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I’ll let you consider that number for a moment, because while it’s far from unprecedented (or even surprising), it is quite a chunk of change. It’s also a reminder: The firm that first made its name as a VC upstart upon its 2009 founding has become venture capital’s most-talked-about and controversial brand. And I use the term brand intentionally: a16z made its name not only by investing in companies like Skype, Facebook, and Twitter but by intentionally brand-building in a way that was new to venture in the 2010s—and now is de rigueur. 

The $15 billion is being parceled out among various a16z funds. Here’s how it breaks down: The firm’s fifth growth fund gets $6.75 billion, the fifth biotech and healthcare fund will see $700 million, while the second apps fund and second infrastructure fund each get $1.7 billion. American Dynamism, a key player in the defense tech boom, gets $1.176 billion (less than I maybe would have guessed, given how hot defense tech is right now). 

Finally, another $3 billion funnels to a cryptic category, “other venture strategies.” An a16z spokesperson said this “refers to a combination of things, fund strategies that have not yet launched as well as additional opportunities like institutional SMAs.” (SMAs are “separately managed accounts,” and buzzy with the family office-wealthy individual set looking for their piece of tech.)

A16z has become something of a lightning rod within the tech community in recent years (the firm famously endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 election), and make no mistake about it: This $15 billion is also geopolitical. In a blog post, cofounder Ben Horowitz says that the goal is to be investing into tech that’s “dynamic, innovative, and intensely competitive with China.” (A16z declined to make Horowitz or cofounder Marc Andreessen available for an interview.)

$15 billion is a lot of capital to put to work. But let’s also be real here: Is this number all that surprising? I would say not. VC firms are raising more and more to keep up with the AI boom (2025 global dealmaking reached $512.6 billion, says PitchBook), and we’ve seen other firms raise big funds recently (looking at you, Lightspeed, raising $9 billion). 

Nor is it unprecedented on a historical basis. At the peak of the ZIRP era, in 2022, Insight raised a whopping $20 billion, while Tiger Global raised $12.7 billion. Going even further back in time, let’s not forget SoftBank, which pre-pandemic raised $100 billion for its almost comically large Vision Fund. 

For years, a16z has been telegraphing its desire to be the venture-asset manager-behemoth of our future. The question, of course, is what success looks like: Is it returns, is it enduring cultural and political influence, or blunt money-deluge dominance? 

See you next week, 

Allie Garfinkle
X:
@agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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VENTURE CAPITAL

Diagonal Therapeutics, a Watertown, Mass.-based biotech company developing antibodies designed to get to the root of genetic diseases, raised $125 million in Series B funding. Sanofi Ventures and Janus Henderson Investors led the round and were joined by others.

Corgi, a San Francisco-based AI insurance platform designed for startups, raised $108 million in funding from Y Combinator, Kindred Ventures, Contrary, and others.

Valinor Enterprises, a Washington, D.C.-based defense and government tech company, raised $54 million in Series A funding. Friends & Family Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Red Cell Partners, and others.

Protege, a New York City-based AI data platform, raised $30 million in Series A funding. a16z led the round and was joined by Footwork, CRV, and others.

Canopy, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based developer of safety technology for health care environments, raised $22 million in Series B funding. 111° West Capital and ACME Capital led the round and were joined by existing investors.

Tucuvi, a New York City-based developer of an AI voice agent designed for care teams, raised $20 million in Series A funding. Cathay Innovation and Kfund led the round and was joined by existing investors Frontline Ventures, Seaya Ventures, and Shilling.

Spangle AI, a Seattle, Wash.-based developer of an agentic infrastructure layer for commerce, raised $15 million in Series A funding. NewRoad Capital Partners led the round and was joined by DNX Ventures and existing investors Madrona Ventures and Streamlined Ventures.

Topos Bio, a San Francisco-based developer of therapies designed for intrinsically disordered proteins, raised $10.5 million in seed funding from Boldstart, Threshold, Neo, and angel investors.

PRIVATE EQUITY

BNP Group, backed by Godspeed Capital, acquired Airport Gurus, a Barcelona, Spain-based aviation consultancy firm. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Currier Plastics, a portfolio company of Sheridan Capital Partners, acquired Springboard Manufacturing, a Rancho Cordova, Calif.-based plastic injection molding company for medical devices, and MOS Plastics, a San Jose, Calif.-based plastic injection molding company for medical devices. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

Fenceworks, a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital, acquired Accurate Fence, a Lawrenceville, Ga.-based fencing installation company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Grant Avenue Capital acquired PatientCare EMS Solutions, a Hudson, Fla.-based provider of ground-based health care transportation services. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Haveli Investments agreed to acquire a majority stake in Sirion, a Lehi, Utah-based developer of lifecycle management software. Financial terms were not disclosed.

L Catterton agreed to acquire a majority stake in Good Culture, an Austin, Texas-based cottage cheese brand. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The Interprose Corporation, a portfolio company of Wingman Growth Partners, acquired Beam Software, a Sarasota, Fla.-based developer of software for debt buyers, servicers, and third-party collection agencies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Veritas Capital agreed to acquire a majority stake in Global Healthcare Exchange, a Louisville, Colo.-based developer of supply chain software designed to connect health care providers with suppliers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EXITS

Constellation acquired Calpine Corporation, a Houston, Texas-based power company, from Energy Capital Partners for approximately $26.6 billion.

Gryphon Investors acquired Safety Management Group, an Indianapolis, Ind.-based outsourced safety services company, from NMS Capital. Financial terms were not disclosed.

I Squared Capital agreed to acquire Ramudden Global, a Stockholm, Sweden-based traffic management and infrastructure safety company, from Triton. Financial terms were not disclosed. 

ThreatModeler, backed by Invictus Growth Partners, acquired IriusRisk, a Huesca, Spain-based threat modeling platform, from Paladin Capital Group. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

Eir Partners Capital, a Miami, Fla.-based private equity firm, raised $1 billion for its third fund focused on health tech and tech-enabled services companies.

PEOPLE

Left Lane Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, promoted Laura Sillman, Henry Toole, and Magnus Karnehm to partner. The firm also promoted Mark Shtrakhman and Alexa Tsay to Vice President.

NewView Capital, a Burlingame, Calif.-based venture capital firm, promoted Nick Bunick to partner.



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ICE shooting that killed Renee Good sets up budget standoff ahead of shutdown deadline

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The killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in Minnesota has sparked a potential funding battle just as the federal government faces another shutdown deadline on Jan. 30.

Democrats in Congress are considering ways to rein in President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown after the fatal shooting, and legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security could be one vehicle for it.

Sen. Chris Murphy, the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee that oversees the DHS budget, plans to introduce legislation that would require agents to have warrants for arrests, ban them from wearing masks during enforcement operations, limit the use of guns by ICE during civil actions, and restrict the Border Patrol to the border.

He is trying to gather enough Democrats who will demand guardrails on DHS in exchange for their votes to pass a spending bill for the department, sources told Axios.

“Democrats cannot vote for a DHS budget that doesn’t restrain the growing lawlessness of this agency,” Murphy said in a post on X on Wednesday.

At least one Republican, Sen. Sen. Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, has called for policy changes, saying the shooting in Minnesota “was devastating, and cannot happen again.”

“The videos I’ve seen from Minneapolis yesterday are deeply disturbing,” she said in a statement. “As we mourn this loss of life, we need a thorough and objective investigation into how and why this happened.”

Some Democrats in the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority that has gotten narrower, have also said legislation for DHS appropriations should be used as leverage.

And Rep. Adriano Espaillat, a member of the House Appropriations Committee, suggested at a news conference Friday that Democrats should take an even more aggressive stance.

“I was of the belief that perhaps we could reform ICE. Now I am of the belief that it has to be dismantled as an entity,” he said. “This unaccounted for violence is part of its culture. And so we must dismantle it and build it from the ground up again.”

But after the longest government shutdown ever last fall took a heavy toll on the economy and social services, top Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer have signaled they want to avoid another one a few months later.

Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson admitted on Friday he’s concerned Democrats’ targeting of immigration enforcement funding could interfere with overall negotiations on government appropriations.

“We should not be limiting funding for Homeland Security at a dangerous time,” Johnson said, according to Politico. “We need officials to allow law enforcement to do their job. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a critically important function of the government. It is a top concern for Americans, as demonstrated by the last election cycle.”



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‘That’s fine, I’m not mad at you’: New video of Minnesota shooting shows crucial moments before incident

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A Minnesota prosecutor on Friday called on the public to share with investigators any recordings and evidence connected to the fatal shooting of Renee Good as a new video emerged showing the final moments of her encounter with an immigration officer.

The Minneapolis killing and a separate shooting in Portland, Oregon, a day later by the Border Patrol have set off protests in multiple cities and denunciations of immigration enforcement tactics by the U.S. government. The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents.

The reaction to the shooting has largely been focused on witness cellphone video of the encounter. A new, 47-second video that was published online by a Minnesota-based conservative news site, Alpha News, and later reposted on social media by the Department of Homeland Security shows the shooting from the perspective of ICE officer Jonathan Ross, who fired the shots.

Sirens blaring in the background, he approaches and circles Good’s vehicle in the middle of the road while apparently filming on his cellphone. At the same time, Good’s wife also was recording the encounter and can be seen walking around the vehicle and approaching the officer. A series of exchanges occurred:

“That’s fine, I’m not mad at you,” Good says as the officer passes by her door. She has one hand on the steering wheel and the other outside the open driver side window.

“U.S. citizen, former f—ing veteran,” says her wife, standing outside the passenger side of the SUV holding up her phone. “You wanna come at us, you wanna come at us, I say go get yourself some lunch, big boy.”

Other officers are approaching the driver’s side of the car at about the same time and one says: “Get out of the car, get out of the f—ing car.” Ross is now at the front driver side of the vehicle. Good reverses briefly, then turns the steering wheel toward the passenger side as she drives ahead and Ross opens fire.

The camera becomes unsteady and points toward the sky and then returns to the street view showing Good’s SUV careening away.

“F—ing b—,” someone at the scene says.

A crashing sound is heard as Good’s vehicle smashes into others parked on the street.

Federal agencies have encouraged officers to document encounters in which people may attempt to interfere with enforcement actions, but policing experts have cautioned that recording on a handheld device can complicate already volatile situations by occupying an officer’s hands and narrowing focus at moments when rapid decision-making is required.

Under an ICE policy directive, officers and agents are expected to activate body-worn cameras at the start of enforcement activities and to record throughout interactions, and footage must be kept for review in serious incidents such as deaths or use-of-force cases. The Department of Homeland Security has not responded to questions about whether the officer who opened fire or any of the others who were on the scene were wearing body cameras.

Homeland Security says video shows self-defense

Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in posts on X that the new video backs their contention that the officer fired in self-defense.

“Many of you have been told this law enforcement officer wasn’t hit by a car, wasn’t being harassed, and murdered an innocent woman,” Vance said. “The reality is that his life was endangered and he fired in self defense.”

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has said any self-defense argument is “garbage.”

Policing experts said the video didn’t change their thoughts on the use-of-force but did raise additional questions about the officer’s training.

“Now that we can see he’s holding a gun in one hand and a cellphone in the other filming, I want to see the officer training that permits that,” said Geoff Alpert, a criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.

The video demonstrates that the officers didn’t perceive Good to be a threat, said John P. Gross, a professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has written extensively about officers shooting at moving vehicles.

“If you are an officer who views this woman as a threat, you don’t have one hand on a cellphone. You don’t walk around this supposed weapon, casually filming,” Gross said.

Ross, 43, is an Iraq War veteran who has served in the Border Patrol and ICE for nearly two decades. He was injured last year when he was dragged by a driver fleeing an immigration arrest.

Attempts to reach Ross at phone numbers and email addresses associated with him were not successful.

Prosecutor asks for video and evidence

Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said that although her office has collaborated effectively with the FBI in past cases, she is concerned by the Trump administration’s decision to bar state and local agencies from playing any role in the investigation into Good’s killing.

She also said the officer who shot Good in the head does not have complete legal immunity, as Vance declared.

“We do have jurisdiction to make this decision with what happened in this case,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “It does not matter that it was a federal law enforcement agent.”

Moriarty said her office would post a link for the public to submit footage of the shooting, even though she acknowledged that she wasn’t sure what legal outcome submissions might produce.

Good’s wife, Becca Good, released a statement to Minnesota Public Radio on Friday saying, “kindness radiated out of her.”

“On Wednesday, January 7th, we stopped to support our neighbors. We had whistles. They had guns,” Becca Good said.

“I am now left to raise our son and to continue teaching him, as Renee believed, that there are people building a better world for him,” she wrote.

The reaction to Good’s shooting was immediate in the city where police killed George Floyd in 2020, with hundreds of protesters converging on the shooting scene and the school district canceling classes for the rest of the week as a precaution and offering an online option through Feb. 12.

On Friday, protesters were outside a federal facility serving as a hub for the immigration crackdown that began Tuesday in Minneapolis and St. Paul. That evening, hundreds protested and marched outside two hotels in downtown Minneapolis where immigration enforcement agents were supposed to be staying. Some people were seen breaking or spray painting windows and state law enforcement officers wearing helmets and holding batons ordered the remaining group of fewer than 100 people to leave late Friday.

Shooting in Portland

The Portland shooting happened outside a hospital Thursday. A federal border officer shot and wounded a man and woman in a vehicle, identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Venezuela nationals Luis David Nico Moncada and Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras. Police said they were in stable condition Friday after surgery, with DHS saying Nico Moncada was taken into FBI custody

DHS defended the actions of its officers in Portland, saying the shooting occurred after the driver with alleged gang ties tried to “weaponize” his vehicle to hit them. It said no officers were injured.

Portland Police Chief Bob Day confirmed that the two people shot had “some nexus” to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. Day said they came to the attention of police during an investigation of a July shooting believed to have been carried out by gang members, but they were not identified as suspects.

The chief said any gang affiliation did not necessarily justify the shooting by U.S. Border Patrol. The Oregon Department of Justice said it would investigate.

On Friday evening, hundreds of protesters marched to the ICE building in Portland.

The biggest crackdown yet

The Minneapolis shooting happened on the second day of the immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities, which Homeland Security said is the biggest immigration enforcement operation ever. More than 2,000 officers are taking part and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said they have made more than 1,500 arrests.

The government is also shifting immigration officers to Minneapolis from sweeps in Louisiana, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press. This represents a pivot, as the Louisiana crackdown that began in December had been expected to last into February.

Good’s death — at least the fifth tied to immigration sweeps since President Donald Trump took office — has resonated far beyond Minneapolis. More protests are planned for this weekend, according to Indivisible, a group formed to resist the Trump administration.

___

Associated Press reporters Steve Karnowski and Mark Vancleave in Minneapolis; Ed White in Detroit; Valerie Gonzalez in Brownsville, Texas; Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Oklahoma; Michael Biesecker in Washington; Jim Mustian and Safiyah Riddle in New York; Ryan Foley in Iowa City, Iowa; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com



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Congress debates what to do about ICE after giving Trump billions of funding to expand the program

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Lawmakers are demanding a range of actions, from a full investigation into Renee Good’s shooting death and policy changes over law enforcement raids to the defunding of ICE operations and the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in what is fast becoming an inflection point.

“The situation that took place in Minnesota is a complete and total disgrace,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said as details emerged. “And in the next few days, we will be having conversations about a strong and forceful and appropriate response by House Democrats.”

Yet there is almost no consensus among the political parties in the aftermath of the death of Good, who was behind the wheel of an SUV after dropping off her 6-year-old at school when she was shot and killed by an ICE officer.

The killing immediately drew dueling narratives. Trump and Noem said the ICE officer acted in self-defense, while Democratic officials said the Trump administration was lying and they urged the public to see the viral videos of the shooting for themselves.

Vice President JD Vance blamed Good, calling it “a tragedy of her own making,” and said the ICE officer may have been “sensitive” from having been injured during an unrelated altercation last year.

But Good’s killing, at least the fifth known death since the administration launched its mass deportation campaign, could change the political dynamic.

“The videos I’ve seen from Minneapolis yesterday are deeply disturbing,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, in a statement.

“As we mourn this loss of life, we need a thorough and objective investigation into how and why this happened,” she said. As part of the investigation, she said she is calling for policy changes, saying the situation “was devastating, and cannot happen again.”

Homeland Security funding is up for debate

The push in Congress for more oversight and accountability of the administration’s immigration operations comes as lawmakers are in the midst of the annual appropriations process to fund agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, to prevent another federal government shutdown when money expires at the end of January.

It also comes, as previously reported by Fortune, after a huge recruitment push for new hires at ICE. Over the next four years, Congress has allocated $170 billion for border and interior enforcement, including $75 billion for ICE, as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that was sign signed into law, on partisan lines, with Democrats voting no. The Minnesota shooter has been revealed as Jonathan Ross, not a recent recruit to ICE but an Iraq war veteran with decades of experience in border patrol and immigration enforcement, and someone who was severely injured over the summer in another enforcement action when he was dragged 100 yards by a moving car.

As anti-ICE demonstrations erupt in cities in the aftermath of Good’s death, Democrats have pledged to use any available legislative lever to apply pressure on the administration to change the conduct of ICE officers.

“We’ve been warning about this for an entire year,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla.

The ICE officer “needs to be held accountable,” Frost said, “but not just them, but ICE as a whole, the president and this entire administration.”

Congressional Democrats saw Good’s killing as a sign of the need for aggressive action to restrain the administration’s tactics.

Several Democrats joined calls to impeach Noem, who has been under fire from both parties for her lack of transparency at the department, though that step is highly unlikely with Republicans in control of Congress.

Other Democrats want to restrict the funding for her department, whose budget was vastly increased as part of Republicans’ sweeping tax and spending bill passed last summer.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the subcommittee that handles Homeland Security funding, plans to introduce legislation to rein in the agency with constraints on federal agents’ authority, including a requirement that the Border Patrol stick to the border and that DHS enforcement officers be unmasked.

“More Democrats are saying today the thing that a number of us have been saying since April and May: Kristi Noem is dangerous. She should not be in office, and she should be impeached,” said Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez, who represents parts of Chicago where ICE launched an enhanced immigration enforcement action last year that resulted in two deaths.

Immigration debates have long divided Congress and the parties. Democrats splinter between more liberal and stricter attitudes toward newcomers to the United States. Republicans have embraced Trump’s hard-line approach to portray Democrats as radicals.

The Republican administration had launched the enforcement operation in Minnesota in response to an investigation of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future. Prosecutors said the organization was at the center of the country’s largest COVID-19-related fraud scams, when defendants exploited a state-run, federally funded program intended to provide food for children.

Heading into the November midterm election, which Democrats believe will hinge on issues such as affordability and health care, national outcry over ICE’s conduct has pressured lawmakers to speak out.

“I’m not completely against deportations, but the way they’re handling it is a real disgrace,” said Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Texas, who represents a district along the U.S.-Mexico border

“Right now, you’re seeing humans treated like animals,” he said.

Other ICE shootings have rattled lawmakers

In September, a federal immigration enforcement agent in Chicago fatally shot Silverio Villegas Gonzalez during a brief altercation after Gonzalez had dropped off his children at school.

In October, a Customs and Border Protection agent also in Chicago shot Marimar Martinez, a teacher and U.S. citizen, five times during a dispute with officers. The charges against Martinez brought by the administration were dismissed by a federal judge.

To Rep. Chuy Garcia, D-Ill., Good’s death “brought back heart-wrenching memories of those two shootings in my district.”

“It looks like the fact that a US citizen, who is a white woman, may be opening the eyes of the American public, certainly of members of Congress, that what’s going on is out of control,” he said, “that this isn’t about apprehending or pursuing the most dangerous immigrants.”

Republicans expressed some concern at the shooting but stood by the administration’s policy, defended the officer’s actions and largely blamed Good for the standoff.

“Nobody wants to see people get shot,” said Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga.

“Let’s do the right thing and just be reasonable. And the reasonable thing is not to obstruct ICE officers and then accelerate while they’re standing in front of your car,” he said. “She made a mistake. I’m sure she didn’t mean for that to happen, nor did he mean for that to happen.”



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