Voronoi mapped 305 AI startups founded or funded between Feb 2025 and Feb 2026 into a “Periodic Table of AI.”
Foundation models still dominate capital.
Roughly $80B went into 43 companies building large, general-purpose AI systems. That’s nearly double the funding of all other categories combined.
But the fastest growth isn’t happening there.
- AI coding tools are up ~320% year over year.
- AI agents grew ~260%.
- Vertical SaaS powered by AI jumped ~250%.
In short, the speed is now at the application layer.
Investors seem to be moving from “build the biggest model” to “solve a specific problem.”
There’s also a quieter frontier forming: security & compliance AI, robotics, and conversational/voice systems. These segments have strong capital momentum and could define the next cycle.
The pattern is clear:
• Foundation models = infrastructure
• AI tools & agents = productivity engine
• Vertical AI = real business value
• Frontier niches = next breakout zone
The AI market is maturing. Less abstract. More applied. More operational.
The interesting question now isn’t “who has the biggest model?” But “who’s turning AI into revenue, workflows & daily use?”
