The world model is crowded with post-2000s.

If we say that there is a generational change in technology venture capital, then this might be the craziest generational reshuffle in the history of AI venture capital.

There is no slow iteration, no smooth transition. Instead, the post - 2000 generation, in the guise of rule - breakers, has forcefully broken into the most hardcore entrepreneurial field - the "world model".

Different from the step - by - step development in the mobile Internet era, these digital natives born after the millennium have directly skipped industry accumulation and stood at the top of the capital pyramid. Some of them hold hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars in financing and compete on the same stage with academic titans like Fei - Fei Li. Others have comprehensively outperformed established enterprises that have been deeply involved in the industry for many years in terms of valuation.

It can be said that the entrepreneurial discourse power in the AI track is unconsciously shifting towards the younger generation.

Collective "Defection" of Capital

Somehow, the trend in the venture capital circle has completely changed. In the past, during the Internet era, investors only valued resumes, team backgrounds, technology, and commercialization capabilities. Now, in the AI track, the screening criteria seem to boil down to one category: post - 2000, top - tier universities, and technology geniuses.

At the 20th China Investment Annual Conference & Annual Summit, Cao Xi of Lisi Capital frankly stated that the generational switch in the AI industry has been completed. "In our fund's investment portfolio, the age of founders has rapidly dropped from the post - 1995 generation to the post - 2000 generation."

This perception has quickly spread in the venture capital circle. Many investors believe that the post - 2000 generation is full of vitality and represents the native generation of AI.

"They grew up in an era of the explosion of large models and the maturity of the open - source ecosystem. They have no path dependence on mobile Internet thinking and are not restricted by obsolete business logic. They also have an innate intuition for cutting - edge directions such as spatial intelligence, physical reasoning, and 3D generation that the older generation of practitioners cannot replicate," an investor commented.

Another investor also told me that many investors now like to invest in the post - 2000 generation because they represent a new paradigm and have the purest way of thinking. Most importantly, they have not been proven wrong.

"This is just like the Internet + and new consumption waves back then. In the eyes of investors, young people may understand young people better. Especially in the face of new technologies and new paradigms, the lack of industry experience has instead become the biggest advantage, and past experience may be a burden."

A set of data also shows that in the AI financing projects in Q1 of 2026, the proportion of founders under 30 years old reached 34%. In contrast, in 2024, this figure was only 12%. A report released by the early - stage venture capital firm Antler also shows that the average age of AI unicorn founders has changed from 40 in 2020 to 29 in 2024.

Although the data for 2025 has not been released, the trend of youthfulness is already very obvious, which also confirms from the side the inclination of capital towards young entrepreneurs.

"Hidden Worries" Emerge

When capital collectively turns to and bets on the younger generation, a problem arises: there are entrepreneurial projects everywhere, but there are very few excellent or top - notch projects.

I noticed that under the above - mentioned labels, any post - 2000 individual who graduated from top - tier universities like Stanford and MIT and is deeply involved in the fields of large models and world models will be hunted by capital as long as they show a little promise.

Take four post - 2000 individuals from MIT as an example. Their company, Anysphere, is deeply involved in the AI programming track. Although it has not completed large - scale commercialization, it has received investments from top - tier capital such as the OpenAI Fund. In just two and a half years since its establishment, the company's valuation has exceeded 65 billion yuan, making it one of the super unicorns.

Edwin Chen, a Chinese - American genius who dropped out of Stanford, is also very popular among capital. His data annotation company, Surge AI, raised 1 billion US dollars in its first - round financing, and the company's valuation quickly soared to 24 billion US dollars. Correspondingly, Edwin Chen's personal net worth has reached 18 billion US dollars.

The same is true for Hong Letong, who was admitted to MIT at the age of 17. During his time at MIT, Hong Letong completed a double major in mathematics and physics in three years and took 20 graduate courses before dropping out to found Axiom Math. Since starting his business, Hong Letong has completed a Series A financing of 200 million US dollars, and the valuation has exceeded 1.6 billion US dollars.

Most importantly, as a post - 2000 individual, Hong Letong has also attracted industry bigwigs such as Ken Ono, the former director of Meta AI research and an academic authority. This has allowed investors to see the additional excellent leadership, operational ability, and resource integration ability that Hong Letong has under the halo of a "genius girl", and has also made "dropping out" no longer an unsightly resume but a unique label for "genius teenagers".

However, some hidden worries cannot be ignored under this "carnival".

Firstly, there is high premium. Some investors frankly admit that the valuation of AI startups founded by the post - 2000 generation has reached 3 - 4 billion yuan, which is on par with or even exceeds that of technology companies that have been in the industry for many years.

Secondly, there is a impetuous atmosphere. When capital chases after the post - 2000 generation and frantically competes for talents, some young entrepreneurs may have already deviated and unconsciously chased short - term trends.

Thirdly, and most importantly, is the ability to cross the cycle. For the post - 2000 generation, they may have many ideas, but there may still be deficiencies in execution, team management, and cost control. For the world model track, which is an area that requires a large amount of capital, has a long cycle, and has extremely low tolerance for errors, whether these post - 2000 individuals can successfully cross the cycle remains unknown.

However, this does not seem to prevent capital from actively paying for the "future". In terms of track investment, after the growth of the traditional Internet track has reached its peak and there is an asset shortage in the market, the AI track has become one of the few fields that can tell stories of a hundred - fold return on investment.

For the post - 2000 generation, 25 or 26 years old is their best age and the most suitable age for entrepreneurship. After all, looking back at history, the era has never let down those who can rewrite the rules.

This article is from the WeChat official account "China Venture Capital Network", author: Chen Mei, published by 36Kr with authorization.