Do You Have to Build AI to Raise VC Money Today

Do you 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗼 build an AI startup in order to raise VC money?

True, AI startups have come to dominate specific portions of the startup landscape. But the diffusion into all startup sectors is happening at different paces.

Data here looks at 23,680 startups that raised rounds of $250K-$5M. So these are pre-seed to seed businesses raising on post-money SAFEs.

In the core SaaS cohort, AI startups now make up 63% of the rounds raised (and more of the cash). If you're building a software company in marketing, sales, devtools, etc etc etc - AI is the game.

Also true for Edtech businesses, where we again see over 60% of rounds going to AI startups.

Fintech and Hardware are adopting AI perhaps slightly more slowly at the earliest stages, with ~40% of the companies raising falling into the AI bucket.

But there are laggards. Medical Devices, Energy, Biotech - these fields are seeing less than 1 in 4 startups raising early capital classified as AI.

Kinda makes sense to see the more physical categories adopting AI less quickly. But also points out just how much more room there is to run in these sectors over the coming 18 months or so.