Equity's 2026 Predictions: AI Agents, Blockbuster IPOs, and the Future of VC

Equity

TechCrunch

Entrepreneurship, Business News, News, Business, Technology

4.2 • 372 Ratings

🗓️ 26 December 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TechCrunch's Equity crew is bringing 2025 to a close and getting ahead on the year to come with our annual predictions episode! Hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Rebecca Bellan were joined by Build Mode host Isabelle Johansson to dissect the year's biggest tech developments, from mega AI funding rounds that defied expectations to the rise of "physical AI," and make their calls for 2026. The group tackles everything from why AI agents didn't live up to the hype in 2025 (but probably will in 2026), to how Hollywood will push back against AI-generated content, to why VCs are facing a serious liquidity crisis. Listen to the full episode to hear: Why world models are the next big thing in AI and how they're different from large language models The death of "stealth mode" for AI startups and the rise of alternative funding sources Predictions on regulatory chaos around AI policy and what Trump's recent executive order means for startups Hot takes on IPOs: Will OpenAI and Anthropic actually go public in 2026? Rapid-fire predictions including Johnny Ive and Sam Altman's inevitable public breakup, the return of dumb phones, and why everyone will be calling themselves "AI native" What's coming in Build Mode season 2: A deep dive into team building, hiring, and finding co-founders Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:43 - Rating our 2025 predictions 04:19 - Funding in the bubble era 06:35 - World models and the future of AI 09:05 - The year of AI agents (for real this time) 11:58 - Physical AI everywhere 15:19 - AI meets Hollywood 16:25 - Regulatory chaos and federal preemption 18:34 - The liquidity crisis and LP direct investing 22:19 - IPO predictions for 2026 23:57 - Startup trends for 2026 27:06 - Buzzwords we're sick of hearing 28:15 - Rapid fire predictions 32:50 - What's next for Build Mode Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	J.P. Morgan has teams to support you at every stage of your growth. As former founders who have worked in local markets themselves, the bankers of J.P. Morgan bring deep sector knowledge and lived experience to their clients. JPMorgan can help you navigate complexity with confidence, backed by real world insights in an entrepreneurial perspective.
0:18.8	Get what your startup needs now at JPMorgan.com
0:22.7	slash grow without limits. JPMorgan is the Bank of the Innovation Economy. Hello and welcome
0:29.1	back to Equity TechCrunch's flagship podcast about the business of startups. I'm Kirsten
0:34.3	Koresak, transportation editor at TechCrunch, and today is Friday, December 26.
0:39.4	I am joined by a larger group of people today, so that's very exciting. As always, we can
0:44.8	editor Anthony Haas with us, as well as Senior AI Reporter Rebecca Belon, and Isabel Johansson,
0:51.6	who has this very lengthy title, Head of Startup Battlefield Program, and also the host of our newest podcast, Build Mode.
0:59.8	Woo!
1:00.4	I like that little woo-hoo.
1:01.6	Anthony, were you kind of working a little bit with Isabel on the podcast?
1:06.4	Did you know it was coming back a couple months ago?
1:08.7	I knew it in the sense that I just received a lot of
1:12.6	nudges that I should be promoting the podcast on stage at Battlefield, which is the correct thing to do.
1:19.6	And I certainly did my best. Then I actually, you know, talking to Isabel and talking to Maggie,
1:23.8	one of our other producers about the podcast, I was just really excited to hear that it was coming and what they were up to. Yeah, no pressure, Anthony, but thanks for the promo.
1:31.7	I can also tell you a little bit about build mode, but basically we wanted to launch a podcast
1:36.2	that's sort of the survival guide for early stage founders because every year we see about
1:41.4	5,000 people throw their hat in the ring for startup battlefield,
1:44.8	but we only choose 200, which might sound like a lot, but really it's pretty competitive. And so
1:49.6	this podcast was born out of the idea that we wanted to sort of democratize and spread the
1:55.0	knowledge that a lot of founders here in Silicon Valley have access to, but two founders around
	...

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