Horowitz Andreessen Launches Academy for Students Building AI Tools

(TNS) — Andreessen Horowitz announced Tuesday the Horowitz Andreessen Academy, a tuition-free, in-person school in San Francisco aimed at recent high school graduates who want to build technology products and companies in the AI era.The program, which targets students who might otherwise attend college, will accept roughly 50 students for its first class, beginning in Fall 2027. Admission will be based on proof of work — what applicants have built, shipped, or earned — according to the academy's website. Students must arrange their own accommodations, though the academy noted it is actively working to connect them with housing options.The academy's curriculum centers on three elements: Pursuits, which are self-directed personal projects or startup ideas; Courses, which are short programs taught by tech founders and operators; and Co-ops, which are work rotations at partner companies. Coursework will cover topics ranging from AI inference engineering to founder-led sales and interpersonal skills, according to Bloomberg. Academy CEO Gagan Biyani said on Bloomberg Tech that instruction will also include subjects such as storytelling and "finding love."

Ten companies have signed on as founding partners — Anduril, Anthropic, Coinbase, Google, Meta, Nvidia, OpenAI, Palantir, Replit, and Stripe — and will offer students co-op placements, compute access, and curriculum input, the academy said. More than 40 additional companies have joined as hiring partners.Founding Class Fellows will receive more than $50,000 in compute credits and a $5,000 travel and research budget, the academy said. The program is not currently accredited, meaning students will not earn a degree or transferable college credits, according to TechCrunch.The academy has raised $42 million, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Marc Andreessen and Erik Torenberg joining its board. Individual investors include Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Y Combinator CEO Garry Tan, and Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar, the academy said.

The one-year founding program is free. The academy intends to seek regulatory approval for a two-year program it hopes to launch in Fall 2028, at which point it plans to charge tuition comparable to that of an elite private university, Biyani said, according to TechCrunch. That program is not currently enrolling students.Biyani said that beyond seeking stakes in startups that come out of the academy, Andreessen Horowitz is equally focused on funneling graduates into companies already in its portfolio, according to Bloomberg.©2026 Quartz Media Inc. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.