Moonshots with Peter Diamandis – Episode 219

AI Investor Panel: How Will We Fund the Global AI Revolution?

Date: January 2, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode features a lively AI-investing panel at the AI Mini Summit in Saudi Arabia. Host Peter Diamandis convenes top minds from venture capital, public markets, and startup investments to discuss the financial infrastructure needed to support the explosive growth of artificial intelligence. Panelists include Anjane Mehta (Andreessen Horowitz, A16Z), Bonnie Chan (Hong Kong Stock Exchange), and David Blunden (Linc Exponential Ventures).

The overarching theme: Where will the capital come from to fund the global AI revolution, and how can we ensure the benefits reach society at large?

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Current AI Investment Landscape

• Massive Capital Inflows, New Paradigms

  • There is an "insatiable demand" for funding in AI. Nearly all available venture capital is being funneled into AI—across verticals (infrastructure, applications, healthcare, etc.).
  • “I don't think anybody is not an AI investor anymore. …All the rules are being rewritten about how you fund growth because we just need all the capital we can get.”
    — Anjane Mehta (04:06)

• Explosion of Opportunities

  • Valuations for AI startups are unprecedented: "$30 million to $10 billion in two years is now common" (09:48).
  • Pipeline of IPOs in Hong Kong is flooded with AI-related firms ([06:07]).

2. Sources of AI Funding

• Beyond Traditional Venture Capital

  • Amount needed dwarfs entire annual VC allocations ("U.S. venture is $200 billion a year. It's not even close." — David Blunden, 09:16).
  • Corporate giants (Nvidia, Amazon, Google, Microsoft) are directly investing in startups to secure compute access and future strategic value.
  • “We have to pull in all the friends we can. ...All the rules are being rewritten about how you fund growth.”
    — Anjane Mehta (04:40)

• Need for Public Participation

  • Bonnie Chan emphasizes roles for both private and public capital, highlighting the rise of sophisticated retail (“protel”) investors in Asia ([06:07]).
  • “Our common challenge will be to make sure that we find as many ways as possible that we match the capital with the opportunities.”
    — Bonnie Chan (07:52)

3. Infrastructure vs. Application Investments

• Shifting Priorities

  • Early AI funding was dominated by infrastructure buildouts (e.g., buying GPUs), but demand is shifting towards application companies utilizing foundation model “tokens” as the new critical resource ([11:05], [12:07]).
  • “High quality tokens from foundation models is a much more scarce resource than raw GPUs, and GPUs are a much more scarce commodity than raw cash.”
    — Anjane Mehta (11:34)

• Bottleneck: Energy

  • Primary constraint shifting from compute availability to actual energy supply and data center retrofitting ([12:16]).
  • “What we're living through right now is this frenzy for energy contracts where compute providers are trying to outbid each other to buy literally just energy supply.”
    — Anjane Mehta (13:15)
  • China’s geographic and infrastructure advantages in renewables and grid management position it well for AI growth ([13:54]).

4. Startup Deal Flow and Valuations

• Vertical AI Use Cases Dominant

  • Startups out of MIT/Harvard increasingly target vertical applications—seen as less capital intense, higher success rates ([17:32]).
  • “If you have the talent…you just need to get into the loops, get into the places that are making these investments and get in the game.”
    — David Blunden (30:21)

• New Generation of Young Billionaires

  • Success (and wealth creation) is so fast that now 23–24-year-olds routinely reach unicorn status in under two years ([19:10]).

5. Risks and Challenges

• Energy Limits & Infrastructure

  • The biggest immediate bottleneck is insufficient electricity to power ever-larger data centers ([12:16], [20:37]).

• Social & Political Fallout

  • AI wealth is “locked up” in private funds and a small talent pool, not broadly distributed ([21:55]).
  • “At the end of the day, the public is not participating in that wealth creation.” — Anjane Mehta (21:55)
  • Risk of social unrest as jobs are displaced, wealth isn’t democratized, and governments lag in regulation or response ([22:30]).
  • “It's about to get dire when 30% of your IT services GDP sector gets vaporized by tokens, if you're India for example...”
    — Anjane Mehta (22:30)

• Valuation Bubbles & Speculative Investment

  • Over-inflated values and speculative bets (fusion, quantum, robotics) could trigger a tech investment retrenchment like the dot-com bust ([26:03]).

• Retail Investors as ‘Bag Holders’

  • Latecomers (often the retail public) risk being left holding overvalued assets if/when the bubble bursts ([27:49]).

Notable Quotes & Moments

• On Rewriting Investment Rules:
  “All the rules are being rewritten about how you fund growth because we just need all the capital we can get.”
  — Anjane Mehta (04:38)

• On Frenzy of Opportunity:
  “The untapped but mobile capital is here in this room. And if it jumps on the opportunity, it's like an opportunity I've never seen before. Now that's a moonshot, ladies and gentlemen.”
  — David Blunden (09:47)

• On Energy as Limiting Factor:
  “The infraspan, the infra needs are largely driven by demand forecasting...But the energy constraint hasn't, the energy supply hasn't. ...We just don't have enough electricity to power the chips.”
  — Anjane Mehta (13:01)

• On Wealth Creation:
  “Anthropic has gone from a company...a couple hundred million in valuation just four years ago to $183 billion in 48 months. But...the public is not participating in that wealth creation.”
  — Anjane Mehta (21:55)

• On Risks for Public Investors:
  “Opening the door for investors, especially retail guys, to partake in the public markets also caused me concern...they could be the last ones at the party before the whole thing collapses.”
  — Bonnie Chan (27:49)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction and Overview — [01:07]–[04:03]
• Capital Flow in AI & New Funding Models — [04:03]–[06:07]
• Role of Public Markets & IPOs — [06:07]–[08:51]
• Early Stage AI Startup Pipeline — [08:51]–[11:05]
• Infrastructure vs. Application Investments — [11:05]–[13:54]
• Bottleneck: Energy and Data Centers — [13:54]–[17:04]
• Trends in AI Startups & Valuations — [17:04]–[19:55]
• Risks: Inflation, Regulation, Social Unrest — [20:04]–[24:49]
• Call for Public Wealth Participation — [24:49]–[26:00]
• Speculative Investments & Systemic Risks — [26:00]–[27:49]
• The Risk of Retail and Need for Democratization — [27:49]–[29:33]
• Closing Thoughts from Panelists — [29:33]–[30:56]

Panelists’ Closing Thoughts

• Anjane Mehta:
  “The answer lies in institutions who represent the public…We need to educate them…otherwise the public will get left behind.” (29:39)

• Bonnie Chan:
  “Everyone in this ecosystem needs to work together to find that new equilibrium…It shouldn’t be wealth creation for a tiny fraction of the world's population.” (30:03)

• David Blunden:
  “You just need to get into the loops, get into the places that are making these investments and get in the game.” (30:21)

Takeaway

The global AI revolution is racing ahead, fueled by unprecedented capital flows and new models of participatory investment. But unless public institutions, sovereign wealth, and new funding mechanisms are engaged, the benefits risk being captured by a narrow elite. Structural bottlenecks in energy and compute still loom, and without careful systemic design, wealth creation may soon be met with a matching backlash.

For listeners seeking to understand the future of technology and investment, this episode offers a rare, inside look at both the excitement and underlying tensions shaping the global AI finance boom.