MENLO PARK, Calif. (Diya TV) — Former VMware Chief Executive Officer Raghu Raghuram has joined Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital powerhouse, as a general partner. The move marks a major addition to the firm’s leadership and reinforces its growing focus on artificial intelligence and infrastructure innovation.
Andreessen Horowitz, often known as a16z, announced Thursday that Raghuram will take on multiple roles at the firm. He will serve as a General Partner on the AI Infrastructure team, a General Partner on the Growth team, and a Managing Partner assisting cofounder Ben Horowitz in overseeing operations.
Raghuram brings more than two decades of deep infrastructure and enterprise software experience. He joined VMware in 2003 and rose through the ranks to become CEO in 2021. During his tenure, he helped guide the company through a period of massive transformation. He led VMware’s shift from on-premise software to multi-cloud computing, expanded its customer base to more than 300,000 companies across 60 countries, and grew its annual revenue to over $13 billion.
He also played a key role in steering VMware through its $69 billion sale to Broadcom in 2023 — one of the largest software deals in history.
Raghuram’s career has come full circle. Nearly 30 years ago, Ben Horowitz hired him straight out of graduate school to join the product management team at Netscape, the pioneering web browser company co-founded by Marc Andreessen.
“Raghu is one of the top infrastructure strategists of the last decade,” Horowitz said in a statement. “He’s also very smart on M&A and has relationships with every important CEO in tech. His experience will be a great benefit to our infrastructure and growth teams.”
Horowitz also emphasized Raghuram’s leadership and operational expertise, especially after the recent departure of longtime managing partner Scott Kupor. “We have a giant ambition as a firm,” Horowitz said. “But I often end up being the bottleneck for new initiatives. Raghu is the one guy besides me I’d trust to manage things at the firm.”
In an interview with Axios, Raghuram said the opportunity at Andreessen Horowitz came at the right moment. “All of computing is being reinvented,” he said. “I’ve always been an operator, but I’m first and foremost a technologist. Had I gone into another operating role, at this unique time, it might have felt too constraining.”
Raghuram’s decision underscores a broader shift among top technology executives toward venture capital and AI-focused investing. With the rapid growth of generative AI and cloud infrastructure, venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz are seeking leaders who understand both the technical and business sides of modern computing.
At Andreessen Horowitz, Raghuram’s experience will directly support the firm’s AI infrastructure investments, an area that has become central to its strategy. The firm has backed major players in cloud, developer tools, and machine learning infrastructure, and continues to expand its influence in enterprise and AI software.
Raghuram will also advise growth-stage portfolio companies, helping them scale operations, expand globally, and navigate complex markets. His expertise in mergers and acquisitions, partnerships, and large-scale organizational management is expected to help emerging companies mature into industry leaders.
Horowitz described Raghuram’s arrival as “a giant step forward” for the firm. “He’s an amazing strategist and leader,” he said. “Having him at Andreessen Horowitz strengthens our ability to support the next generation of technology companies.”
