Applications are now open for our 8th cohort of IIT Build. IIT Build is Foundation Capital’s early-stage accelerator for IIT alumni — and one of the most coveted founder communities in the Bay Area. We’ve backed 60+ IIT founders to date, and we’re looking for our next 8 to join. With an acceptance rate is ~3%, it’s one of the most competitive founder programs anywhere — but IIT’ians are built for that. Founders in the program receive: - $500K+ in credits from AWS, Azure, OpenAI, and Anthropic - Free office space in the Bay Area - Direct access to Foundation Capital’s investment team & network - Programmatic sessions to help you scale, like pitch practice, incredible speakers, and office hours - Access to the exclusive network of IIT Founders with curated events, dedicated Slack channel, and more If you’re an IIT grad building (or about to build) a company, apply by September 12th 2025! Apply here:

Every year, companies spend a staggering $140B on traditional ways of understanding their users like surveys and focus groups. This manual, episodic approach is quickly becoming outdated. AI agents are taking over tasks that used to eat up weeks, handling everything from recruiting respondents to gathering insights in real -time. Market research is becoming an always-on engine, with agents integrating continuous feedback into daily workflows. We’re at a turning point where AI opens doors for cross-functional teams to explore new ways of understanding their audiences. No longer limited to dedicated research teams, AI makes it possible for marketing, product, and sales teams to perform quick and affordable market studies. It's a shift that transforms one-off projects into iterative, fast-return cycles. If you’re building the future of how companies understand their markets and users, we want to hear from you. Read more from @joannezchen and @realleolu:

Foundation model providers like @OpenAI and @AnthropicAI have abandoned the pure infrastructure play. They're vertically integrating at unprecedented speed: OpenAI's Agent Mode, Claude Code, Deep Research. Your startup's success becomes their product roadmap. Build something that works? They'll clone it, crush it, or acquire it for pennies. The platform that powers you can steamroll you.

Making the most of ICML in Vancouver? Come grab a drink with us TONIGHT! We’re co-hosting the Turing Happy Hour for AI & LLM Leaders with the teams from @turingcom and @anyscalecompute. @ashugarg and @robertnishihara will share thoughts on how frontier labs are using RL Gyms to move beyond intuition-driven tuning by creating structured environments for evaluator feedback, reward shaping, and policy refinement. ⏰ 5:30–8:30pm 📍 Walking distance from the Vancouver Convention Centre 🔗 Register here: Come say hi! @joannezchen @JayaGup10 @krishnanvija @jonsidd

In Vancouver for ICML? @JayaGup10, @joannezchen and I will be at the @turingcom Happy Hour TONIGHT with our friends @jonsidd and @krishnanvijay (co-founders of Turing) and @robertnishihara (co-founder of @anyscalecompute). Starts at 5:30pm. No promises on how late it goes.. 🔗 Register here:

Over the past 18 months, stablecoins have moved from the edges of fintech into the spotlight. But this is just the beginning. Integration with the broader financial system is only starting to accelerate. At Foundation Capital, we believe stablecoins - and the composability they enable - will fundamentally rewire how money moves. The building blocks are already in place: public blockchains offering near-zero transaction costs, increasing regulatory clarity, and a new generation of infrastructure startups. What’s next is real-world adoption at scale. @fifaifofo and Gracie Zaro break down the opportunity and why this moment matters:

It’s been just over a year since we introduced the idea of a new AI startup model: Services-as-Software. Since then, we’ve studied dozens of founders building across legal, healthcare, customer support, RevOps, and procurement. And while the models and markets vary, four patterns stand out in the companies getting traction: - Differentiation comes from implementation - Sales and delivery are no longer separate motions - Pricing is shifting from access to outcomes - Speed-to-value is the best signal for long-term adoption @ashugarg and @JayaGup10 recapped what we’ve learned from year one and what we’re betting on next:

"Visa and Mastercard generated a combined $64B in revenue across 400B transactions last year. If these 400B transactions were executed on Solana, total fee revenue would be closer to $400M, a 99% reduction in cost to merchants." -@FoundationCap just use Solana.

18 months in, AI isn’t eating SaaS—it’s eating the $4.6 TRILLION services budget. Our latest blog tracks the first year of Services‑as‑Software companies and distills lessons for founders

Excited to share our thoughts on how we see the future of money movement as stablecoins extend their reach! @FoundationCap