Another year is ahead of us with exciting technological advancements. With the unfolding of AI, Blockchain, and Social, we listed a few trends that will shape 2025!
1. Verticalize for the Win
The “workplace” will face further disruption in 2025 with the rise of AI.
AI agents that “do the work” will increasingly replace SaaS and, frankly, significant portions of the workforce. These AI pilots are already making a serious impact in digitally advanced sectors such as AgTech, logistics, mining, construction, and maritime.
Agentic AI operating on top of business data will wield even stronger decision-making power by 2025. SaaS companies will face an existential challenge: what value will they actually “fix” for their clients? Could 2025 mark the beginning of SaaS becoming obsolete? As Sequoia Capital notes, the next generation of apps will be built by those that “sit on top” of business data.
These applications will also penetrate businesses rapidly, acting as the AI sidekick to colleagues. They will be highly verticalized, empowering traditional industries—long resistant to tech adoption—to leap forward.
Source: Sequoia Capital on Generative AI
2. The Rise of Smaller LLMs
Small but powerful LLMs will carve a niche in specialized business applications. We believe that their growth, combined with open-source development, will create the perfect storm for innovation. Expect 2025 to bring more use cases where robots equipped with LLMs handle increasingly complex tasks.
There’s a noticeable uptick in demand for hardware + software engineers. Noteworthy advancements include the tiny Nvidia supercomputer and Hugging Face’s milestone of 1.2M models, with nearly 500M downloads for Stable Diffusion alone.
Small and Open Source for the win.
3. 2025 Will Be a Crypto Bull Market (Take It with a Grain of Salt)
A big year lies ahead for crypto, particularly Bitcoin. Solana continues to dominate liquidity and has attracted significant development power—a trend expected to persist into 2025. Meanwhile, chains like SUI are gaining traction, and Ethereum Layer 2 solutions will see positive momentum, though they face a talent drain.
In terms of price, altcoins may struggle to reach new highs due to the absence of fresh market entrants. We predict a milder bull market with Bitcoin potentially hitting the $150K mark. However, by Q3 2025, inflation may resurface, slowing liquidity flows.
Bonus: Keep an eye on the rise of AI-powered wallets.
Source: Pantera Capital Research
4. Crypto in 2025: The Year of Clarity
Regulations will become more predictable, especially in the U.S. with pro-crypto leadership in place. Strategic reserves in Bitcoin are also under consideration by several nations.
Interestingly, stablecoins are emerging as the quiet winners, accounting for 50% of blockchain transactions—a trend expected to grow in 2025.
5. The EU Investing Scene: More Sideways Movement
The European investing scene remains shaky. Angels are making a comeback, but funds are slow to follow. According to a recent report, European startups are $2B short of projected funding for 2024.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and APAC regions are experiencing significant growth in investment, widening the gap. High regulation, bureaucracy, and an unhealthy business climate are driving more founders to relocate to Bali, Colombia, and the UAE.
Source: The “11x” startup story offers a telling case: Sifted Article
6. The Rise of Venture Studios in CEE
Venture studios are stepping up in the Balkans, addressing gaps in angel support. These agile, agnostic studios are better suited to the fast-paced market, offering tailored support and focused leadership—a clear departure from the weaker accelerator/incubator model.
7. More Fraud and More AI
We’re entering a deepfake-driven world. Imagine an AI simulating your mother’s voice to scam you for money—this scenario is no longer far-fetched.
Robo-fraud calls alone caused $76B in losses globally. Solutions like the “UK O2 Granny” bot show promise in countering this problem, wasting scammers’ time instead of yours. As video and voice tech advance, “AI guardians” will become critical, creating opportunities for innovative companies.
Sources: Virgin Media O2 News | Juniper Research
8. Live Social and the Rise of VTubers
Live platforms like Whatnot are transforming how consumers shop, offering a real-time, fast-paced experience reminiscent of live TV. This trend, which gained momentum in Asia via platforms like TikTok, is now spreading to the EU.
Meanwhile, VTubers—AI-generated avatars performed by actors—are rising. Soon, these avatars may become fully autonomous, marking a significant cultural and technological shift.
9. The Resurgence of Local Manufacturing
In 2025, the global push for supply chain resilience will drive a resurgence in local manufacturing. Businesses will increasingly embrace nearshoring and onshoring to reduce dependency on global supply chains, especially for critical sectors like semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and renewable energy components.
Emerging technologies like 3D printing and modular production facilities will make it easier and more cost-effective for companies to produce goods closer to home, meeting both economic and sustainability goals.
10. The Year of the Robot…and China
Robots are arriving en masse, not just in obvious sectors like logistics and manufacturing. We’re closely following the rise of Chinese robotics companies supporting various industries. In some cases, you can buy a “worker” for under $3K. Combined with advancements in LLMs (like DeepSpeak), this creates a fascinating dynamic.
Placing a small bet on general Chinese tech stocks might not be a bad idea either.
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