2025 VC Investment Activities: A Sorting Year, Not a Breakthrough Year

2025 venture capital is a year of realism—not hype. At WeShine’s December event, we brought together 30+ investors and 40+ startup teams for a highly curated VC panel discussion and startup showcase.

Across the panel, there was strong alignment around one theme: while AI deal flow remains high, conviction is lower. Capital is becoming more selective, differentiation is harder, and fundamentals matter more than storytelling.

Here’s how investors framed 2025:

Alex Marquez (Global Head of Experian Ventures)

2025 marks a valuation correction. AI wrappers are no longer investable, while AI-native companies—especially in fraud, compliance, and financial infrastructure—stand out. Stronger fundamentals are often found outside the U.S. due to tighter valuation discipline.

Steven Xi (Managing Partner, Eastlink Capital)

Despite heavy deal flow, clarity remains limited, particularly in agentic AI. Eastlink made very few investments, reflecting caution. 2025 is less about conviction and more about waiting for real signals to emerge.

Raghuram Madabushi (Corporate Venture Capital, National Grid Partners)

AI hit a physical constraint in 2025. The bottleneck is no longer models or GPUs, but energy, grid capacity, and regulation—highlighting the mismatch between digital speed and physical infrastructure.

Benny Liao (Principal Investor, Acorn Pacific Ventures)

2025 is a year of crowding and convergence. Many AI products look similar. The winners are domain-specific solutions deeply embedded in customer workflows, creating defensibility and stickiness.

Bryan Liu (VC Investor, Alumni Ventures)

Consumer AI continues to move quickly, while enterprise adoption remains early due to uncertainty. 2025 is as much about education and expectation-setting as it is about model accuracy.Vince Kohli (Strategic Advisor, Google DeepMind; Startup Judge, YC, Stanford, MIT, NVIDIA)
Vince described 2025 as a period of extreme compression. Attention is scarce, pitches are decided in seconds, and traditional playbooks are no longer effective. Clarity, grit, and empathy—not tools alone—differentiate extraordinary founders in this environment.