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TechCrunch’s January 4, 2025 article “What will this year bring in VC? We asked a few investors” collected forecasts from five venture investors about 2025. Read in October 2026, it is a record of what those investors expected, not a scorecard of what happened. The article does not check its predictions against later results, and this review does not either. What it does offer is a clear view of where experienced investors agreed, where they split, and which numbers in the piece are attributed claims rather than verified data.
What the article asked and who answered
The piece put two core questions to its contributors: “What are your good and bad venture predictions for 2025?” and “What are some trends that you think will remain? Which ones will go?” It also asked what unexpected developments might occur in venture and startups that year. TechCrunch notes that the responses were edited and shortened for clarity.
| Contributor | Role (as stated in the article) | Core prediction for 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Nekeshia Woods | Managing partner, Parkway Venture Capital | Investors would weigh booked revenue, client pipeline, and costs more heavily than user counts; consolidation in commoditized AI segments |
| Gabby Cazeau | Partner, Harlem Capital | More investment than in 2022–2024, though not a return to 2021 levels; IPO market reopening; enterprise AI startups facing a make-or-break shift from experimental budgets to core software spend |
| Triin Linamagi | Founding partner, Sie Ventures | Fewer deals with stronger diligence; meaningful exits limited until later in 2025; LPs waiting for better distributions before committing |
| Michael Basch | Founder and general partner, Atento Capital | Secondaries growing; more grounded outcomes for some struggling companies; continued down-rounds for former unicorns; renewed attention to hard technology |
| Austin Clements | Managing partner, Slauson & Co. | IPO market reopening; more private-company M&A; LPs possibly hesitant to back new managers; a consumer-technology comeback |
Where the investors agreed and where they split
The five forecasts are not a consensus. Several contributors pointed in the same direction on discipline and AI, but they disagreed on timing, especially for exits. Read each prediction as one investor’s view from one vantage point.
Investment pace and discipline
Woods expected investors with dry powder to hold an advantage and anticipated a measured pace of investing. Linamagi expected fewer deals, deeper diligence, and more hands-on value-add, with profitability and sustainable business models favored over growth at any cost. Cazeau expected more capital to flow into the market than in 2022 through 2024, but not a return to 2021 levels. Taken together, these views describe a market in which money is available but more carefully allocated.
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Exits, secondaries, and fundraising
Cazeau and Clements predicted that the IPO market would reopen and liquidity would improve. Clements also expected more private-company M&A. Basch expected secondaries to grow and some struggling companies to reach more grounded outcomes. Linamagi took the most cautious line, expecting meaningful exits to remain limited until later in 2025 and limited partners (LPs) to wait for better distributions before committing to new funds. Clements added a warning that LPs might hesitate to back new managers after undisciplined behavior in the prior cycle.
This is the clearest disagreement in the piece. Whether liquidity would return early in 2025 or only later in the year was a question the contributors answered differently, and the article does not resolve it.
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AI and company performance
AI drew the most attention, and the predictions were specific. Woods expected consolidation in commoditized AI segments and said market leaders would either open markets up or own proprietary data. Cazeau described many enterprise AI startups as still in an experimental phase:
“A lot of AI startups have grown quickly but are still stuck in the ‘experimental’ phase, living on innovation budgets instead of being part of core software spend.” (Gabby Cazeau, partner at Harlem Capital)
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She flagged churn and slow growth as risks if that transition failed. Linamagi expected AI adoption to continue while stressing human judgment in assessing founders. Basch expected companies seen as AI leaders to keep attention and premium valuations, and warned of shutdowns and fundraising difficulty elsewhere. Clements expected AI to help enable a consumer-technology comeback.
Woods also framed the shift in how investors would evaluate companies. Her view was that user counts would matter less than booked revenue, client pipeline, and costs before investors committed capital.
Other sectors and unexpected scenarios
Linamagi expected more specialized investing, including sustainability and healthcare, and more support for diverse founding teams. Cazeau foresaw investment in reskilling for skilled trades, manufacturing, hospitality, and healthcare. Basch predicted renewed attention to hard technology, including biotech, hardware, and deep tech.
For the unexpected category, contributors raised possible unicorn mergers or closures, climate or geopolitical shocks, and a hypothetical OpenAI/Microsoft scenario. These were speculative possibilities. The article does not present any of them as events that occurred.
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Two figures to read as attributed claims
The article includes two numbers that readers often repeat. Both are attributed to a contributor and are not independently supported in the piece.
More than $7 trillion in private-market investment by 2033
Nekeshia Woods made this projection in a forecast about private wealth and private markets. TechCrunch does not identify the study or methodology behind it. Treat it as Woods’s stated estimate, not a measured figure.
Teams of one to three people reaching more than $2 million in ARR using AI tools
Gabby Cazeau reported this as an observation. The article does not name the companies or provide supporting data. It is a reported pattern from one investor’s experience, not a dataset.
What these predictions mean for an individual investor
Most readers will not invest directly in venture-backed startups, but the themes still matter for anyone with private-company stock, employer equity, or exposure through funds or retirement accounts.
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- Liquidity is uncertain. Contributors disagreed on when exits would return. Private holdings should be treated as illiquid until a sale, listing, or secondary transaction actually closes.
- Valuations can reset. Basch’s warning about former unicorns with reset valuations applies directly to employees holding options or shares priced during the 2021 peak.
- Fund manager selection matters more when the market tightens. Linamagi’s and Clements’s comments about fewer deals and LP caution suggest that disciplined managers and clear reporting carry more weight in a slower market.
- Position size should reflect the risk. A forecast that does not come true can still leave a concentrated personal stake badly exposed.
How to check a prediction like this yourself
- Note the publication date and the forecast year. A January 2025 prediction describes expectations at that time, not outcomes.
- Separate the speaker’s view from measured data. Look for a named source, study, or dataset. If none is given, treat the claim as an opinion.
- Identify the metric the prediction depends on, such as exit counts, distributions to LPs, or revenue retention, and find the primary data for the same period.
- Compare the prediction with the speaker’s incentives and vantage point. A fund manager’s view of the market reflects the stage and sector where that fund invests.
- Only then decide whether the view changes anything in your own plan, such as your timing, diversification, or how much private exposure you hold.
Used this way, the article is most useful as a map of the questions investors were asking at the start of 2025 rather than as a guide to what the market delivered.
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