contrary to opinions expressed by others. Please see https://a16z.com/disclosures/ for additional important information.