VCs predict that businesses will spend more on AI in 2026 – through fewer vendors

Businesses have been experimenting and testing various AI tools over the past few years to determine what their adoption strategy will look like. Marketers think the experiment is running out.

TechCrunch recently surveyed 24 business-focused VCs and many businesses predicted that they will increase their AI budgets in 2026 – but not for everything. Many vendors said that the increase in the budget will be permanent, and that many businesses will spend more on fewer contracts.

Andrew Ferguson, vice president at Databricks Ventures, predicted that 2026 will be the year when businesses begin to consolidate their businesses and choose winners.

“These days, businesses are testing multiple single-use tools, and there’s an explosion of startups that focus on other consumer areas like (go to market), where it’s very difficult to differentiate even during (proof of concept),” Ferguson said. “When businesses see real evidence from AI, they cut testing budgets, streamline ongoing infrastructure and invest in the AI ​​technology they’ve delivered.”

Rob Biederman, managing partner at Asymmetric Capital Partners, agreed. He predicts that enterprise companies will not only spend their money, but that the number of enterprises will reduce its overall AI investment to a few vendors across the industry.

“Budgets will increase for the few AI tools that provide clear results and will decrease significantly for everything else,” Biederman said. “We expect consolidation where a few vendors take a larger share of business AI investment while many others see less investment or collaboration.”

Fixed income

Scott Beechuk, a partner at Norwest Venture Partners, thinks businesses will increase their investment in tools that make AI safer for businesses to use.

“Businesses are now realizing that the real money lies in the security and management layers that make AI reliable,” Beechuk said. “As these processes grow and reduce risk, organizations will have the confidence to transition from pilot to multi-regional, and budgets will increase.”

Harsha Kapre, director at Snowflake Ventures, predicted that businesses will use AI in three different areas in 2026: strengthening the data base, post-learning optimization, and integrating tools.

“(Investment executives) are rapidly reducing (software-as-a-service) sprawl and moving to more integrated, smarter systems that reduce integration costs and provide measurable (return on investment),” Kapre said. “AI-based solutions will see the greatest benefit from this change.”

The transition from trial and error will affect the basics. What doesn’t make sense, is how.

It is likely that AI startups will reach the same calculation Basics of SaaS he arrived a few years ago.

Companies that are working hard to replicate such as stand-alone solutions or built on proprietary information, can grow. Startups with products similar to those offered by large enterprises such as AWS or Salesforce, may begin to see pilot projects and funding run out.

Marketers see this too. When asked how they know an AI startup has a moat, several VCs said companies with data and resources that might not match a tech giant or a big linguistics company are more protected.

If business predictions are true and businesses start to focus on AI spending next year, 2026 could be the year that businesses boom but many AI startups don’t see a big slice of the pie.