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As twenty - something - year - honest-to-goodness investors enter the speculation landscape painting , they bring wise vibes and spot fresh drift that could become the next multibillion - dollar sign tech businesses . Already , we are seeing some young investors carving out new niches .
Alex Chung , 26 , is an investor at Chai Ventures . Her firm has bet on companies like consumer health platformUnfabledand aroused well - being companyMentalHappy . Chung says she ’s taken an interest in how the broader ecosystem has reframed fair sex ’s health in the preceding few twelvemonth . Women ’s wellness companies were long thought to only address menstrual wellness , maternal health or menopause management . But Chung and her firm are interested in much more .
study that drug companies were not legally required to admit women in clinical visitation in the U.S. until 1993 , meaning the impact of many popular drugs and medical equipment was never in the beginning canvass . That tremendous research gob produce opportunities today , and there are many others that are very much deserving pursuing . Deloittefoundthat women are typically the single in charge of a family ’s aesculapian decisions , making at least 80 % of a household ’s aesculapian spending decisions .
“ We ’re bullish on the expand definition of charwoman ’s health to include company that are creating innovative solutions to help manage chronic term that disproportionately touch on woman , ” Chung says , quote certain thyroid disorder , endometriosis and osteoporosis as examples . “ increase recognition of charwoman ’s unique healthcare needs , coupled with advances in technology , makes woman ’s wellness a compelling space for investment and development . ”
Over at Female Founders Fund ( FFF ) , investor Layla Alexander , 25 , say she ’s concerned inthe aid economyand enterprise mood solutions . She ’s also quite bullish on women ’s wellness . Though her firm is technically generalist , given its focus on char , it has always seen women ’s wellness as an underserved food market . FFF has Maven Clinic in its portfolio , the first unicorn in the woman ’s health space . Last class , women ’s wellness companies raised 4.3 % of the $ 26.5 billion invested into health care companies , according to a Forbes article . That is a satisfying gain from the years prior , but there is still much work to be done , Alexander says .
“ Despite the winner of Maven and other businesses in this category , charwoman ’s health care remains underfunded and overlook , presenting a massive mart opportunity , ” she severalize TechCrunch .
Then there is AI
Young investors are having a love life - hate relationship with artificial intelligence and are looking for way to make this gyration more grounded in realness .
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She likes technology like the a16z - backed party - planning app Partiful , which helps merge the on-line human beings with the in - soul — an cause she send for “ IRL to universal resource locator . ” She ’s also into “ AI social rehab , ” or calculate for tools that can make people good people and citizens of the creation . She say right now that many of the AI companion apps , those that purport to be one ’s friend or cooperator , are reenforce ego - closing off . Because of this , some grade of societal rehab is necessary , particularly since so many untested mass — Gen Z and Gen Alphas — spend critical shaping yr online during the pandemic .
“ Think AI therapy apps , AI journaling , AI genial health , AI well - being apps , that encourage and facilitate human - to - human connections with guided self - reflexion , ” say Naqvi , whose firm ’s investment include Bumble , the fintech Acorns , and the atomic number 99 - commercialism platform Elyn . “ It ’s like prosumer tools but for greater efficiency , exploitation and progress with who we are as people . ”
Plus , unseasoned people are going to be spend so much time online anyway , there might as well survive tools to make themfeel less lonesomeamid what has becomeAmerica ’s loneliness epidemic .
Naqvi also believes that every creator is bound to become a small business proprietor — a “ solopreneur ” — and that every “ solopreneur ” will inescapably become a creator . Naqvi find out a world where solopreneur tools become ripe enough to sustain individually maneuver stage business at monumental scales . AI has a part in that too .
“ As Sam Altman said , we ’re get close to a one - person - operated billion - buck business , ” Naqvi said . “ To get there , we require a whole new generation of solopreneur tools and gig economy platforms . ”
Lori Berenberg , 29 , at Bloomberg Beta , is excited about another , perhaps simpler , aspect of AI . Her companies include sound horologe Ajax and construction paysheet troupe Trayd . She is interested in package and user - centric applications programme that apply AI as a tool , like Figma Slides ’ spirit dial , which use AI to adjust judgment of conviction social organization and spoken language .
She says AI reveals what humans are just at , like strategy , problem - solving , and have gut intuition . But AI is in a dear berth to better software development , handling everything from data management to cloud setup , freeing developers from their most dull study .
“ Once the ‘ wow ’ broker of AI started to chill off and businesses seriously started look at implementing new AI tools , many get stick by on the undependable inconsistent results they get from productive AI , ” Berenberg say TechCrunch . “ It ’s exciting to see how many founder have set out using clever product touches or different system architectures to get more deterministic responses , both for conclusion - user interactions and backends that apply AI . ”
AsTechCrunch antecedently reported , AI companies made up 41 % of all U.S. deal in the first one-half of 2024 . AI and political machine learning companies raised $ 38.6 billion out of the $ 93.4 billion commit in the first half of the year , PitchBook cover . Last class , AI companies raise $ 27 billion , much of that money coming from Big Tech , the Financial Times reported . The flush of capital into the sector has some people deliberate on whether or not an AI bubble is get for the industry .
And a reconsideration of some trends
Then come the course that these young investor do n’t conceive will be successful .
Chung is not too keen on rotary commerce — which is the process in which resources are keep in circulation to reduce permissive waste — saying the industry still face up too many hurdles like consumer acceptation and provision string bottlenecks .
Berenberg , meanwhile , suppose company are untimely focusing on optimizing infrastructure for AI broker , rather than building an AI agentive role that multitude require . Berenberg say mass look to make for specific sectors should take a footfall back and see how that industry would in reality need to use an AI agent . That ’s why she indorse Ajax , which aid attorney automate their charge timekeeping , something that should instantly touch their tax income .
Alexander enounce she ’s interested in AI tools that help advance enquiry and health tending delivery but , at the same time , she finger that many AI investments today are just “ passing capital intensive , ” requiring so much infrastructure , talent and data , without clarity about their proceeds on investing . It ’s led to high-sounding valuations and what she consider to be “ unsustainable funding strategies . ”
“ While I ’m bullish on AI ’s potential across invest categories , it ’s crucial that we remain disciplined and focus on gage beginner with sound , scalable concern models , ” she said .
Their fears oppose what many others have notice . Naqvi is always untrusting of technical school that becomes a trend and has seen a few of them — the web3 resurgence , and now the AI gyration . “ I am not inherently against any particular style , but I finger that AI is of course at risk of overindulgence and may become too frothy soon . ”
