Data-Driven Venture Capital: How Artificial Intelligence Is Transforming Investment Decisions

Abstract

Venture capital (VC) is increasingly adopting artificial intelligence (AI) strengthen data-driven decision-making. This article investigates how AI is reshaping VC investment practices, drawing on a survey of 15 professionals—including emerging fund managers, venture analysts, and asset managers—from Turkey, Lithuania, and neighboring emerging ecosystems. We present the survey methodology, review academic and industry perspectives, and highlight key findings on AI adoption, perceived benefits, barriers, and future outlook.

The survey included questions on current AI use, benefits, barriers, and expectations. The results show that most respondents already use AI tools, primarily to enhance deal sourcing and due diligence efficiency. Participants identified faster data processing, improved decision quality, and reduced human bias as major benefits, echoing prior research, while citing data availability, explainability, and cultural resistance as critical barriers. In the future, respondents expect AI to become integral to VC, a competitive advantage for those who embrace it, while emphasizing that human judgment and oversight will remain essential. Overall, AI emerges as a transformative force in venture investing, augmenting human expertise and offering the potential to significantly improve efficiency and generate deeper insights across decision-making workflows, provided that the challenges of data quality, transparency, and human–AI collaboration are effectively addressed.

This study contributes a novel, practice-grounded perspective by presenting original survey evidence from emerging venture ecosystems (Türkiye and Lithuania), a context largely absent from prior academic work that has focused on large, mature markets. The paper thus extends the evidence base on how investors actually employ AI across the venture lifecycle.

Keywords

• Artificial intelligence
• Venture capital
• Investment decision-making
• Large language models (LLMs)
• Emerging markets

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