Why funding gaps persist for underrepresented founders

While everyone's chasing the next AI infrastructure play in San Francisco, some of the most defensible AI companies are being built by founders with deep expertise in legacy industries — and they're not getting funded. January Ventures aims to fill that gap, writing pre-seed checks for underrepresented founders transforming healthcare, manufacturing, and supply chain with AI.

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, Dominic-Madori Davis sat down with Jennifer Neundorfer, Co-Founder and General Partner at January Ventures, for a live episode of Equity. The pair dug into how early-stage investing is changing in the age of AI and why building different networks matters. 

Listen to the full episode to hear about: 

•  How AI is enabling pre-seed founders to do far more with less capital, and what that means for proof points at the earliest stages 

• Why January looks for founders building for where the technology is going, not where it is today, and how market expertise is becoming a critical moat 

• The state of funding for underrepresented founders in 2024, why progress has stalled despite increased awareness, and where the real opportunities lie 

Subscribe to Equity on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. 

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