- Grow Ventures' Managing Partner shares 2026 insights.
- "Efficient Growth" emerges as the key valuation metric.
- AI agents set to revolutionize logistics and dev tools.
- The "AI body" – infrastructure, power, cooling – is a hidden investment gem.
In a concise yet impactful discussion with CTech, Renana Ashkenazi, Managing Partner at Grow Ventures, offered a compelling outlook on the evolving landscape of technology and venture capital. From redefining company valuations to pinpointing the next frontier for AI autonomy, Ashkenazi's insights highlight critical areas for investors and innovators to watch.
Ashkenazi began by addressing the pivotal financial metric for valuing companies in 2026, emphasizing "efficient growth." Moving beyond mere speed, she underscored the importance of the *quality* of growth, suggesting that sustainable and strategic expansion will be paramount in the coming years. This shift reflects a maturing market where profitability and operational efficiency are increasingly prioritized alongside rapid scaling.
The conversation then pivoted to the transformative power of AI agents. Ashkenazi predicted that industries requiring reversible decisions or those where errors are tolerable would be the first to adopt full AI autopilot. She specifically cited supply chain logistics, warehouse automation, and dev tools as prime candidates. While acknowledging the potential for AI in critical sectors like healthcare, she stressed that such adoption would demand significant time and trust to overcome inherent risks.
Perhaps her most contrarian and compelling point centered on the "AI body." While much of the industry buzzes about "AI brain" – the foundational models and algorithms – Ashkenazi argued that the physical infrastructure supporting this revolution is massively undervalued. She highlighted the urgent need for advancements in power grids, compute infrastructure, and data center cooling, asserting that the current setup is inadequate to sustain the burgeoning AI revolution.
This focus on the underlying physical layer is already attracting significant capital, with major players like Andreessen Horowitz and Bill Gates' Katu fund making substantial investments. Ashkenazi's firm, Grow Ventures, is "very bullish" on this trend, viewing it as a critical, albeit less glamorous, component of AI's future success and a significant investment opportunity.
“Everyone's talking about AI brain, like the models, the foundational models, and I think that most, not everyone, but most are kind of ignoring the body.”
- Renana Ashkenazi, Managing Partner at Grove Ventures
