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Andreessen Horowitz is aiming to raise about $10bn for new investments, as the Silicon Valley venture capital group seeks to replenish its coffers amid frenzied dealmaking for the top artificial intelligence and defence tech start-ups.

The California-based firm is seeking to raise roughly $6bn to invest in more mature companies, marking a near-doubling of its previous “growth” fund, said people familiar with the matter.

It is also targeting $1.5bn for each of its AI applications and AI infrastructure funds and more than $1bn for its “American Dynamism” defence and manufacturing-focused vehicle, two of the people said.

The combined target of $10bn would be Andreessen’s largest fundraise to date, marking a significant increase for the firm after raising $7.2bn in April last year in its latest haul. It would also be a step up from a $9bn raise during the tech boom in early 2022.

Andreessen’s rapid return to its institutional backers — known as limited partners — follows a period of prodigious industry-wide investments into AI which has led to VCs exhausting their previous funds faster than expected.

The firm has participated in a number of major start-up funding rounds since it last raised capital almost 18 months ago, including deals to back OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI.

Those businesses have vast capital requirements, and a large chunk of the new funding is likely to be spent on future rounds for start-ups already in Andreessen’s investment portfolio, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to requests for comment.

The firm has risen to become one of the world’s top VC investors since it was founded in 2009, with $46bn of committed capital across its various funds.

Led by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, the firm has also become increasingly politically influential. The pair donated to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign, and senior figures from the firm have left to serve in the new administration.

The firm’s former managing partner Scott Kupor now leads the US Office of Personnel Management, while its former partner Sriram Krishnan is the White House’s senior policy adviser for AI.

The firm has backed top AI and software start-ups including Databricks, and European leaders Mistral and Black Forest Labs. It also has been a backer of other highly valued tech groups such as cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase and the defence tech group Anduril.

At Genoa’s waterfront on the Ligurian Sea, the sun is shining following a brief but powerful autumn shower. Moving among the luxury boats bobbing on the water in front of a Jean Nouvel-designed pavilion, barefoot deckhands are towelling down wood finishing and removing waterproof covers from tables and seats, readying them to accommodate potential buyers. After the lethargy of summer, it’s back to business in Italy. Liguria’s Genoa International Boat Show, which takes place annually in September, is the country’s most important boating event. It is sandwiched between a bustling nautical schedule that features a Cannes event before it and a Monaco one immediately afterwards.

Historically, Genoa was the world’s most important global boating event. In recent years, however, it has lost out to its Francophone Mediterranean rivals – but there are signs of buoyancy. “At Cannes, everyone comes to us; lots of Italians and even Australians,” says Rosario Alcaro, the general manager of Cantieri Aschenez, showing off the company’s 17-metre Invictus TT550. “But there are a lot of people at Genoa.” The visitor numbers make for positive reading too, up 2.8 per cent on 2024.

The chatter around the sun-dappled docks and inside the pavilion is focused on recyclable materials and lightening the load (though the latter is often more about gaining speed and less about sustainability). The TT550, for example, has recyclable thermoplastic resin instead of wood. But bigger still seems to be better, with Aschenez planning to produce a large boat in its TT series. “People want a bigger boat; it’s like houses,” says Alcaro.

Indeed, a standout at this year’s show is San Lorenzo’s 33-metre SL110A, with its huge flybridge. Like many boats on display here, it had its premiere at Cannes – that’s just the way the dates fall, perhaps, but it is something that Genoa might like to redress given Italy’s gargantuan contribution to the sector. Last year, the Italian boating industry had a turnover of €8.6bn, the highest figure on record, while the Global Order Book – an annual report by Boat International that ranks the world’s top superyacht builders – has Italy as a clear frontrunner. Surely, then, Italy deserves to have the leading event?

Gigi Servidati, the president of Pardo, Grand Soleil and VanDutch, says that both Cannes and Genoa have been good for sales. While there are more than 1,000 boats and exhibitors from 45 countries here, Servidati is convinced that the show could be more international. “The potential is there but the infrastructure needs to be improved,” he says. Indeed, while Cannes has the corniche and a plethora of luxury hotels, plus the know-how gained from hosting everything from its film festival to property fair Mipim, Genoa is paddling hard to catch up. Still, the future looks bright given the number of cranes around the waterfront – all part of an urban mega-project from the studio of Renzo Piano and OBR Architects that includes new residential, office and retail space. In September, meanwhile, Accor announced that it would open a waterfront Sofitel in 2027. All of which is helping put the wind back in Genoa’s sails.