Public markets are thinning while private markets are expanding amid rapid AI adoption and investor fear. AI concerns and stalled market dynamics erased roughly $1 trillion in market value, creating ripple effects into private-company valuations. The funding mechanism for software LBOs has short-circuited, IPO markets have weakened, and financing machinery has become impaired. Seligman is launching Seligman Ventures, a $500 million early-stage AI fund led by Umesh Padval with partners Ashish Kakran and Eddie Ackerman. Padval plans a Benchmark-style disciplined approach in the $400–$800 million range and intends close information-sharing with Seligman.
"The public markets are thinning, the private markets are exploding, and AI is wholly destabilizing both."
"The funding mechanism for the software LBO complex has short-circuited, IPO markets have been weak, and it's gummed up the machinery,"
"There's no more red line where software stocks won't go below a certain point... It's a psychological shift, as well. People are more fearful."
"I've always believed in the Benchmark-type model, stay in the $400 million to $800 million-range, build those companies, and get 10x from there. I'm a firm believer in not having too much money, because discipline goes away."
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