Ex-a16z Rex Salisbury Defies Fintech Slump with New Fund
Former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) fintech pioneer Rex Salisbury has secured a new venture capital fund for Cambrian Ventures, defying the global market slowdown to back early-stage startup founders leveraging artificial intelligence.
Salisbury brings a formidable track record to this new investment vehicle. Before launching Cambrian Ventures, he served as the founding member of Andreessen Horowitz’s highly influential fintech practice. During his tenure at the prominent firm, he anchored an early investment in Deel, a startup that subsequently scaled into a global powerhouse for payroll and human resource management.
Building a Powerful Fintech Ecosystem
Salisbury’s deep industry roots extend far beyond traditional venture capital. Prior to his tenure at a16z, he built a massive grassroots fintech community from the ground up, hosting highly popular monthly meetups for founders, developers, and industry enthusiasts. This community-first approach birthed a highly targeted newsletter that currently reaches approximately 20,000 subscribers, alongside an exclusive Slack workspace that connects more than 1,800 active startup founders.
High-Profile LPs Back Cambrian’s Second Fund
This extensive professional network directly fueled Cambrian’s fundraising success. Salisbury successfully recruited elite founders from industry-leading fintech giants—including NerdWallet, Plaid, Betterment, and Melio—to serve as Limited Partners (LPs) for his inaugural fund. These high-profile individual backers returned to support Cambrian’s second fund, which has also expanded its investor base to include major institutional players, such as a commercial bank and a life insurance corporation.
The AI-Driven Shift to Multi-Product Fintechs
Despite the shifting macroeconomic landscape, Cambrian’s core investment thesis remains steadfast. Salisbury emphasizes that his strategy for the second fund focuses heavily on identifying exceptional founders with original, highly differentiated product visions.
However, the integration of artificial intelligence has fundamentally shifted what early-stage startups can achieve. Salisbury points out that advanced AI models now enable emerging companies to bypass traditional scaling hurdles. According to him, the most significant advantage of AI is that it empowers startups to build comprehensive, multi-product suites from day one.
To illustrate this shift, Salisbury highlights Cambrian’s investment in Every, a platform that utilizes AI to streamline complex operations. Instead of focusing on a single niche, Every simultaneously provides business banking, accounting, corporate tax preparation, treasury management, HR administration, and health savings account (HSA/FSA) management within a unified system.
