Sign at office park for venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, Menlo Park, California, including … More
Venture capital isn’t dying. It’s evolving. Fast. What was once a high-risk, high-reward game of early-stage bets and long-shot unicorns is shifting into something more calculated and far more powerful. Today’s leading firms are no longer just hunting for the next breakout founder. They’re building empires. From Lightspeed to Thrive Capital to Sequoia, some of the biggest names in venture are quietly transforming into full-scale investment machines. They are adopting private equity playbooks, expanding into secondaries, launching evergreen funds, and acquiring real-world businesses. And with every move, they are redrawing the lines between venture capital, private equity, and institutional asset management.
Lightspeed’s decision to register as a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) marked a turning point. Under this structure, firms are no longer bound by the typical 20 percent cap on non-qualifying investments, which traditionally limited their ability to buy secondary shares, acquire public equities, or execute private equity-style buyouts. Now they can hold long-term positions, operate across asset classes, and pursue liquidity outside of IPOs or acquisitions. In short, they can act more like Blackstone with a product team. This model is already playing out. Andreessen Horowitz became an RIA in 2019, unlocking the flexibility to expand into crypto, wealth management, and late-stage investing. Sequoia reorganized its entire firm around a single evergreen structure. Thrive Capital raised a $1 billion vehicle to build and buy companies outright. And General Catalyst went even further, acquiring a hospital system and rebranding itself as a transformation company.
This evolution has created a new kind of problem: liquidity. As firms shift toward long-term ownership and private equity-style operations, they are encountering the same issue the traditional VC model faced: how to generate returns in a world where IPOs are scarce and acquisitions take time. The difference now is scale. Startups are staying private longer, valuations are ballooning, and secondary markets are expanding to fill the gap. In 2012, the secondary market for private shares was around $25 billion. This year, it is expected to surpass $100 billion dollars. Firms like Lightspeed are hiring Wall Street talent specifically to lead their secondary strategies. The message is clear: liquidity is no longer a hopeful outcome. It is an infrastructure layer. And the current system was not built for this level of demand.
This is where tokenization starts to make sense. If venture capital is now operating on private equity timelines, with evergreen funds, secondaries, and long-term control strategies, then it also needs new tools for liquidity, ownership, and transparency. Tokenized equity and on-chain cap tables offer the kind of flexibility that traditional structures struggle to provide. They allow firms to fractionalize ownership, create programmable vesting, and potentially unlock liquidity without waiting on a public exit. For employees and early investors, this could mean access to a real-time secondary market. For firms, it creates a new channel to manage positions, price discovery, and long-tail ownership. It is not about replacing existing infrastructure. It is about finally updating it to match the speed and complexity of what modern venture firms are becoming.
Andreessen Horowitz may have been early to crypto, but their strategy looks increasingly prescient. When the firm became an RIA in 2019, it didn’t just give them flexibility. It gave them an edge. Through a16z Crypto, they have actively shaped token networks, held governance power, and designed liquidity pathways that do not rely on IPOs or acquisitions. In many ways, their crypto playbook mirrors what the broader venture world is now trying to do: gain long-term control, operate like a platform, and unlock value through more dynamic ownership structures. Tokens are not a workaround. They are a faster, programmable version of the same ownership evolution that is now redefining venture capital.
The shift toward tokenization is not just about liquidity. It is about aligning the infrastructure with the internet economy. In Web2, platforms like Shopify and Stripe created programmable business primitives that unlocked a wave of entrepreneurship. In Web3, tokenized assets and on-chain governance offer similar flexibility, but for ownership itself. Venture firms embracing these tools are not abandoning traditional finance. They are extending it. Just as software ate the world, programmable ownership may be what transforms private markets next.
Of course, the path to tokenized ownership is not frictionless. Regulatory clarity around securities, custody, and secondary trading is still evolving. Most firms are moving cautiously, aware that the infrastructure is ahead of the rules. But the momentum is hard to ignore. As more capital flows into illiquid assets, and as more firms seek flexible, tech-enabled structures, the pressure to modernize regulation will only grow.
The lines between venture capital, private equity, and digital assets are blurring. What began as a workaround for slow IPO markets is becoming a reimagining of ownership itself. The next generation of firms will not be defined by what stage they invest in, but by how they manage, hold, and unlock value across time. Whether it comes in the form of tokens, secondaries, or something entirely new, one thing is clear: the future of capital is not just about access. It is about architecture.
