One of Anthropic’s largest institutional and venture capital backers, US-based Lightspeed Venture Partners, has warned that soaring artificial intelligence valuations are a warning sign. 

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He also said that the technology economic potential remained largely untapped.

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Lightspeed partner Isaac Kim told the Sohn Hearts & Mind conference that two seemingly contradictory things could be true: “One is we’re in a hype cycle or an AI bubble, and the other is we’re in the very, very early stages of this technology and where it’s disrupting.” 

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Kim pointed to private-market funding rounds where AI companies were securing Series B and C investments just months after their previous raises, at sharply higher valuations despite little growth in revenue, customers or products. 

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“That can be bubble-ish,” he said.

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Lightspeed first invested in Anthropic in early 2023 and led the AI giant’s $US3.5 billion funding round in March 2025 at a valuation of $US61.5 billion. 

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But Kim argued adoption remained in its infancy, with AI poised to transform industries well beyond software and knowledge work. Robotics, defence technology and physical AI represented significant opportunities still largely overlooked by investors, he said. 

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Kim declined to offer a stock pick, noting he was not a public markets investor, but his one piece of advice was: “be long AI”.

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