Raj Kanodia

The next phase of AI will not be defined by better models or better demos, but by systems that turn intelligence into real-world execution. Yesterday, our Founder and Managing Director, Sheila Gulati, was pleased to share her insights on Bloomberg’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 with TV anchors Romaine Bostick, CFA and Katie Greifeld.    Here are three takeaways from the conversation: - We are going through an evolution of enterprise AI strategy across copilot, agentic, and collaborative modes. Applications need to work in each of these modalities to enable enterprise work to happen.  - As systems of records become decision systems, historical IT systems are becoming more intelligent. Natural language interfaces are replacing complex traditional interfaces. New data ontologies are enabling better data manipulation.  - We are in a “tale of two cities” SaaS valuation environment. There are high valuations for companies with AI strategy and fast product velocity. There are also struggling SaaS businesses without clear AI transition plans.    📺 Tune in to the replay. Check the comments for the video link!

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Great conversations at our WillowTree Ventures dinner with leaders across fintech and AI. A few themes stood out strongly: enterprises are leaning into AI for real efficiency gains, product and engineering orgs still set the agenda, and the whitespace in “boring” industries is wider than most people assume. It’s clear that the next breakout companies in AI for financial services won’t come from the obvious places. Thanks to everyone who joined - excited to keep working alongside founders building in these non-obvious, high-impact wedges.

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🔍 Here’s a hard truth: even in today’s high-tech world, many countries and communities still lack reliable access to basic needs like electricity, clean water, and safe housing. 🌎 A major reason is our rapidly dwindling resources — particularly rare earth minerals and metals — which are essential to building the infrastructure needed to deliver vital services to underserved regions. Their scarcity is becoming a serious global concern. ⚡ Founded in 2018 by Sahil Tapiawala (CEO) and Ravi Kumar (CTO), deep tech company Atomionics is driving change through breakthrough quantum gravimetry — mapping the Earth’s subsurface with a level of precision and speed previously unimaginable. In the next three to five years, Atomionics aims to deliver a virtually complete global map of critical minerals and help solve the supply crunch once and for all. 🔗 Read the full story here: https://lnkd.in/gBeRpwhB

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In Part Two of their conversation about venture’s AI opportunity, Benchmark General Partner Chetan Puttagunta and Adams Street Partner & Global Head of Fund Investments Brijesh Jeevarathnam explore the technology powering a potential $1 trillion-plus transformation, from foundational models to the next wave of AI applications, and where Benchmark is placing its bets. Watch Part Two of their conversation: https://lnkd.in/gmxxNJnc #AI

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We are incredibly proud to announce that ARC Capital Management's Co-Founder, Haroon Chohan, has been appointed to the Advisory Council at the Cornell Praxis Center for Venture Development.   At ARC Capital, our core conviction is that the most critical advancements in the AI value chain, from next-generation quantum interconnects to flexible-spectrum RF hardware and semiconductors are currently being developed inside the labs of elite engineering institutions.   This advisory role enables ARC Capital to actively mentor and support world-class technical founders at the absolute ground floor, helping them bridge the critical gap between academic breakthroughs and commercial scalability.   We look forward to working closely with the Praxis Center to build and fund the foundational infrastructure of the next computing era. Congratulations, Haroon!   #VentureCapital #DeepTech #ArtificialIntelligence #CornellUniversity #HardTech #Founders #ARCCapital  

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We talk a lot about building. Founders build companies. Engineers build products. But AI needs data centers, manufacturing needs factories, and none of that gets built without an actual construction site. TerraFirma is bringing a modern engineering approach to one of the world's largest and oldest industries: construction. Founded by former SpaceX engineers Noah S. and Noah McGuinness, the company builds robotic systems that work alongside experienced operators instead of replacing them. The result is that with TerraFirma's technology, one operator can do the work of several, with greater safety and at a lower cost. Ajay Agarwal knew early that TerraFirma approached construction differently. The founders first met as lab partners at Princeton, and that shared engineering mindset has carried through everything they have built since. That’s why we led their seed round in 2024. Today, we’re thrilled to see them announce a $115M Series A announcement, led by Kleiner Perkins. Here’s to TerraFirma for laying the foundation of what’s next. We're proud to continue building alongside them.

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Behind every investment is a common conviction: AI is driving the largest infrastructure transformation our industry has seen in decades. As AI infrastructure evolves, the lines between semiconductors, networking, interconnects, cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, and power continue to blur. Each layer influences the performance and scalability of the next, and that convergence continues to shape how we think about investing at Seligman Ventures. We're honored to see Umesh Padval and Seligman Ventures featured by Institutional Investor, who highlight our investment strategy, recent momentum, and focus on partnering with founders building the next generation of AI infrastructure. Thank you to Stephen Taub for the thoughtful feature: https://lnkd.in/eeS4Eqmf CC: Ashish Kakran Eddie Ackerman Paul Wick

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Peak XV’s Groww windfall is sending shockwaves through the venture capital world, effectively resetting the record books. The firm’s journey to this milestone has not been smooth. A high-profile split from Sequoia, clashes with founders, senior-level departures, and a more constrained capital environment all tested the firm’s resilience over the past few years. Yet, with Groww delivering an extraordinary return, Peak XV Partners appears to have turned a corner. This breakthrough not only vindicates the firm’s long-term strategy and investment acumen but also reestablishes its standing as a formidable force in the VC landscape, proving that patience, persistence, and careful judgment can yield historic outcomes. Read more at The Morning Context: https://lnkd.in/gqKD35pQ #PeakXV #Investment #VC #Split #Leadership #Returns #Groww #Pinelabs #IPO #VentureCapital #StartupInvesting #FinancialGrowth #MarketTrends #InvestmentStrategy #EquityInvestor #CapitalMarket #TechIPO #InvestmentLeadership #WealthCreation #Entrepreneurship

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We hosted our latest semi-annual Growth Tech Market Update last week, a private briefing for institutional investors. We are grateful for the record participation and the quality of the discussion, in the wake of an exciting time for technology investing and AI-related uncertainty, opportunities, and risks.   The session included a fireside chat with Vivienne Wei (COO, Unified Agentforce Platform, Salesforce) and Anant Kale (CEO, AppZen) on the evolution of AI at the application layer.   Among other topics, we discussed the impact of AI on the software industry. Our perspective: AI is Software and Software is AI. AI is augmenting what software vendors offer and their market opportunity, while also intensifying competition and driving greater differentiation across companies.    We have highlighted a few of the key takeaways below. Exciting times to be investing in Proven Growth and helping build technology companies. Francisco Alvarez-Demalde, Jeff Parks, Keith Janosky, Lara Phillips, Emily Rohrbach, Caitlin Mitchell, Anant Goel, Mariana Strficek

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