Investing in Deep Tech & AI with Manish Singhal, Pi Ventures

In 1956 at the Dartmouth workshop, the idea we’ve now come to know of as artificial intelligence was sown. John McCarthy of Dartmouth college named the field, Artificial Intelligence. After the initial excitement, the artificial intelligence winter set in. With the availability of large amounts of data and computing power, we’re seeing a revival in AI. Several fields are being transformed by artificial intelligence now. And that includes writing.

A few months ago, I’d interviewed Paul Yacoubian, the founder of Copy.ai. He is easily one of the most interesting entrepreneurs to watch out for. In just four months, his startup, Copy.ai had gone from $0 to $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue. The company uses the language model GPT3 to write marketing copy. And the traction it is seeing is proof that thousands of people are using it.

It’s not just writing that’s being transformed by AI. It has found applications in several fields, including healthcare, manufacturing, banking, and finance. We figured it is about time we had someone on the show to talk about AI.

In this episode of the Use Case podcast, we talk to Manish Singhal, the founder of Pi Ventures on investing in AI and deep tech companies. Pi Ventures is a Bangalore-based fund that only backs companies that uses deep technologies like AI to solve real-world problems.

Timestamps

3:01: Why did Pi Ventures choose to invest in deep tech and its thesis.

6:36: On cancer screening tech from Niramai and mental health company Wysa.

10:50: On Pi Ventures fund II.

13:02: What has changed in deep tech for it to become investible now?

14:52: How Pi Ventures invests.

17:08: Understanding Demand & Supply Resonance Maps

24:24: India’s place in deep tech

28:33: Incremental innovation and 10x innovation

29:34: Domestica capital in deep tech

32:03: Pi Ventures has 42% women-founded deep tech companies

Link to Pi Ventures blog.

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