Silicon squeeze
The AI boom is reshaping venture capital, with massive Silicon Valley funding rounds leaving Australia’s smaller funds looking to find their own deep tech edge.
If there’s one leading indicator for how artificial intelligence could shape our economy, look no further than the VC world, which is currently doing its very best to manage and respond to the eye-popping economics of the boom.
Peter Walker, who heads insights at US equity management company Carta, told Capital Brief while in town for SXSW Sydney that multiple AI startups on its platform had raised seed rounds of over $100 million.
That’s a substantial amount of dosh for a funding round that once meant throwing a relatively modest sum at a team to see if their idea worked.
As Bronwen Clune reported, this presents unique challenges for Australia. When Silicon Valley funds are deploying more capital in a single seed round than some entire Australian VC funds deploy in a year, the problem for the local ecosystem becomes clear.
