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At LDV Capital's 2026 Annual General Meeting, Principal Ash Cleary outlined how visual technology and AI are driving the next wave of intelligent automation across legacy industries. Moving beyond basic digitization, advances in computer vision, machine perception, robotics, digital twins, and spatial intelligence are enabling autonomous decision-making in logistics, construction, manufacturing, and mining. The article explores trillion-dollar opportunities emerging from these technologies and why visual data is becoming the foundation for the future of industrial infrastructure.

Explore the "Internet of Eyes" (IoEyes) concept: a network of visual sensors and cameras that will give inanimate objects the ability to "see," exponentially impacting businesses and humanity through computer vision and AI. Written by Evan Nisselson, Founder and General Partner at LDV Capital, this article was originally published on The Next Web on May 13, 2016, and is being reposted without changes.

We are pleased to announce that we have raised our fourth LDV Capital fund with $31M. We will continue investing in the same unique thesis that has not changed since founding LDV Capital in 2012. The majority of data our brains analyze is visual so the majority of data that AI will analyze will be visual as well. Visual data and visual technologies are critical for the success of artificial intelligence horizontally across all sectors.

As the biotech industry relies heavily on data filtering, analysis and sharing, visual technologies will become critical for the detection and imaging of biological systems, paving the way for the future of life sciences tools enabling next-generation therapeutics, biomanufacturing & longevity.

Last year, we celebrated 10 years of investing in people building businesses powered by visual tech & AI, but it’s just the beginning! Visual technology innovations will continue to be the crux of automation for decades and beyond. Computer vision, machine learning and AI will be the key enablers for innovation in healthcare, precision medicine, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, sustainability, and many more industries.

Which sectors over the next 10 years will have the most societal impact from research advancements leveraging visual technologies and artificial intelligence? In the lead-up to our 9th Annual LDV Vision Summit – the premier global gathering in visual tech – hosted virtually on March 28, we addressed this and 4 other burning questions to 11 brilliant professors & researchers.

Automation is revolutionizing legacy industries from healthcare and precision medicine to manufacturing and construction, to agriculture and sustainability. The adoption of visual technology innovations will continue to remain the crux of automation for the next decade and beyond.

We could not have accomplished this exciting milestone without our inspiring portfolio founders, experts, community members, co-investors and LDV LPs. Thank you!

Curious about where the next visual technology investment opportunities are? Meet Lux Capital’s Deena Shakir, M12’s Samir Kumar, DCVC’s Kelly Chen, and Bloomberg’s Sarah McBride and see them discuss how Gen Z doesn’t see the camera as an app, they see it as a platform; how the next world war will not be fought by people, but by AI; and so much more!

For far too long, sustainability has been viewed by big companies as more of a marketing campaign or non-profit exercise than a direct financial impact on their bottom line. But the tides are, literally, changing and advances in visual data collection, computer vision and AI are at a point where climate tech companies can leverage it to build businesses that provide financial benefit to mitigating climate impact. See more details in Evan Nisselson’s article.

Evan Nisselson interviewed Samir Kumar, Managing Director of M12 – Microsoft's Venture Fund. Samir is leading investment activities in emerging tech areas including quantum computing and autonomous vehicles. Before joining M12, Samir worked in Qualcomm’s corporate R&D division, leading early-stage product validation, partnerships, acquisition, and strategy for embedded and on-device deep learning.