Artificial intelligence is forcing venture capitalists to rethink how they invest.
For decades, investors backed startups by judging founding teams, products, and markets. But as AI advances at breakneck speed, many now believe they need a much deeper understanding of the technology itself — or risk missing breakthroughs that can create entirely new categories overnight.
Pratyush Choudhury, co-founder of Activate AI, India’s first VC fund dedicated exclusively to AI, is among those embracing that shift.
To stay ahead, he has built a global network of researchers and developers, and regularly experiments with frontier AI models, spending as much time understanding the technology as evaluating the companies building it.
Activate AI, the $75 million fund Choudhury launched with co-founder Aakrit Vaish in December, participated in the funding round that catapulted Sarvam, one of India’s best-known AI startups, to unicorn status with a valuation surpassing $1 billion. Vaish founded one of India’s first conversational AI chatbot firms, Haptik, and was an adviser to the national IndiaAI mission. Choudhury comes armed with experience at Amazon Web Services — the infrastructural backbone of AI startups — and Together Fund, which backs AI-native firms.
