The end of Venture Capital? (VC Roundtable) | E2285

Venture capital is undergoing a structural transition toward extreme capital concentration, threatening the traditional craft-based model of early-stage investing. With five firms capturing over 73% of limited partner commitments in the first quarter, the industry is shifting toward "consensus capital," which prioritizes massive, safe bets over high-risk, high-reward innovation. AI compute and energy constraints are emerging as critical limiting factors, forcing a shift from software-centric models toward hardware-intensive, sovereign-allied supply chains. Panelists Michael Eisenberg, Mike Granoff, and Larry Covert argue for a divergence between risk-averse "Consensus VC" and hands-on "Traditional VC." The latter remains vital for funding frontier technologies, such as edge AI and advanced manufacturing, which require deep technical expertise and founder-level support to achieve the asymmetric returns necessary for long-term industry health.