Investors are Supercharging AI Deals, But Where are the AI ‘Moon Shots’?
It’s nearly impossible to ignore the fund-raising power AI companies now command. Pitchbook recently reported that OpenAI now adds more than $1 billion to its daily valuation. Meanwhile, artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic raised more than $7 billion in less than 12 months.
According to The New York Times, these kinds of rapid-fire, high-dollar deals may well be the norm going forward — at least when artificial intelligence is involved. Because investors have such a voracious appetite for all things AI, the process by which AI-adjacent startups raise money has been completely upended, especially in Silicon Valley.
Where promising startups once participated in relatively modest funding rounds, “every 15 months or so,” that all changed around 2022 when generative AI emerged, says The Times. Since then, “the rule book has been thrown out as investors have fought for a piece of the hottest developers.” Anthropic serves as an example of this new, aggressive deal-making process in action.
Early on, Anthropic raised $580 million and much of that money, according to The NYT, came courtesy of Sam Bankman-Fried, the now disgraced founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. When FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2022, the future of Anthropic appeared murky, but that all changed after OpenAI introduced ChatGPT, says The Times.
When it was discovered that the talent behind ChatGPT was also involved in the launch of Anthropic, both Google and Amazon made sizable bets on the fledgling company. The NYT reports that Amazon was especially keen on Anthropic, investing up to $4 billion, so it could deploy Anthropic’s AI chatbot into its services.
AI’s Deeper Potential
Under the Amazon arrangement, not only will Anthropic help advance Amazon’s chatbots, but it will also help bolster Amazon’s bottom line. As mutually beneficial as this may sound, the World Economic Forum (WEF) reminds us that chatbots and big cash rewards represent only a small sampling of the world-changing potential AI offers.
“AI’s transformative power extends far beyond chatbots and virtual assistants,” says the WEF. “It holds the key to solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Yet, our collective focus remains narrow, fixated on generative AI’s immediate conveniences rather than its deeper potential to reshape entire industries and societies.”
Lost in the “media hype” surrounding AI innovation, according to the WEF, is a focus on how organizations and government agencies could deploy “AI where it matters most – in solving global challenges such as climate change and healthcare, which exceed human capacity alone. While the technology exists to address many – perhaps all – of these challenges, its potential is not being explored.”
Instead, opines the WEF, organizations focus on relatively small-scale AI solutions, instead of “moon shots.”
What potential transformations are we missing out on because of our focus on fast rewards? One example, says the WEF, is how AI could supercharge the healthcare industry by reducing staff workload, improving diagnoses and decision-making, fast-tracking drug development and customizing patient treatment.
None of these improvements require AI to make people obsolete, as some fear. Instead, AI could be used to enhance healthcare by providing employees with more efficiencies, enabling them to better care for patients.
Naturally, companies are eager to invest in and leverage AI to improve their profitability. But organizations need to move beyond short-sighted, profit-first thinking. They must commit to an R&D strategy that ensures an equal amount of resources are devoted to using AI to solve real-world problems and help incubate a better tomorrow.
Next Steps
AI is only one of many technologies that has captured the imagination of next-generation investors.
If you’re a family office executive, wealth manager, or financial advisor, you should know what younger investors are looking for when seeking guidance from investment professionals.
Read The State of Play for Family Offices, 2025, a complimentary eBook from Avestix that provides insights into how to connect with next-gen investors.
