Generative AI funding has surged past $49 billion in the first half of 2025, already eclipsing all of 2024. Yet as Tech Funding News reports, the sector is moving from hype to hard results — and Alpha Managing Partner Steve Brotman says the next wave of winners will be those embedding AI deeply into real-world workflows.
“In 2025, we’re seeing a decisive shift in GenAI from broad capability to vertical precision,” Brotman told Tech Funding News. “The early horizontal phase of GenAI (with tools like ChatGPT or Copilot) sparked mass experimentation, but now the market is prioritizing depth over breadth. Buyers want solutions that integrate seamlessly into their industry-specific workflows, deliver ROI quickly, and minimize risk.”
That pivot reflects Alpha’s long-standing focus: backing companies that apply AI to targeted, high-impact use cases. From improving dental diagnostics to mapping underground infrastructure, Alpha’s portfolio has always favored precision over generalization.
The challenge, as Brotman notes, is translating massive funding into measurable outcomes. Integration costs, immature models, and oversight demands often erode productivity gains, leaving teams to re-explain context or fix hallucinations. Analysts warn as many as 40% of AI projects could fail.
But for companies treating AI adoption as a strategic imperative — not an experiment — the payoff could be transformative, unlocking growth, efficiency, and ROI that extends far beyond the hype.
Read the full article in Tech Funding News here.
