Silicon Valley no longer has a monopoly on the next generation of billion-dollar technology companies. In this episode of the Post Money Podcast, Mercury Fund Co-founder and Managing Partner Blair Garrou explains why some of the most interesting opportunities in venture capital are now emerging across Middle America, and why AI could accelerate that shift dramatically.
Mercury has spent more than two decades investing outside the traditional Silicon Valley, New York and Boston ecosystems. As AI moves beyond foundation models, Blair is seeing domain experts build highly specialized vertical AI companies inside industries such as energy, healthcare, financial services, manufacturing and aerospace.
Blair shares examples from Mercury’s portfolio, including Collide, which is building AI infrastructure for the energy industry; OmniScience, which is applying AI to clinical trial data; Cart.com, the Houston company that grew to roughly half a billion dollars in revenue in under five years; and Venus Aerospace, where generative AI helped enable a new approach to rocket propulsion.
