Early-stage startup founders looking for insight into future venture capital trends should mark their calendars for October 27th at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025. At 1:00 pm on the Builders Stage, the industry’s leading venture capitalists will talk about the emerging investment priorities set to shape the startup ecosystem in 2026 and beyond.
Featuring on this exclusive panel are Nina Achadjian of Index Ventures, Jerry Chen from Greylock, and Viviana Faga from Felicis. The three prominent investors will discuss highly-favored sectors such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, robotics, and more.
Nina Achadjian is a prominent partner at Index Ventures, focusing on seed, venture, and growth-stage investments within AI, robotics, enterprise software, and vertical SaaS ventures. Her strategy targets companies capable of automating overlooked industry functions, replacing outdated manual methods and isolated legacy systems. Achadjian values founders with deep empathy, relentless curiosity, and an unwavering growth mindset toward customer-driven innovation.
Jerry Chen, a general partner at Greylock since 2013, has earned a strong reputation investing in entrepreneurs who combine sharp product instincts with robust operational skills. Chen’s areas of expertise include AI, data analytics, business applications, cloud infrastructure, and open-source technologies. Known for spotting early talent, Chen previously served for a decade in senior product leadership roles at VMware, guiding the company’s growth from 250 employees up to over 15,000.
Felicis General Partner Viviana Faga rounds out the panel, bringing more than 20 years of experience developing and scaling successful SaaS and cloud businesses. Focused on messaging, branding, go-to-market strategies, category creation, freemium product models, and building high-performance sales enablement teams, Faga has served in pivotal marketing roles at Salesforce, Yammer, Platfora, and Zenefits, and as an operating partner at Emergence Capital.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 runs from October 27th to 29th at Moscone West in San Francisco. The dynamic event promises valuable networking opportunities, exclusive insights from leading investors, and essential intelligence for those aiming to understand future investment trends.
Attendees are encouraged to register early, with special ticket discounts available for a limited time.
