Landing 2024 – Navigating the Crossroads of Innovation and Economics

As 2024 winds down, two forces dominate the conversation: the AI boom and a shifting economic landscape. Is the rapid ascent of companies like x.ai and Anthropic a sustainable revolution or a bubble waiting to burst? How will Trump’s renewed policies on tariffs and immigration impact global markets? Meanwhile, Europe’s ambitious moves, such as the EU Startup Passport, signal a drive to bolster innovation across borders. Much more is needed, but it’s a welcome start. 

This month’s update explores these developments with a focus on their implications for investors. From AI breakthroughs to macroeconomic risks, we connect the dots to help you navigate this dynamic landscape.

Trump’s Economic Policies and Their Market Implications

With his decisive re-election, Donald Trump has doubled down on promises to “revitalise” the American economy through protectionist policies. Tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China have already been announced, with more expected in Q1 2025. While aimed at bolstering US domestic manufacturing, these policies come with risks:

• Inflationary Pressures: Tariffs act as taxes on imports, potentially raising prices for U.S. consumers. While inflation has eased to 2.1% in October, down from a peak of 9.1%, economists warn that new tariffs could disrupt this stability. 
• Corporate Impacts: Higher input costs for manufacturers reliant on imported goods could dampen profitability, particularly in sectors like automotive and consumer electronics.
• Deregulation and M&A: Some of these effects might be offset by Trump’s business-friendly stance, which is expected to spur M&A activity across the financial, energy and tech sectors.

While the potential upheaval of the US (and global) economy could become disruptive for businesses, we are sensing quite a lot of optimism from our US partners. There is a sense that deregulation and more dealmaking will spur continued economic growth. And that more M&A will provide more liquidity for the venture ecosystem. Everyone would like to see more exits and distributions after the past few years, and 2025 is starting to look like a compelling proposition. 

UK’s Struggle for Growth

The UK faces a paradox: high taxes and underfunded public services. Rachel Reeves’ October budget emphasised fiscal responsibility but offered little in terms of a growth strategy. Keir Starmer recently reaffirmed the importance of growth but has yet to deliver a clear plan.

• Policy Gaps: The lack of actionable reforms to address supply-side constraints, such as infrastructure and labour productivity, remains a concern.
• Economic Stability: A £63bn international investment summit earlier this month highlights the appetite for UK opportunities, provided stability is maintained.

Europe’s Tech Renaissance at Slush

This year’s Slush conference in Helsinki showcased the strength and promise of Europe’s tech ecosystem. With over 13,000 attendees, the event underscored Europe’s growing appeal as a hub for innovation. Key takeaways include:

• Talent Pipeline: Europe’s emphasis on technical education is paying off, with a noticeable increase in deep tech and AI-focused startups.
• Funding Landscape: Despite challenges from global VC headwinds, European startups continue to attract capital, particularly in climate tech and SaaS.

Investment Implications: Investors should explore pan-European opportunities, particularly in regions like the Nordics and Germany, where policy support aligns with robust talent and capital markets.

The EU Startup Passport—A Unified Vision

The European Union’s Startup Passport initiative aims to revolutionise cross-border business operations. By creating a unified legal framework, it eliminates the complexity of navigating 27 different regulatory systems. Highlights include:

• Streamlined Compliance: Standardized rules for hiring, tax filings, and patents.
• Growth Potential: The initiative is expected to boost startup scalability across the EU’s 400 million consumers.
• Challenges for the UK: While the UK remains outside the framework for now, there are hopes that we can get closer to this over time. 

AI Giants and the “Peak AI” Debate

The AI arms race shows no signs of slowing down. In November, two major moves captured headlines:

• Anthropic’s $40bn Valuation: Amazon’s additional $4bn investment highlights a growing focus on safety and governance in AI.
• x.ai’s Meteoric Rise: Elon Musk’s generative AI platform, now valued at $50bn, up from $24bn in May, shows the power of his fundraising skills. There are strong arguments for why this could be a viable contender, both with the X data set and with guaranteed business from Tesla, where X.ai will help develop next-generation self-driving capabilities. 

While the AI behemoths raise evermore capital, some observers ask whether we are “Peak AI”. The fundamental question is whether we are starting to see a limit to how good the AI models can get. Industry leaders like Sam Altman and Dario Amodei argue otherwise, pointing to untapped areas of innovation, including: 

1. Synthetic Data: Reducing reliance on expensive human-labeled datasets.
2. Advanced Training Techniques: Methods like chain-of-thought prompting are unlocking new capabilities in reasoning and adaptability.

As investors keep throwing billions at the foundational model companies, we continue to see real opportunities in vertical AI applications in industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics. These ares are more capital-efficient and still offer significant scalability.

AI in Scientific Discovery

A groundbreaking MIT study highlighted AI’s transformative role in research - specifically in material sciences. The study looked at how researchers can use AI to discover more new compounds that can be used in many industrial applications such as automotive, renewable energy etc. :

• Productivity Boost: AI-assisted researchers discovered 44% more materials, leading to a 39% increase in patent filings.
• Uneven Gains: Top-performing researchers saw the most benefit, while others struggled with false positives.

Landing 2024 and gearing up for 2025

As we land this year to refuel and prepare for 2025, we are seeing continued strong opportunities. AI continues to power ahead and fuel the broader tech sector. And political shifts in the US are creating expectations for more dealmaking and strong economic growth. Hopefully, there will also be pressure for European economies to take reform and deregulation seriously so we can drive more growth in our own economies. 

We prepare the final leg of 2024 full of optimism for the opportunities ahead. 2024 was in many ways a really good year. We think 2025 can be even better.