New VC Unfiltered Episode — Live from Lightning Round VIII

This 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 understanding
08:31 - Evaluating pitch decks and realistic market sizing (TAM SAM SOM)
12:35 - Assessing AI-native platforms and technology moats
18:32 - Importance of distribution, team, and strategic partnerships
20:53 - Networking tips for founders and persistence advice
28:21 - Current AI adoption curve and enterprise use cases
34:00 - AI usage in startups and human-AI collaboration
42:01 - AI market potential and emerging specialization trends
45:50 - What investors look for in founders before writing a check
52:26 - Finalist pitch: a2a Cloud - multi-agent orchestration and governance
01:02:21 - Finalist pitch: Contrax AI - federal defense bidding automation
01:13:57 - Finalist pitch: Prilog - AI remediation platform for software bugs
01:22:48 - Finalist pitch: Kindred - regulatory filings automation for medical devices
01:35:57 - Announcement of winner and closing remarks from judges and hosts


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