In a recent Business Insider article examining the surge of AI-driven venture capital in 2025 and the possibility of a market reckoning in 2026, Alpha Partners Managing Partner Steve Brotman offered a grounded perspective on why today’s capital frenzy looks the way it does, and why it shouldn’t be dismissed as pure excess.
“There’s definitely an element that the bigger VCs have FOMO of missing the next OpenAI,” Brotman said. “If you’re one of these larger funds, you’re paid to be in the next OpenAI, and if there’s any chance a company is that, it can be worth paying billions.”
The article explores a year defined by unprecedented seed rounds, massive valuations for early-stage AI startups, and intense competition among top-tier funds to secure allocations. Nearly 700 seed-stage rounds of $10 million or more were completed in 2025 alone, a signal of how aggressively capital has chased elite AI talent and perceived category-defining opportunities.
While some investors warn of an impending bloodbath, Brotman draws an important distinction between froth and fundamentals. Unlike prior tech bubbles, he points out, many of today’s AI leaders are already generating real revenue, demonstrating capital efficiency, and delivering tangible economic value.
“Unlike the boom in 2000, there are real numbers, real revenue, real profitability, and real economic value being driven to the consumer,” Brotman noted. “I’m very bullish on 2026.”
At Alpha Partners, this perspective reflects a broader belief in disciplined optimism: acknowledging the power-law dynamics that drive venture outcomes while remaining selective about where long-term value is actually being created. FOMO may be part of the market psychology, but conviction still comes from fundamentals, governance, and sustainable growth.
Periods of exuberance inevitably test investor discipline. The firms that emerge strongest are those that understand which signals matter, and which don’t.
Read the full Business Insider article here.
