How to Raise Venture Capital: AI Startup Pitches & Investor Advice | 1752vc

New VC Unfiltered Episode  — Live from Lightning Round VIIIThis episode of VC Unfiltered was recorded live at Lightning Round VIII, where four high-potential startups pitched technologies pushing the edge of AI and applied innovation.Featured companies include:a2a cloud: A governed runtime for autonomous agents that adds identity, scoped permissions, and signed receipts so every agent action in production can be audited and replayed.Contrax AI: An AI platform purpose-built for federal DLA/DIBBS contracting that surfaces winnable solicitations, auto-compiles bids, and prices them to win.Prilog: Self-healing software that turns production incidents into ready-to-review fix PRs automatically, cutting hours of debugging down to minutes.KINDRED: Agentic regulatory intelligence that turns medical-device data into defensible, citation-backed regulatory filings using a reasoning engine built on a lawyer-encoded regulatory graph.The episode also includes perspectives from experienced investors and operators:Kunal Phalak — Vice President, WestBridge Capital.Invests in early- to growth-stage AI. A founder-turned-investor since 2018, focused on vertical AI, Voice AI, and enterprise automation. Wharton MBA; IIT Bombay EE.Zachary Betts — General Partner, Zandia Ventures.SF Bay Area family-office investor-operator. 25+ years advising seed-to-growth startups across healthcare, medical devices, and AI, all built for measurable human and planetary impact.Keith Yoder — Director of BD and Senior Associate, Innovent Capital.Director of Business Development and Senior Investment Associate at Innovent Capital, the family office of serial entrepreneur Brett Markinson, backing early-stage technology companies.Stay through the final pitch showdown to see which startup takes the top prize.If you're building, investing, or tracking where early-stage innovation is heading, this episode offers a front-row view of what founders are working on right now.Listen to VC Unfiltered on Youtube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your pods!04:16 - Investor insights on founder qualities and market understanding08:31 - Evaluating pitch decks and realistic market sizing (TAM SAM SOM)12:35 - Assessing AI-native platforms and technology moats18:32 - Importance of distribution, team, and strategic partnerships20:53 - Networking tips for founders and persistence advice28:21 - Current AI adoption curve and enterprise use cases34:00 - AI usage in startups and human-AI collaboration42:01 - AI market potential and emerging specialization trends45:50 - What investors look for in founders before writing a check52:26 - Finalist pitch: a2a Cloud - multi-agent orchestration and governance01:02:21 - Finalist pitch: Contrax AI - federal defense bidding automation01:13:57 - Finalist pitch: Prilog - AI remediation platform for software bugs01:22:48 - Finalist pitch: Kindred - regulatory filings automation for medical devices01:35:57 - Announcement of winner and closing remarks from judges and hosts#startup #venturecapital