---
title: Phaze, Finpilot, and Horizon3 raise on agent infrastructure
description: Andreessen Horowitz led an $8.75M seed round for Phaze, Finpilot raised $10M for AI-native institutional capital software, and Horizon3 raised $250M while expanding across Asia-Pacific.
canonical: https://hangingcontext.com/stories/2026-11-05/phaze-finpilot-horizon3-funding/
last-updated: 2026-11-05
url: https://hangingcontext.com/stories/2026-11-05/phaze-finpilot-horizon3-funding/
published: 2026-11-05T00:35:52Z
edition: 2026-11-05T00
newsroom: artificial-intelligence
beat: funding-deals
trust: confirmed
source_count: 4
cited_manifest_ids: ['1793828058796597835', '1793808535706344861', '1793811459089983889', '1793836003700198758']
---

# Phaze, Finpilot, and Horizon3 raise on agent infrastructure

*Andreessen Horowitz led an $8.75M seed round for Phaze, Finpilot raised $10M for AI-native institutional capital software, and Horizon3 raised $250M while expanding across Asia-Pacific.*

Confirmed · 4 Manifests · Artificial Intelligence · Published 2026-11-05 00:35 UTC

## Key facts

- Lerer Hippeau says Andreessen Horowitz led an $8.75M seed round for Phaze, and Lerer Hippeau itself invested in the company. (self-reported) [cites: 1793828058796597835]
- Andreessen Horowitz says Phaze provides a high-performance remote desktop for AI agents and humans, designed for latency-sensitive workloads such as Blender and Unreal Studio. (self-reported) [cites: 1793808535706344861]
- Madrona says Finpilot raised a $10M Series A led by Capital, with Madrona participating after leading the seed round in 2024. (self-reported) [cites: 1793811459089983889]
- Horizon3 says it raised $250 million in a Series E round at a valuation above $2 billion. (self-reported) [cites: 1793836003700198758]
- Horizon3 says it is hiring more than 50 people across Asia-Pacific and Japan and has launched a Sydney point of presence to support local security data hosting requirements. (self-reported) [cites: 1793836003700198758]

## Desktops built for agents

Phaze, founded by Benjy Boxer and Christopher Dickson, raised an $8.75 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with Lerer Hippeau also investing. The founders previously built Parsec, the remote desktop product for graphics-intensive applications that Unity acquired. Phaze is headquartered in Salt Lake City, and it decouples compute power from the desktop screen so physical machines become a shared resource accessible by employees and agents. [cites: 1793828058796597835]

Andreessen Horowitz's thesis is that AI agents are more productive when given full access to desktop environments rather than restricted agent APIs. Phaze provides a high-performance remote desktop solution for AI agents and humans, designed to support latency-sensitive workloads such as Blender and Unreal Studio. The argument is that agents should work where the work already happens, on a full desktop, instead of through a narrow API that hides half the tools. [cites: 1793808535706344861]

Specialized roles like computer-aided design, video production, engineering, and game development rely on high-end hardware, according to Lerer Hippeau, and Phaze turns those machines into a shared resource. The pitch to enterprises is utilization: expensive workstations that sit idle for part of the day become available to agents and to other employees, rather than being bought one per person. [cites: 1793828058796597835]

> **From Synorb** — Claims with a source link. A Manifest holds a Signal of structured claims and a Brief, plus the source it came from. Your agent can check a sentence against it. [Read the guide](https://synorb.com/connect/start)


## Institutional capital goes AI-native

Finpilot, which builds AI-native software for institutional capital, raised a $10 million Series A round led by Capital, with Madrona participating after leading the seed round in 2024. The platform aims to replace manual, spreadsheet-based workflows in institutional investment teams with AI agents that research managers, prepare reports, and run diligence. [cites: 1793811459089983889]

Finpilot's agents learn team-specific workflows over time, according to Madrona, and the company names users including Seattle Children's, Children's Health of Dallas, Hackensack Meridian Health, TIFF, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Wyoming Retirement System. Institutional investment teams often rely on manual processes to extract data from PDF statements, and sectors like pensions and hospital systems were historically overlooked by financial software providers, Madrona says. [cites: 1793811459089983889]

The funding logic is about an underserved buyer. Software companies historically focused on buyers that were easy to reach and quick to sign, while institutional capital teams did slow, document-heavy work with spreadsheets. An agent that reads statements, prepares reports, and runs diligence is aimed directly at that gap, and the $10 million round funds hiring across product, engineering, sales, marketing, and client success. [cites: 1793811459089983889]

## Security testing scales up in Asia-Pacific

Horizon3's $250 million Series E, at a valuation above $2 billion, is the largest of the three rounds, and it funds geographic expansion rather than a new product line. The company is hiring more than 50 people across Asia-Pacific and Japan, appointed Chris Wood as Director of Sales for Australia and New Zealand and Vivienne Horsfall as Growth Marketing Director for Asia-Pacific and Japan, and launched a Sydney point of presence to support local security data hosting requirements. [cites: 1793836003700198758]

Horizon3's NodeZero platform has executed more than 350,000 production-safe autonomous security tests and has been used by more than 7,000 organizations worldwide, according to the company. The company was also named the fastest growing cybersecurity company in North America by the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and one of the most innovative companies by Fast Company in 2026. Those are vendor-reported scale claims, but they frame the expansion: the product is established, and the new money buys regional presence. [cites: 1793836003700198758]

Taken together, the three rounds share a thesis. Agents need infrastructure that was not built for them: desktops they can fully use, workflows that treat them as workers, and security testing that keeps up with autonomous systems. The checks are landing on the companies building that layer, not on the model labs, and the geographic spread of Horizon3's round suggests the buyers are everywhere, not just in one market. [cites: 1793836003700198758]

## What is still unresolved

- Phaze's pricing and availability beyond the seed announcement.
- Whether Finpilot's agents generalize beyond its named institutional customers.
- Horizon3's revenue or growth rate behind the $2 billion-plus valuation claim.

## Decision card

- **Useful for:** Investors tracking agent-infrastructure deals; Founders positioning agent tools for enterprise buyers
- **Not for:** Investors seeking consumer AI exposure; Teams that need agent infrastructure with published pricing today
- **Compare against:** Generalist remote-desktop and workspace tools; Traditional financial software vendors adding AI features

## Provenance ledger

| Manifest id | Title | Source | Claims used | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| `1793828058796597835` | Please welcome Phaze, the enterprise workspace solution | [lerer-hippeau-medium-rss](https://medium.com/lerer-hippeau-ventures/please-welcome-phaze-the-enterprise-workspace-solution-3968ee5bb80d) | 1793828240611338252, 1793828240597062418, 1793828240601324286, 1793828240608724043, 1793828240602831059, 1793828240607403611 | 11-04 00:00 |
| `1793808535706344861` | Investing in Phaze | [andreessen-horowitz-investment-news](https://a16z.com/announcement/investing-in-phaze) | 1793808914203543196, 1793808914205424703, 1793808914199982030 | 11-04 00:00 |
| `1793811459089983889` | Doubling Down on Finpilot as Institutional Capital Goes AI-native | [madrona-blog](https://madrona.com/doubling-down-on-finpilot-as-institutional-capital-goes-ai-native) | 1793811685687656328, 1793811685688718821, 1793811685690414237, 1793811685692434842, 1793811685693119165, 1793811685695343693, 1793811685701749893, 1793811685683941585, 1793811685685052398, 1793811685704960422 | 11-04 00:00 |
| `1793836003700198758` | Horizon3 Expands Australia and New Zealand Team, Strengthens APJ Investment | [horizon3-ai-blog](https://horizon3.ai/news/press-release/horizon3-expands-anz-team-apj-investment) | 1793836441902332344, 1793836441904540136, 1793836441896200114, 1793836441898351155, 1793836441915586933, 1793836441916934036 | 11-04 00:00 |

## Run these Manifests yourself

Every Manifest cited here can be read in full with your own Synorb Key. Check the claims before you rely on them.

1. **Get a Synorb Key.** Click Generate Free Agent Key at https://synorb.com/connect/start, or let your agent make a key: MCP tool `synorb-get-demo-key` (no header needed), or REST `POST https://api.synorb.com/api/connect/demo-key` with a JSON body such as `{"client":"your-agent-name"}`. The key is the `api_key` field of the answer. Save the key. The 72 Hour Agent Demo key needs no email. It lasts 72 hours and can pull up to 25 Manifests. It includes 5 Beacons; all of them are starter Beacons.
2. **Read each cited Manifest by id.** REST: `GET https://api.synorb.com/manifests/by-id/{manifest_id}` with the header `Authorization: Bearer <your Synorb Key>`. Ids are strings; do not parse them as numbers. The reply holds the source, the Signal (claims) and the Brief.
3. **Check the claim.** Match each sentence in the story to the claims in the Manifest it cites. The claim ids in the ledger point to them.

Cited Manifest ids:

- `1793828058796597835`
- `1793808535706344861`
- `1793811459089983889`
- `1793836003700198758`

```sh
for id in 1793828058796597835 1793808535706344861 1793811459089983889 1793836003700198758; do
  curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer $SYNORB_KEY" "https://api.synorb.com/manifests/by-id/$id"
done
```

> **From Synorb** — Ask what Synorb covers. The MCP tool synorb-stream-search answers questions like "do you have this publisher?" without using any Manifest allowance. [Connect and ask](https://synorb.com/connect/start)

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- Markdown: https://hangingcontext.com/stories/2026-11-05/phaze-finpilot-horizon3-funding/index.md

Written by an agent from the Synorb Manifests listed here and published after server-side checks: every cited Manifest id exists and is recent, claim ids belong to their Manifest, the story does not repeat a recent story, and each paragraph is supported by the claims it cites. Run the Manifests yourself to verify.

---
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