a16z-speedrun
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Tarun Batchu
Tarun Batchu is the co-founder and CEO of Vela Energy, a startup building AI execution agents for large-load energy projects - software that reads a project's real records and drafts the procurement, permitting, and engineering work needed to move interconnection queues faster, always stopping for a human to approve. He started chasing energy problems at 12 with a carbon-capture project that reached ExxonMobil, spent his teens in climate policy and community organizing, and studied EECS and business through UC Berkeley's M.E.T. program before raising a $1.3M pre-seed led by a16z Speedrun and Z Fellows.
Vela Energy
Vela Energy builds AI execution agents for large-load energy projects, automating the procurement, permitting, and engineering-study work that stalls data center and utility interconnections. Founded by Tarun Batchu and Tony Li and backed by a16z Speedrun and Z Fellows, the company aims to be the intelligence layer that helps developers, utilities, and data centers move projects through the interconnection queue faster while keeping licensed engineers in control of every decision.
Schemata, Inc.
Schemata is a San Francisco spatial intelligence company building an AI-native interface to the physical world. It turns 2D images and physical assets into photorealistic, interactive 3D training environments where an AI instructor coaches workers through procedures, inspections, and maintenance - claiming content built roughly 10x faster and up to 85% cheaper than traditional simulation. Founded in 2023 and out of a16z Speedrun, it serves defense and enterprise customers including NAVSEA, multiple U.S. Air Force units, Northeastern University, Nestle, and Nabors, and raised a $5M seed led by Owl Ventures in May 2025.
Talofa Games
Talofa Games is a San Francisco studio that turns real-world movement into playable adventure. Founded by MIT-trained runner and game maker Jenny Xu, the studio builds 'fitness-first' mobile games - flagship title Run Legends is a co-op RPG where walking and running power your attacks, and Monster Walk turns everyday steps into a base-building, story-driven quest. Backed by $6.3M in seed funding and staffed by veterans from EA, 2K, and Riot Games, Talofa is trying to make exercise something you look forward to rather than schedule.
Waveful
Waveful is an AI-powered social app where creators and fans connect through content, challenges and communities, with creators earning money from day one. Built by Italian brothers Steven and Dennis Motta, it splits 50% of revenue with creators and grew from a few hundred thousand to millions of users after joining Andreessen Horowitz's a16z Speedrun accelerator, raising a $2.1M seed round in September 2025.
Gabriela Tafur
Gabriela Tafur is a Colombian lawyer, former Miss Colombia and Miss Universe top-five finalist turned tech founder. As CEO and co-founder of Idilio TV, she built Latin America's first vertical microdrama streaming platform after spotting nail-salon workers binge-watching Chinese micro-dramas during her Stanford MBA. In June 2026 Idilio raised a $5.5M seed round backed by Jeffrey Katzenberg's WndrCo, a16z Speedrun, Goodwater Capital and Nubank founder David Velez, after reaching 1.5 million downloads across 93 countries in five months.
James Brown
James Brown is the co-founder and CEO of Schemata, a San Francisco startup building an AI-powered spatial intelligence platform that turns ordinary 2D imagery into photorealistic 3D environments with a built-in AI instructor. A former US Marine Corps infantry and information operations officer who once briefed the Secretary of the Navy, he was the first in his family to earn a college degree, went on to a Stanford MBA and MS in Symbolic Systems, and now sells rapid-deployment virtual training to defense, energy, and infrastructure customers. Schemata emerged from stealth in May 2025 with a $5M seed round led by Owl Ventures and $3.4M in early Department of Defense contracts.
Sebastien Deguy
Sebastien Deguy is the founder of Allegorithmic, the company behind the Substance 3D texturing suite that became an industry standard across games, film, and design. After Adobe acquired Allegorithmic in 2019 he served as VP of 3D & Immersive, won a Sci-Tech Academy Award (2023) and an Emmy (2024), then left in 2025 to build content instead of tools. He now runs Sans Strings Studio in San Francisco, a digital-puppetry company chasing 'animation with a soul' through a real-time performance pipeline. He is also an electronic musician under the alias Matterflow and the author of a book on Allegorithmic's history.
Steven Motta
Steven Motta is the co-founder and CEO of Waveful, an AI-powered social app for sharing passions, building communities and letting creators monetize their content. He wrote his first money-making code at age 9, shipping Minecraft mods that drew more than two million downloads, then designed the first version of Waveful at 16 with his older brother Dennis. By 2025 Waveful had crossed four million users, surpassed $1M in in-app purchases, and became one of the most downloaded social apps of the year. He was the youngest founder in his a16z Speedrun batch and closed a $2.1M seed round in September 2025.
Tom Hammer
Tom Hammer is a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz where he leads People Practices for a16z speedrun, the firm's early-stage accelerator investing up to $1M in pre-seed startups. A veteran people operator who has scaled teams at Riot Games and Bird Rides, Tom coaches founders on talent strategy, organizational design, and building high-performance cultures from day one. He is known for his direct, founder-first approach and his belief that strong hiring is the single greatest lever a startup has.
Troy Kirwin
Troy Kirwin is an Investment Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Cohort Lead for a16z speedrun, the firm's pre-seed accelerator program. A native New Yorker now based in San Francisco, he focuses on B2B AI and creative tech - including next-gen storytelling and design tools, marketing technology, 3D simulations, and vertical AI agents. Before a16z, he spent roughly 4.5 years as a Senior Manager at Unity Technologies, where he orchestrated over 20 acquisitions including Parsec and IronSource. He started his career as an investment banking analyst at Jefferies covering media and tech clients. His portfolio includes K-ID, Hedra, Backflip, Nunu.ai, and a dozen more.
Viren Tellis
Viren Tellis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Uthana, a generative AI platform for 3D character animation backed by A16Z Speedrun and IA Ventures. A serial entrepreneur who started with a Quiznos franchise in his early 20s, pivoted through ad-tech at AppNexus (now Xandr), built the philanthropy platform Hedado, and now scouts early-stage startups for Andreessen Horowitz's speedrun accelerator while building the AI infrastructure for lifelike human motion in games and animation.