Sara Deshpande, general partner at Maven Ventures, has been investing in the consumer technology space for 10 years.
Over time, the seed-stage venture firm has grown to over $200 million in assets under management, backing companies such as Zoom, Cruise, Hello Heart, Perplexity and x.AI.
Now, with plans to raise a new $60 million fund and write six to eight checks of up to $1.5 million per year, Deshpande appeared on Equity with TechCrunch senior reporter Mary Ann Azevedo to discuss the changing consumer landscape, how the company is focusing on artificial intelligence and what sets startups apart.
“I've worked at Maven for 10 years and startups for 15 years, and I've seen this ebb and flow. Consumer tends to go in and out of fashion,” she says, “but right now is a great time to be a consumer investor. There's less competition, less noise from other companies.”
When it comes to AI, Deshpande believes that at the seed stage, AI's ability to improve consumers' lives “is going to happen a lot sooner than people think.” At the same time, she believes the peak of AI enthusiasm was about 12 months ago.
She also acknowledged that, naturally, there will be “turmoil” in this space – Perplecity, for example, has been accused of plagiarism and web scraping.
“This is a technology that is sure to generate controversy and opinions on all sides,” DeFunde said. “My view is that it's still early days, the rules are being written right now, and it's going to be a rollercoaster ride for a while.”
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