AI Applications · VCs shift to vertical AI applications over infrastructure as defensibility erodes

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VCs shift to vertical AI applications over infrastructure as defensibility erodes

2026-05-20 · 14 company · 4 thematic

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jesús monleón

Host of SeedRocket's For Founders podcast; runs Go Trendier (a secondhand fashion marketplace) and For Founders; actively applies AI learnings from guests to his own companies.

lauren arens

Investor at BStartup, Banco Sabadell's corporate venture arm investing off balance sheet via two vehicles (100-200k pre-seed/seed, 500k-2M follow-on/Series A) plus venture debt product; active in healthtech, hardware, biotech; backed Tiay, Mondo, Xnova (co-invest).

jaime novoa

GP at KFund managing ~650M AUM across three funds (11M pre-seed, 70M seed, larger growth) plus fund-of-funds and energy transition vehicles; invests 50% Spain, 25% Europe, 25% LatAm; backed Factorial, TravelPerk, Abacum, Hotel Networks.

marta campillo

Investor at Abac Ventures, the VC arm of Abac Capital (800M AUM multi-strategy platform); manages 20M Fund II deploying in pre-seed/seed with follow-on; backed Galtea, Xnova, Ánfora, Payflow, Taxdown; leverages PE portfolio for commercial validation.

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