Enterprise capital agency Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has pushed again on native media studies suggesting it plans to open an workplace in India, with a common associate calling the protection “fully faux information.”

Earlier on Thursday, Indian media shops reported that a16z was making ready to ascertain a bodily presence within the nation by establishing an workplace in Bengaluru. The studies, which cited unnamed sources, additionally mentioned the agency was within the means of hiring an area associate.

Nonetheless, Anish Acharya, a Bay Space-based common associate at a16z who has spent the final six years with the agency, dismissed the studies. “As a lot as I am keen on India and the various spectacular founders+traders within the area, that is fully faux information!” he wrote on X.

When contacted, an a16z spokesperson confirmed Acharya’s assertion and referred to his publish.

The denial comes as a16z seems to be scaling again a few of its worldwide ambitions. Earlier this 12 months, the agency determined to shut down its London workplace — which opened in 2023 after the U.Ok. authorities reportedly spent 5 years attempting to woo the powerhouse agency, in accordance with the outlet Sifted. The closure got here simply 18 months after a16z arrange store, with the agency citing a shift in technique and extra favorable regulatory developments again house. The agency mentioned, nonetheless, that it might proceed to take a position internationally by distant groups and native networks. Stories later indicated that a number of of its scouts had been energetic throughout Europe.

To this point, India has not been a serious focus for a16z — in contrast to different U.S. enterprise corporations corresponding to Accel, Common Catalyst, and Lightspeed Enterprise Companions, which have made deep inroads into the market. The agency’s solely notable guess in India has been crypto alternate CoinSwitch, which it backed as a part of the corporate’s $260 million funding spherical in 2021.

Within the months that adopted, a16z was reportedly looking for to take a position about $500 million in Indian startups, although it has not made any main investments within the nation since.

As TechCrunch has beforehand famous, a16z co-founder and common associate Marc Andreessen delivered a chat at Stanford Graduate College of Enterprise a few years in the past, saying whereas it’s “extraordinarily tempting” to again startups in rising markets, it’s also difficult for a enterprise fund to broaden to extra nations. Enterprise capital is a “very hands-on means of understanding the folks you’re working with for each evaluating the corporate and work[ing] with the corporate,” he mentioned on the time.