How AI Is Changing Venture Investment: VC Stage Highlights

On October 2, Activat VC hosted the panel session “VC Stage — How AI Is Changing Venture Investment” as part of AI & Digital Bridge 2026.

The stage brought together representatives of the venture market and the tech industry:

• Marat Tolibayev — CEO of Activat VC

• Dalerkhon Nodirov — CEO of IT Park Ventures

• Bolat Basheyev — founder and CEO of Axiom Capital

• Timur Shalekenov — CEO of Yandex Qazaqstan

• Bakht Niyazov — founder of Justart Ventures

• Olzhas Ukenov — managing partner of Almak Capital

The speakers discussed how the rapid development of AI is changing the work of venture funds and their approaches to investing in startups: from reviewing applications and initial project screening to market analysis and due diligence.

The participants shared how AI helps automate these processes, handle information faster and assess investment opportunities. They stressed that they adopt these technologies with a specific goal: to cut the time spent analyzing and vetting projects so they can move faster to well-grounded investment decisions.

At the same time, everyone noted that AI is not yet ready to fully replace the work of a venture fund team. Personal interaction with founders helps to understand a startup's team, its motivation and potential — things that are hard to assess from documents alone. Direct contact with a startup can reveal more than hundreds of reports analyzed by AI.

Thank you to the speakers for the candid conversation and valuable insights, and to the guests for their interest in the discussion and their participation!