1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Amir Kabir, Overlook Ventures (Part 4)

Sramana Mitra: So, you said you were looking for three things. Number one is the founder and really the founder-problem fit. What are the other two things that you’re looking for?

Amir Kabir: The other two would be—have you spent time in that sector you’re trying to solve the problem in or the product that you’re building? And with that, the third thing is either deep market knowledge because you’ve spent time there or unique insights that not everybody can have. These are the things that are important to me.

Sramana Mitra: So, all of it is really the founder and domain knowledge, which makes perfect sense, because if you’re going to focus on risk as your primary investment thesis and applications of AI and data and technology into the risk domain—risk is not a domain that people can work in without deep domain knowledge. It’s just not.

Amir Kabir: That’s right.

Sramana Mitra: What about geography? You said you invested in Mexico. Are you looking at a global investment thesis?

Amir Kabir: No, I would fool myself to say that I can look at everything in the world. However, I am mostly focused on the U.S. or on companies that are at least incorporated in the U.S. from the investment perspective.

This company in Mexico is a unique opportunity. They are operating in Mexico and are incorporated in the U.S. I believe there’s a tremendous opportunity within Latin America when it comes to risk and risk-related businesses. There’s a lot happening in the broader market there—shifting demographics, shifting buyer sentiment, a growing middle class, and more appetite for digital products.

I believe there’s an opportunity to invest in the next decacorn in Latin America. So, I’m very much interested in learning and meeting founders building in that geography.

It’s very hard to invest as a solo GP sitting in San Francisco in a company that is in India, Africa, or Asia. There are smart people out there building great stuff.

Sramana Mitra: It’s not easy to invest in Latin America either. Finding those entrepreneurs in Latin America who have understanding of risk in Latin America is not an easy task.

Amir Kabir: It is not. I’m fortunate to be connected and have a network within the Latin American region where I get into these deals differently. I don’t travel there for a month to figure it out—it’s more founder-based and investor-based. It’s a collaborative approach.

Sramana Mitra: Okay. And how are you looking at AI? What is your analysis of AI? What are the assumptions?

There’s one set of believers within AI who are betting on AGI becoming available relatively soon. The definition of “soon” varies from person to person. The impact of AGI on vertical AI in particular, which aligns with your investment thesis—how are you thinking about these problems?

Amir Kabir: As I mentioned, AI is now the newest hype cycle, and everybody’s focused on it. It’s obviously a very big topic. People compare it to the start of the internet and other major milestones in technology.

I don’t focus so much on whether you are an AI-first company or a vertical AI company. If you look at any deck today, everyone says they have some sort of AI. But if you dig deeper, it’s often not really AI—it’s just framed as such.

When this wave started, many investors focused on large language models and big platforms. Now, everyone is focused on the application layer, which is where I focus as well. It has become very crowded and difficult to understand why AI for compliance in banking from company X versus AI for compliance in banking from company Y.

That’s why I said in the beginning, technology alone won’t be the differentiator—AI is becoming ubiquitous. The winners will be those with a proprietary go-to-market strategy and proprietary domain knowledge, which translates into that go-to-market edge.

This segment is part 4 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator AI Investor Forum: Amir Kabir, Overlook Ventures
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