HOW TO RAISE MONEY IN AN AI-OBSESSED WORLD

If you're building an AI company, the fundraising rules have shifted. Here's what it takes to succeed.

- by AVLOK KOHLI, CEO of AngelList

We’re living through one of the biggest technology supercycles in history. Artificial intelligence isn’t just a new feature or platform—it’s a new substrate, the layer upon which the next generation of companies will be built. Think back to what AWS did for cloud computing. Suddenly, the world had on-demand compute, and that infrastructure change unleashed an entire generation of software companies. AI is that, but multiplied by a thousand. For the first time, human-level intelligence is available on demand, anywhere. Every product, every workflow, every industry will eventually rebuild

itself around that reality.

At the foundation layer, we have large model companies providing the “intelligence utility.” Above that, founders are racing to build the application layer—companies that leverage this new substrate to solve real problems. What’s fascinating is that every layer of this stack is advancing simultaneously. The infrastructure is evolving, the tooling is evolving, and even the act of shipping software is changing. We are in a feedback loop of accelerating capability.