a16z now wants to manage the money of the entrepreneurs it supports

Andreessen Horowitz's recent hire of former Jordan Park Group chief investment officer Michel Del Buono suggests the venture capital firm is moving into founders' wealth management startups.

The team, better known as a16z, has confirmed the hiring of Del Buono as CIO to oversee these types of services for founders, as first reported by Bloomberg.

TechCrunch has contacted a16z for comment but has not received a response at the time of writing.

Andreessen Horowitz is not the first to venture into this field. Both Iconiq Capital and Sequoia Capital offer fund management services.

Iconiq manages over $80 billion, up from $23 billion in 2020, and its client list includes Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and Jack Dorsey.

Meanwhile, Sequoia's business unit, Sequoia Heritage, was established in 2010 and currently manages $16.4 billion, according to Bloomberg. This is just one of many in-house programs the venture capital giant offers for founders.

As Bloomberg notes, wealth management can be a hugely profitable business once the money rolls in. Managers charge a percentage of the assets they oversee and profit margins can be as high as 50%.

Andreessen is no stranger to breaking the norm in the venture capital world. In 2019, Andreessen officially became a registered investment adviser, meaning the company no longer had to limit its holdings, including in its general fund.

A16z recently made headlines for another reason when it announced that in the future it would be headquartered "in the cloud". Along with the move away from a centralized headquarters, a16z announced new offices in Miami Beach, New York and Santa Monica in addition to its existing positions in Menlo Park and San Francisco.

The move was notable as the famed venture capital firm was founded in 2009 in Menlo Park and has always been associated with the Bay Area. It also reflects how much has changed since the COVID-19 pandemic as more businesses and venture capitalists work remotely.

Earlier this year, the company also announced that it was building an accelerator for start-up entrepreneurs, which could also indicate its desire to expand its offering.