Inside the journey of AI-driven startups from idea to investment

At the heart of the SiGMA Asia 2025 summit in Manila, a pair of powerhouse panels took a no-nonsense look at the rapidly evolving world of AI-driven startups and venture capital funding. Founders, technologists, and VCs spoke candidly about the hype, the reality, and what it takes to succeed at the intersection of Web3, AI, and decentralised ecosystems.

The AI illusion: Are we building or just branding?

The panel on successful AI-driven startups, moderated by Leah Callon-Butler of Emfarsis, featured Anton Golub (Freedx), Daniel Malinovski (Simplicity Group), and Andrea Faith Alimorong (ICP). They challenged the assumption that simply adding AI to a product makes it innovative.

“Many of the crypto AI projects were just wrappers… not even that,” said Anton Golub, warning against superficial integration of AI just to ride the trend. Instead, he pointed to projects like ICP’s recently launched CaffèINE AI, which allows developers to spawn decentralised AI applications on-chain, as actual examples of AI-native innovation.

Andrea Faith Alimorong agreed: “If we remove your AI, is your project still useful? If not, it’s not AI-native.” She described her work on voice-based biometric authentication that distinguishes human from AI-generated audio, emphasising AI as core logic, not cosmetic enhancement.

Daniel Malinovski added a business perspective: “AI is only as good as the dataset,” expressing scepticism about AI-led tokenomics. “We don’t yet have the data for AI to design strong token economies.”

VCs set the record straight

Laura K. Inamedinova of Gate.io delivered a keynote titled The VC reality check: five brutally honest lessons for founders, in which she dismantled some of the most persistent myths around venture capital.

“Venture capital is not a charity. It’s a high-risk loan where you’re putting your reputation as collateral,” she said. With over 60 angel investments under her belt, Inamedinova emphasised that VCs want scalable returns, think 10x, not 10%.

A common misstep? Founders are building around hot narratives rather than creating long-term value. “If a narrative is hot, it’s good for retail… but it’s too late for VC investment,” she warned. She pointed to stablecoin infrastructure as a forward-looking area where VCs are currently investing, rather than in agents already flooding the market.

She also laid out six key team tracks for pitches, ranging from record to market timing. “If you can’t answer these six questions in one sentence each, you’re not ready for VC.”

Decentralised AI and the data dilemma

The convergence of AI and blockchain opens new use cases, from AI agents transacting with one another on-chain to voice-based biometric security. Still, it also raises urgent questions around data ownership.

“We just want answers,” Alimorong said. “We somehow disregard the fact that we’re actually feeding [these systems]… and that’s why companies are banning ChatGPT internally.” Golub saw opportunity in blockchain as a solution: “There’s a chance here for decentralised data ownership, which is the fuel for AI.”

But not everyone is optimistic. Malinovski was blunt: “People don’t care about decentralisation. Convenience always wins.”

AI agents or AI influencers?

When asked about the potential of AI agents onboarding new users to Web3, the panel was split. Malinovski dismissed it outright: “The issue isn’t onboarding. It’s trust and reputation.” Instead, Golub predicted that AI-generated influencers and social content would become increasingly prominent tools for attracting users.

As for underrated opportunities, the panellists agreed: it’s the small, everyday applications of AI, from summarising documents to personalised education, that might be the most transformative.

“Underrated? Day-to-day use by all of us… emails, reports, posting on social media,” Golub noted.

Whether it was a warning about building products around fleeting narrative or a call to differentiate between superficial and foundational uses of AI, both panels delivered one message loud and clear: be honest, be strategic, and build with purpose.

As Inamedinova put it, “Right now, there is a surplus of capital and not enough good founders.”

To stay ahead of the next wave of insights and innovation, be sure to follow the full agenda at SiGMA Asia 2025; you won’t want to miss what’s next.