Why VCs say they’re open for business, even if they’re pausing new deals

This week Alexia Bonatsos of Dream Machine and Niko Bonatsos of General Catalyst swung by Extra Crunch Live to discuss where they are investing today and what the future might look like.

As expected, these seed and early-stage venture capitalists had a lot to say about their current investing cadence and what interests them in the world of edtech, Clubhouse and more. A big thanks to everyone who came out and submitted some great questions.

Going back through the chat today, a few sections jumped out. For this recap, I’ve gathered answers from the transcript regarding today’s fundraising climate, the future of AI and the possible impact of the downturn on VC-backed founder diversity.

And for everyone who couldn’t join us live, I’ve included the full video replay below. ( You can get access here, if you need it.)

Today’s fundraising climate

Alexia:

It’s kind of a Rashomon; depending on whose perspective you’re getting the story, is just completely different.

Let’s see, are [VCs] being as active as they were in 2018? I’m gonna say no. I mean, look at your data, your data says no. But does that mean people [have] shut down the shop and are all in Montana? Also no, right?

We know that these kinds of “crisistunities” — and I’m not diminishing the crisis at all, it is very sad and very scary, and it’s something that I’m very privileged to be able to be experiencing from inside my apartment and not from outside within an emergency room or a food bank or any other place that it’s actually at the front lines, right?