An interesting observation from the guys at Varys Capital — it seems that the venture environment has truly changed dramatically over the past six months. Tom Dunlavy, who is responsible for investments at the fund, noticed something important: previously, venture investors literally lived on social media, posted content, appeared on podcasts, hung out in Spaces, called hundreds of people weekly. Now, everything is different.

Now, it’s enough to simply have free capital. Projects come to you themselves if they know you have the funds. You don’t need to seek them out — they find you on their own. This is a radical shift in the game.

Looking at the current situation — most venture funds are in one of three states: either they’ve run out of money, or they’ve moved on to later rounds (Series A and above), or they are currently seeking funding but without much success. Funding timelines have stretched — what used to close in 2-3 weeks can now drag on for months. Sometimes even 2-3 months.

I also noticed that projects with questionable business models or simply copying trends no longer receive funding. That’s good, actually. It’s a natural cleansing of the market.

The most interesting thing — according to Varys Capital, the number of true investors who continue to make pre-seed and seed investments may be fewer than twenty. Fewer than twenty! That’s a very tight group. But now they are in a position of strength — they can calmly choose projects, spend more time on due diligence, and not rush to make decisions.

If venture investors stay in the game, 2025-2026 could become a historic golden opportunity. But that’s only if they don’t exit the market altogether.