🚨 New from Elevation Capital: The State of AI in 2025!
Over the past 2 years, we have made 15+ investments AI-native companies - a lot of them building cross-border - spanning middleware/devtools, applied AI (vertical and prosumer apps) and AI services.
Back in Feb, we shared our evolving enterprise AI thesis. The pace of action has only increased since then and so has our pace of investing. I sat down with our AI practice to unpack what’s new, what’s real, what founders need to know right now.
Here’s what we are seeing on the ground:
➤ Many AI founders are selling into global markets from day one skipping India; Indian enterprise buyers must step up adoption
➤ The US-India corridor is the default operating model for world-class AI companies being built from India
➤ Agents have come of age, moving from auto-complete to auto-action. Buyers are actively demanding agentic workflows over RPA
➤ Voice AI is a massive unlock. It will likely be the primary AI interface for India. 40-50% of recent YC batches are voice AI companies
➤ Craft and adaptability are the new moats. PMF can evaporate in 5 weeks, not 5 years. Survival means constant re-validation
➤ While small teams can achieve incredible initial scale, enterprise sales still requires the full traditional playbook
➤ B2B go-to-market now looks like consumer marketing. It's about 'show, not tell', viral loops, and capturing attention in a crowded market
➤ Consolidation is happening incredibly early in the cycle. Big players are acquiring startups for their talent and UX differentiation
➤ While AI research talent may be Valley-centric, India has rich AI engineering talent
➤ Our biggest concern: labor displacement is happening faster than upskilling. AI forcing an adaptation in 3 years that previously took a whole generation
For the full deep dive, check out the podcast link in the comments below.