Why January Ventures is funding underrepresented AI founders | TechCrunch

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.