Arianna Simpson

Before Arianna Simpson joined Andreessen Horowitz, before she founded Autonomous Partners, an investment fund focused on cryptocurrency, and even before she worked in sales and product at Facebook and BitGo, an enterprise security company for crypto, she took a pivotal trip to Zimbabwe in 2013. On returning to the States, Simpson began sponsoring a family back in Zimbabwe, sending money via Western Union—and dropping 25% in fees as a result. She became enamored with the idea of cryptocurrencies and what they could represent for the world. “It was the most unique thing I had ever seen in the technology world,” Simpson told Fortune. Now Simpson is helping guide Andreessen’s latest investments in the crypto universe with its $2.2 billion fund, the world’s largest. Among her top interests? Crypto games and decentralized autonomous organizations.