Two years ago, AI companies could raise capital by leading with vision and impressive demos. Today, that narrative no longer works. Investors have shifted from betting on potential to demanding proof of real operational value.
This shift mirrors US economic data that suggests that AI is finally creating productivity improvements. In an article in the FT, Erik Brynjolfsson, director of Stanford University’s Digital Economy Lab, identifies a reduction in the number of jobs, yet robust GDP. Brynjolfsson writes “This decoupling — maintaining high output with significantly lower labour input — is the hallmark of productivity growth.”
Accordingly there is a recalibration in how AI companies are evaluated and funded. To understand this shift, I spoke with Patrice Mesnier, Founding Partner at Oldenburg Capital Partners, and Julio Martínez, CEO of Abacum, a financial planning and analysis platform that has raised significant venture capital (whom I have interviewed previously). Their perspectives reveal how the investment climate for AI has transformed and what separates companies that will survive from those that will quietly fade away.
