"There's no shortage of noise coming out of San Francisco and New York with AI breakthroughs, billion-dollar valuations and the race to back the next big consumer app or fintech darling. With a crowded landscape sometimes influenced by hype, venture capital has developed a kind of tunnel vision. The fixation on what's shiny and fast-scaling has blinded many investors to the country's most foundational industries, which are the ones that really keep America running."
"VC money tends to cluster around "the current thing." Today, that mostly means AI or any other software that promises exponential user growth with minimal friction. Meanwhile, America's largest and most essential sectors - manufacturing, agriculture and logistics - remain underinvested. These industries represent trillions of dollars in economic activity and employ tens of millions of workers, particularly in the Midwest."
Venture capital often concentrates on fast-scaling consumer software and AI, creating a funding gap for manufacturing, agriculture, and logistics. Those sectors generate trillions in economic activity and employ tens of millions, especially across the Midwest. Modernization through robotics, automation, improved supply-chain tooling, and AI-driven efficiencies presents large opportunities for both hardware and software innovation. Founders building solutions on factory floors, farms, and freight hubs can deliver measurable gains in resilience, productivity, and security. Increased investment in these foundational industries can reduce costs, strengthen supply chains, and produce transformative companies with lasting real-world impact.
Read at Fortune
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