VCs Embrace AI Tools to Boost Dealflow and Efficiency

Rising stars in venture capital share how they use ChatGPT, NotebookLM, and other AI tech to find deals, prep for pitches, and move faster.

Published on Feb. 7, 2026

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For a generation of venture capitalists raised on digital tools, AI has become a core part of the job. We asked Business Insider's 2026 Rising Stars of Venture Capital how they use technology like ChatGPT and Google's NotebookLM to source deals, research markets, and streamline workflows. From mapping emerging categories to stress-testing investment theses, these up-and-coming VCs shared the specific ways AI is boosting their productivity and decision-making.

Why it matters

As AI capabilities rapidly advance, venture capital firms are embracing the technology to gain an edge in a highly competitive industry. By using AI tools to expand their sourcing capacity, get up to speed on new markets, and enhance their diligence process, these rising-star VCs are setting a new standard for how the industry leverages cutting-edge tech.

The details

The VCs interviewed shared a range of use cases for AI in their day-to-day work. Miloni Madan Presler of IVP uses AI to map emerging categories and identify non-obvious companies, while Shruti Kumar of Tusk Ventures relies on AI to expand her firm's outbound sourcing. Meera Oak of Alumni Ventures uses AI-generated audio briefings to quickly get up to speed before founder meetings, and Angèle Sahraoui of Slow Ventures uses AI to synthesize call transcripts and other deal materials. Several VCs also highlighted using AI to stress-test investment theses and challenge their own thinking before making investment decisions.

  • The 2026 Rising Stars of Venture Capital were recently honored by Business Insider.

The players

Miloni Madan Presler

Partner at IVP, a venture capital firm.

Shruti Kumar

Vice president at Tusk Ventures, a venture capital firm.

Meera Oak

Partner at Alumni Ventures, a venture capital firm.

Angèle Sahraoui

Investor at Slow Ventures, a venture capital firm.

Laurel

A company that IVP has invested in, focused on vertical AI in the legal industry.

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What they’re saying

“In sourcing and thesis work, AI helps me map emerging categories. For example, if I'm exploring vertical AI in legal or healthcare, I can synthesize thousands of company descriptions, research reports, and job posts, then cluster them by workflow, buyer, and data advantage. That surfaces non-obvious adjacencies and edge cases where new category leaders might emerge. Our investment in Laurel came out of that kind of bottom-up work in legal.”

— Miloni Madan Presler, Partner (Business Insider)

“In addition to organic sourcing, we use AI tools to surface companies and isolate specific quality signals we care about. This has significantly expanded our outbound sourcing capacity, allowing us to refresh our top-of-funnel each week without adding investment team head count. We then layer in CRM AI features to identify warm introduction paths, prioritize outreach, and automate pipeline management to improve follow-through.”

— Shruti Kumar, Vice President (Business Insider)

“One area where I get the most leverage is information consumption. I genuinely love the audio medium, and podcasts have become my dominant source of news and media. As such, I've really enjoyed using NotebookLM's Audio feature to turn often dense material into podcast-style briefings ahead of meetings with prospective founders. It helps me quickly come up to speed on core ideas and questions while commuting or running errands.”

— Meera Oak, Partner (Business Insider)

“Call transcripts have been a total game-changer. Days are filled with conversations where the information density is extremely high, and there's only so much a human can retain in real time. My favorite workflow is creating a ChatGPT channel per deal where I drop all related materials and call transcripts from Granola. AI helps synthesize that information so I can reduce time-to-decision while actually increasing decision quality.”

— Angèle Sahraoui, Investor (Business Insider)

The takeaway

As AI capabilities continue to advance, venture capital firms are increasingly embracing the technology to gain a competitive edge. By using AI tools to expand their sourcing capacity, get up to speed on new markets, and enhance their diligence process, these rising-star VCs are setting a new standard for how the industry leverages cutting-edge tech to drive better investment decisions and outcomes.