In the startup economy, investment trends have recently shifted. In 2025, venture capitalists (VCs) have spent less money on seed and early-stage startups globally. According to Crunchbase’s Q1 2025 startup investment report, global early-stage investment fell to $24 billion, the lowest level in at least five quarters. At the same time, investments in late-stage startups are surging, so it’s not all bad news, but adjustments must be made.
title=”YouTube video player” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” referrerpolicy=”strict-origin-when-cross-origin” allowfullscreen=””>The shift in investor behavior is one reason why Block Dojo, a global venture builder, changed its program. Historically, the Dojo prepared startups for investment pitches, but now the focus is more commercial and dedicated to product development.
These program changes were reflected in the Block Dojo’s Pilot Launch Night on July 31, 2025, with the 11th Cohort, a group of five startups utilizing Web3 and artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
“We are using AI to provide product recommendations, health and lifestyle insights, and expert network of support, so the human AI element combined and maybe a bit of blockchain in there later,” Natalie Piacun, SkinBio Founder & CEO, told CoinGeek.
Winnie Akadjo, Founder & CEO of Aeli, is starting off with AI to help therapists scale their expertise by creating practice plans that individuals can complete in their own time. Blockchain is next up on the list.
“Data and security is a really important part of our business, so we’re looking at building it on an ICP, which is a decentralized solution and that’s part of a blockchain solution,” Akadjo revealed.
Lyndsey Salah, Founder & CEO of Sourcemark, is also using blockchain to guarantee data integrity.
“We’re using blockchain technology to give creators this proof of their ownership and their consent, which they can use if there’s ever any issues where their content might have been used to train AI without their consent,” she explained.
Gigz is the world’s first AI marketplace for musicians, and Ran Barnea, Co-Founder and CEO, is a musician himself who can relate to the industry’s pain points.
“We’re moving past the world of descriptions and text into describing music and feeling music and experiencing music, and we’re moving towards understanding and actually listening to music using AI,” he shared.
The final startup from Cohort 11, Osirian Labs, is building EDITH, an AI agent to detect inconsistencies and decode behavioral patterns, according to Jakub Lipinski, Founder & CEO.
Another reason the Dojo decided to focus on product development is the advancements in AI tools. It’s quicker and cheaper to build software, research, and market products than ever before. This means startups need less investment up front and can focus more on their product before seeking investment.
“Usually, you go for investment, so they can build a product, and then you can try to gain traction. Now we think it’s possible to do it the other way around,” shared Matthias De Cnuydt-Hope, Block Dojo Program Director.
“First of all, you will be in a much better position to go raise investment because it’s a lot less risky for the investor to back your product and the investor will be happy because it’s like you have validated the whole approach already,” he said.
“What we’ve been slowly doing in the program now is trying to get the founders a lot more commercially driven, a lot more commercially focused. Call it founder-led sales,” added Alexander Ball, Block Dojo’s Investment Director.
Based on the feedback from the startups, the shift in focus was a welcome one.
“I think it’s actually a better approach. There was a lot of investment into tech, and the tech companies often failed or flopped. And now it’s really good to see traction, build your prototype with pilot program with users, build waiting lists, and really kind of get excitement and momentum around the product, and then excite the investors with that,” shared Piacun.
“Before, I think it was really very heavily pitching for investment. This is more about showing what the product does and showing traction, and so I think it’s a smart way to do it,” said Salah.
“I think right now, as you obviously know, we’re building so fast with AI, it can automate so much of the process, it’s going back into the consumer-centric world, and I think it’s a great move,” added Barnea.
After three months of intensive building with the Dojo team and working with a dedicated pitch coach, the startups took the stage to deliver their commercial pitches followed by demos, networking and a chance for attendees to vote on the most exciting business for “The People’s Choice Award.”
De Cnuydt-Hope announced Aeli as the winner, a platform built to support the two million people in the United Kingdom who are affected by PTSD.
“Only one in four people get treatment, and the waitlist in the NHS can take up to four years. So, our solution enables people to have access to affordable therapy and mental health practices as well to help them manage their mental health,” shared Akadjo, a grateful Founder with an amazing purpose.
In order for artificial intelligence (AI) to work right within the law and thrive in the face of growing challenges, it needs to integrate an enterprise blockchain system that ensures data input quality and ownership—allowing it to keep data safe while also guaranteeing the immutability of data. Check out CoinGeek’s coverage on this emerging tech to learn more why Enterprise blockchain will be the backbone of AI.
Watch: The next big thing? Discover startups making waves at Block Dojo Cohort 10