Web Summit 2026: AI Boom Still Early, But Gold Rush Is Over
Web Summit 2026 made it clear that the AI investment landscape is moving past its gold rush phase and into an era of cautious recalibration.
Beneath the usual fervor, there was a notable shift from the broad “AI is big” sentiment to the specific investor need for quality.
Several announcements highlighted the forthcoming potential for massive mainstream adoption, and partnerships in innovation announcements from governments and academia in spaces including quantum computing, life science and cleantech secured the narrative of AI becoming increasingly embedded in everyday life.
That said, not every part of the stack is equally investable, and after years of exuberant spending, investors are looking for where the value will stick in a crowded market, and the market is demanding signs of real economics, not just narrative momentum.
Web Summit 2026’s venture conversations pointed to a market that is getting more disciplined, more specialized and less forgiving.
A more selective investment market
Across panels on the state of VC’s role in tech, the message was clear: there is still a huge opportunity in AI, but the market is becoming more selective, more specialized and more demanding of both investors and founders.
A common thread amongst panelists is that venture is becoming more specialized.
Joe Ross, a partner at Entrepreneur First, argued that the AI era has pushed growth investing and early-stage investing further apart, making it harder for large multi-stage firms to credibly do both well.
“When you think about the sort of capital-intensive rounds that folks like the LLM providers are raising … you can only really do that if you’re a large platform that has a ton of capital to deploy,” Ross said.
Panelists contrasted specialist seed firms with large growth platforms, suggesting that early-stage and later-stage companies are best served by different kinds of investors.
That also raised the question of what it takes to win funding now, especially as revenue expectations rise for AI-focused companies.
During a discussion that centered on the implications of mega seed rounds, Ross said he has seen seed rounds grow from around US$400 million to over US$2 million throughout his career.
“There’s a continued trend upwards,” he said. “Now, yes, we see one or two absolutely huge deals, but I think they are fairly unique. I think they are really based on a very specific team thesis for that. And I think that if you look in our portfolio historically over the last 10 years, the size of the round does not absolutely correlate with the eventual outcome.”
Catherine Ouellet-Dupuis, a general partner at White Star Capital, echoed the sentiment and noted that smaller rounds allow for flexibility and agility.
“I don’t know where the world will be in one year and two years from now, and the founders don’t know it either. So if you raise a lower valuation, then there’s more…
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