The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) over its partners holding board seats at rival companies, according to a Bloomberg report. The nearly year-long probe centres on the venture capital firm's positions at data platform Databricks, valued at $190 billion, and Fivetran, which merged with dbt Labs in June, with the two firms now competing in the AI data pipeline market. The case is notable because regulators have rarely applied competition law to venture capital board seats, and a ruling against a16z could reshape how top VCs approach board involvement across their portfolios.

The investigation relies on Section 8 of the Clayton Act, a 112-year-old law barring individuals from sitting on the boards of competing firms, and specifically involves a16z co-founder Ben Horowitz, who serves on Databricks' board, and partner Martin Casado, who sits on Fivetran's. Investors told TechCrunch they were surprised by the probe, noting the companies were not rivals when a16z first invested, and suggested the firm could resolve the conflict by erecting an internal information barrier between the two partners rather than relinquishing a seat. Andreessen Horowitz, Databricks and the DOJ all declined to comment.