Private Tech Investor Enthusiasm Persists as Public AI Debt Worries Grow
At Morgan Stanley’s annual private tech companies conference in Dana Point, Calif., this week, investors remained enthusiastic about startups—especially in the defense and inference sectors—and were impressed by the growth of companies like Fireworks AI, The Information reported. Meanwhile, public-market investors are increasingly worried about overborrowing by AI-related companies, as seen in skyrocketing yields on CoreWeave bonds, a selloff in semiconductor stocks and the yanking of Australian data center operator Firmus’s IPO. Diana Doyle, Morgan Stanley’s head of technology equity and equity-linked capital markets, described a “stark disconnect between the public markets and the private markets.”
It reflects a growing split in AI capital markets, with private investors still enthusiastic about AI startups while public markets start to flag AI-related debt risks.