Business Blog: VCs’ AI wishes

The AI startups of VCs' dreams, from recruiting to an Nvidia alternative

July 2, 2024

In Disney's Aladdin, the genie (voiced by Robin Williams) very memorably describes the paradox that defines his life: "Phenomenal cosmic power! Itty bitty living space."

It's a paradox that could be said to apply to VCs and AI too. Artificial intelligence is often described as a generationally-transformational technology with seemingly endless applications. And yet the pitch decks that startups present to VC investors day after day have a certain repetitiveness to them.

Of course, the best ideas are often founder-driven––but the Fortune team and I have been wondering: What AI startups would VCs love to see founders launch? What are they hoping someone walks through the door with? What's on their AI wishlist?

VCs aren't necessarily in the business of predicting the future—but they certainly are in the business of backing it. I ultimately got in touch with nine VCs for this story, and pretty much started every conversation by running this thought by them: This project isn't prescriptive. (I thought a lot about the ethos of Y Combinator's Request For Startups as I was doing this.)

The hope is that these ideas just might be a springboard for someone at a transitional time within the AI boom.

"I think if we had that conversation six months ago, we would have had a less of an understanding of what these systems can do, and so been much more keen to apply it across many more horizontal backgrounds," said Theory Ventures general partner Tomasz Tunguz.

The earliest days of AI are behind us––but that doesn't mean we've made it all that far just yet.

"I would say we're in the late part of the first quarter, or maybe the early third inning," said James Currier, NFX founding partner. "We're still waiting for that phase, right? Uber came out, what? Two and a half, three years after the mobile phone arrived. It just took about that long for people to really start thinking, 'Wait a minute, everything can change.'"

I'm not a genie, so I can't grant wishes. But I can certainly collect wishes. And who knows, maybe some enterprising founder out there can make them come true.

Read the whole story here.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.

VENTURE DEALS

- K Health, a New York City-based AI-powered primary care platform, raised $50 million in funding. Claure Group led the round and was joined by existing investors Mangrove Capital Partners, Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and others.

- Prodia, an Atlanta, Ga.-based developer of AI-powered image generation software for app integration, raised $15 million in seed funding. Dragonfly Capital led the round and was joined by HashKey, Web3.com, Index Ventures, Symbolic Capital, and others.

- Kanvas Biosciences, a Monmouth Junction, N.J.-based drug screening, discovery, and manufacturing platform, raised $12.5 million in funding. Existing investors DCVC and Lions Capital led the round and were joined by FemHealth Ventures, Germin8, Ki Tua Fund, Pangaea Ventures, and existing investors.

- Vaire Computing, a London, U.K. and Seattle, Wash.-based producer of near zero-energy silicon chips, raised $4 million in seed funding. 7percent Ventures and Jude Gomila led the round and were joined by others.

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PRIVATE EQUITY

- BlackRock (NYSE: BLK) agreed to acquire Preqin, a London, U.K.-based private markets data platform, for approximately $3.2 billion in cash.

- American Industrial Partners acquired a majority stake in Austin Powder, a Cleveland, Ohio-based provider of industrial explosives and other blasting solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Clearlake Capital Group acquired a minority stake in Aptean, an Alpharetta, Georgia-based provider of resource planning and supply chain software. Financial terms were not disclosed.

- Park Square Capital acquired a minority stake in Togetherwork, a Atlanta, Ga.-based provider of payments, management, and other software. Financial terms were not disclosed.

OTHER

- Taxfix Group agreed to acquire TaxScouts, a London, U.K.-based tax filing company. Financial terms were not disclosed.

FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS

- Ardian, a Paris, France-based private equity firm, raised $3.2 billion for its sixth co-investment fund focused on minority investments.

- Lee Equity Partners, a New York City-based private equity firm, raised approximately $1.3 billion for its fourth fund focused on health care and financial services companies.

PEOPLE

- DeepWork Capital, an Orlando, Fla.-based venture capital firm, promoted Ken Hall to partner.

- SeventySix Capital, a King of Prussia, Pa.-based venture capital firm, hired Carlos Silva as a partner. Formerly, he served as chief executive officer of C360.