AI models are becoming more capable, but many businesses still run on complex, manual processes.
For Amit Goel of gAI Ventures, that gap is creating a new opportunity: vertical AI built around specific industries and real business problems.
Q1. What are you most interested in investing in right now — and why?
We are very focused on vertical AI companies, especially in the US. Models have become very smart and most of the horizontal use cases are taken.
Back in 2024 our thesis was that model capabilities would grow 1000x, and they did - but the business world is still very messy. Too many integrations, manual processes, approvals, maker-checker workflows in places like banking and financial services.
To deal with that complexity you have to first understand the domain, and then build AI for the problem, not the other way around. At gAI Ventures we say vertical first, AI second - solving real problems with AI products in a good and repeatable way.
Q2. What do you think the market is underestimating?
The market may be underestimating the complexity of enterprise processes that were never automated because SaaS could not do it. Work that runs for three days, involves four people, several sign-offs, email back and forth, data moving across systems.
People assume AI cannot make a difference there. We have built those systems and we feel it is possible - that is the next frontier.
Q3. What is one investment idea or trend you think more people should be paying attention to?
Even if it is a niche - if you are solving a real problem that helps a business increase revenue or reduce cost, and you are building AI for things that were not possible before, even in complex and messy environments, that is what more people should be paying attention to.
For Goel, the next wave of AI will be defined less by broader models and more by how deeply AI can solve real problems inside complex industries.