At Disney AladdinThe Genie (voiced by Robin Williams) memorably describes the paradox that defines his life: “A phenomenal cosmic power! A tiny living space.”
It’s a paradox that could apply to venture capitalists as well as AI. AI is often described as a transformative technology from one generation to the next, with seemingly endless applications. And yet, there’s a certain repetitiveness to the pitch decks that startups present to venture capitalists day in and day out.
Of course, the best ideas are often those of the founders, but Fortune The team and I asked ourselves: What AI startups would venture capitalists like to see their founders launch? What do they hope someone walks through the door with? What do their AI wishes contain?
VCs aren’t necessarily in the business of predicting the future, but they’re certainly in the business of supporting it. I ended up reaching out to nine VCs for this article, and I started almost every conversation by pitching this idea: This project is not prescriptive. (I thought a lot about the ethics of Y Combinator’s startup ask while I was doing this.)
The hope is that these ideas can serve as a springboard for someone in a transitional era in the AI boom.
“I think if we had this conversation six months ago, we would have had a much lesser understanding of what these systems can do, and therefore would have been much more eager to apply it to much more horizontal contexts,” said Tomasz Tunguz, general partner at Theory Ventures.
The early days of AI are behind us, but that doesn’t mean we’ve made that much progress yet.
“I would say we’re at the end of the first quarter, or maybe the beginning of the third inning,” said James Currier, founding partner of NFX. “We’re still waiting for that phase, right? Uber came out, what? Two and a half, three years after the cell phone came out. It took about that long for people to really start saying, ‘Wait a minute, this is changing.’”
I’m not a genie, so I can’t grant wishes. But I can certainly collect wishes. And who knows, maybe an enterprising founder can make them come true.
Read the full story here.
See you tomorrow,
Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
E-mail: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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Joe Abrams curated the deals section of today’s newsletter.
BUSINESS IN SALES
– K Healtha New York-based AI-powered primary care platform, has raised $50 million in funding. Claure Group led the round and was joined by existing investors Mangrove Capital Partners, Equity Value The partners, Atreides Managementand others.
– Prodiaan Atlanta, Georgia-based developer of AI-powered image generation software for app integration, has raised $15 million in seed funding. Dragonfly Capital led the round and was joined by Sharp touch, Web3.com, Index Ventures, Symbolic capitaland others.
– Kanvas BiosciencesMonmouth Junction, New Jersey-based drug screening, discovery and manufacturing platform, has raised $12.5 million in funding. Existing investors DCVC And The capital of the Lions led the round and were joined by FemHealth Enterprises, Germin8, Ki Tua Fund, Pangaea Venturesand existing investors.
– Vaire Computer Sciencea London, UK and Seattle, Washington-based producer of near-zero energy silicon chips, has raised $4 million in seed funding. 7 percent venture capital And Jude Gomila They led the round and were joined by others.
CAPITAL INVESTMENT
– BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) agreed to acquire Preqina London, UK-based private markets data platform for approximately $3.2 billion in cash.
– American industrial partners acquired a majority stake in Austin Powdera Cleveland, Ohio-based provider of industrial explosives and other blasting solutions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Clearlake Capital Group acquired a minority stake in Apteanan Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of resource planning and supply chain software. Financial terms were not disclosed.
– Capital Park Square acquired a minority stake in Work togetheran Atlanta, Georgia-based provider of payments, management and other software. Financial terms were not disclosed.
OTHER
– Taxfix Group agreed to acquire The Tax Scoutsa tax reporting company based in London, UK. Financial terms were not disclosed.
FUNDS + FUNDS OF FUNDS
– Ardiana Paris, France-based private equity firm has raised $3.2 billion for its sixth co-investment fund focused on minority investments.
– Lee Equity Partnersa New York-based private equity firm, has raised approximately $1.3 billion for its fourth fund focused on healthcare and financial services companies.
PEOPLE
– DeepWork Capitalan Orlando, Florida-based venture capital firm has promoted Ken Hall to join.
– Seventy-six CapitalA King of Prussia, Pennsylvania-based venture capital firm has hired Carlos Silva as a partner. Previously, he was Managing Director of C360.
