Mind the Tech NY
a16z’s David Haber: “AI is making markets that weren’t attractive to software companies suddenly very compelling”
Speaking at Mind the Tech New York, Andreessen Horowitz’s general partner discussed AI’s impact, the evolving relationship between banks and fintechs, and why automation is redefining entire industries.
David Haber - Mind the Tech NY
(Tomeriko - Live Focus)
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape industries, few voices in venture capital are as insightful as David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. With a career that has spanned investment banking, entrepreneurship, and now venture capital, Haber has a unique perspective on the evolving relationship between financial institutions and technology. In a recent conversation at Calcalist’s Mind the Tech conference in New York, he shared his views on AI’s impact, the shifting dynamics between banks and fintechs, and the opportunities that lie ahead for investors and entrepreneurs.
Bridging finance and technology
Haber’s journey began in venture capital at Spark Capital, where he invested in early fintech startups, including Plaid. In 2013, he founded Bond Street, a small business lending platform, at a time when crucial financial data was just beginning to move online. The startup was later acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2017, where he spent three years helping shape the bank’s technology strategy.
Now at Andreessen Horowitz, Haber focuses on early-stage B2B software investments. "One of my favorite lines, and maybe a metaphor for my career, is that opportunities live between fields of expertise," he says. "I like living at the intersection—am I an entrepreneur? Am I an investor? Am I a startup or am I a bank? That’s where the opportunities are."
Are banks and fintechs rivals or partners?
For years, banks viewed fintech startups as potential threats, but Haber sees the relationship evolving. “The culture of technology is changing at financial institutions,” he notes. “U.S. banks may be a bit behind in this respect, but they’re catching up quickly, especially with AI accelerating the process.”
Andreessen Horowitz plays a role in bridging these two worlds. The firm regularly brings together fintech founders and top executives from major financial institutions in New York—what Haber calls "a win-win." By connecting these groups, the firm helps startups gain critical insights while giving financial institutions a direct line to innovation.
A prime example is Moment, an Andreessen-backed company founded by former Citadel Securities engineers. Moment is building a modern fixed-income trading infrastructure. “If you’re a large institution like JPMorgan, with thousands of advisors and trillions in assets, fixed-income trading is still incredibly manual,” Haber explains. “Moment is transforming that.”
The “messy inbox” problem
Haber recently wrote about what he calls the “messy inbox” problem—an AI-powered wedge strategy that is proving highly effective. Many industries rely on human administrators to extract data from unstructured inputs—emails, faxes, and phone calls—and enter it into structured systems. AI is now automating this entire workflow.
Take Tenor, a healthcare AI startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz. It tackles patient referral processing, which has long been a labor-intensive, error-prone process. “Right now, someone is literally taking a fax, reading it, and manually entering the data into an electronic health record system,” Haber says. “AI can extract that information automatically, reducing overhead by 90%.”
This strategy extends beyond healthcare. “It’s the same pattern in legal, finance, and other industries,” Haber adds.
Investing in the AI-first future
Andreessen Horowitz has raised substantial capital for its AI-focused funds, looking at applications across industries. One of its recent investments, Eve, is an AI-driven legal tech startup. Unlike traditional law firms that charge by the hour, Eve operates in the plaintiff law space, where lawyers work on contingency, only getting paid if they win cases. AI’s ability to streamline legal research and case preparation makes it an ideal fit for such a business model.
“AI is making markets that weren’t attractive to software companies suddenly very compelling,” Haber says. “That’s why we’re seeing massive investment in AI applications across all sectors.”
Watch his full remarks in the video above.
