VCs Say Enterprises Will Consolidate AI Spending as Adoption Matures
Venture capitalists forecast that enterprise spending on artificial intelligence will increase in 2026, but much of that budget growth will be directed toward a smaller number of vendors.
The survey covered 24 enterprise-focused VCs, many of whom noted that organisations have spent recent years piloting a wide variety of providers and platforms for similar use cases.
In 2026, executives and CIOs are expected to rationalise overlapping tools, reducing the number of contracts and reallocating funds to vendors that have proven their effectiveness in real deployments.
Andrew Ferguson, vice president at Databricks Ventures, said enterprises often test multiple tools for tasks like go-to-market operations, but as they start seeing measurable results, they will cut experimentation budgets and concentrate spending on reliable solutions.
This shift reflects a broader maturity in enterprise AI adoption. Early stages of rapid experimentation made sense when organisations were exploring capabilities; now, the priority is driving concrete value from AI investments.
Consolidation of vendor spending could reshape the competitive landscape, favouring providers with established offerings and strong enterprise support while putting pressure on startups with undifferentiated products.
The trend complements other forecasts that enterprises will increasingly integrate AI into core operations, moving beyond pilots to full-scale deployments with measurable business impact.
