The future of defence aviation is autonomous. Recently Sheild AI joined the race and now Razor's Edge, based in Reston, Virginia, and defence- and security-focused VC firm announced the closing of its third startup investment fund at under $340M. The firm investment indicates that national security technology is a safe bet even in difficult economic times. According to the firm, it has surpassed its initial target of $250M and will target companies developing autonomous systems, space technologies, cybersecurity, AI and machine learning, digital signal processing, and other aerospace and defence technologies. With the new funding, the firm's total assets under management now exceed $600M.

During crises, we are confronted with an opportunity to think differently and create rapid change that can have long-lasting impact. The COVID-19 crisis is no exception. According to research by McKinsey & Company, COVID-19 has dramatically accelerated the adoption of new technologies, and many of these are here to stay. Organizations were forced to adopt new technologies overnight to survive, or risk becoming irrelevant. As a result, almost every sector has altered the way they interact and do business with their customers over the past two years.

There are over 1 billion people currently in retirement. New types of financial institutions are evolving to satisfy the needs of the aging population. Investment banks, pension funds, and insurance companies are developing new business models, and are using AI to improve the quality of the analytics used to formulate them. In the near future, the synergy between innovative AI and wealth management will lead to the creation of a new financial institutions optimized for the aging population and age-friendly Longevity banks will make banking easier and safer for seniors. Over 150 financial companies are already developing innovative WealthTech and AgeTech products and services and AI is central to the process.

In the very near future, you may visit your doctor and receive a drug therapy that was customized just for you based on your DNA, metabolism, and lifestyle. Advances in key technologies, including decoding the human genome (DNA), artificial intelligence (AI), and health information, are the catalysts for the rapidly accelerating field of personalized medicine. Navid Alipour, JD (Moderator) Co-founder and Managing Partner, Analytics Ventures Navid Alipour is Co-founder and Managing Partner at Analytics Ventures, a Venture Formation Fund focused on starting new ventures with artificial intelligence and machine learning at their core. Prior to co-founding Analytics Ventures, he founded La Costa Investment Group, making investments in startups nationally. Through the founding of multiple Artificial Intelligence(AI) based companies like CureMetrix and CureMatch, Navid is a long-time entrepreneur in the AI space, and looks to address the need between angel investors and big venture capital funds.