Silicon Slopes is in transition. Domo, once valued at $2 billion, agreed in July to sell its core business to Progress Software for $400 million. Just last week, Weave announced a $650 million take-private with Francisco Partners. Two of Utah’s software powerhouses are exiting the public markets in the same summer, which raises the question of what fills the space they leave behind.
At the recent Founders & Funders Salt Lake City VC Reverse Pitch event, seven venture firms took the stage to tell a room full of founders exactly what they are looking for. Instead of founders selling themselves to VCs, the investors pitched themselves.
Many founders in attendance were building consumer products, niche vertical software tools and AI-enabled services for specific industries. The ecosystem is evolving in focus, and it’s a sign that Silicon Slopes has already started reinventing itself.
Here is what some of Utah’s top VCs are looking for:
1. AI solutions to “ugly, difficult problems”
A common theme of the evening was a strong investor interest in founders solving specific and unglamorous problems.
“We’re looking for people who are using AI to solve really ugly, difficult problems,” says Kendall Frazier at Frazier VC, which invests at the seed stage and Series A. The fund has produced six IPOs to date, with a couple more on the way.
Frazier shared his perspective on the technical AI expertise expected of founders right now. “You don’t need to have a doctorate in AI for us to like your company,” Frazier says. “It’s OK if it’s vibe-coded and if Claude is doing a lot of the heavy lifting.”
Camron Zavell at Boise-based Capital Eleven shared a similar view. “We’re not looking for sexy industries,” says Zavell. “We want to find founders who are building real businesses.”
As an example of Capital Eleven’s approach, Zavell highlighted one of their current investments: “One of our top performers in Fund II right now is a pest control vertical SaaS business that just got named in Inc.’s 5000 fastest-growing startups in the country.”
2. Software with strong fundamentals
Sorenson Capital, headquartered in Lehi, has long been associated with B2B software investments, but the firm’s strategy is expanding. While software remains core to its thesis, investor Weston Wallin highlighted AI, application, fintech and cybersecurity as growing areas of focus for investment. Within these spaces, the firm is looking for product-first companies positioned to lead in their category.
Across these verticals, strong fundamentals are the defining criteria for investment. “We’re looking for efficient and durable growth,” Wallin says. “A lot of companies are on different growth trajectories, but do the unit economics and the core business fundamentals make sense at scale?”
3. Consumer and CPG with strong e-commerce potential
Utah has been a hub of successful consumer and CPG brands, including Crumbl, Kodiak Cakes and Owala. There are no signs of that slowing down, with multiple investors at the event showing strong conviction in the space.
Spacestation Investments has built a portfolio of nationally recognized consumer brands, including OLIPOP, Magic Spoon and LMNT. Managing partner Tim Holladay, who represented Spacestation at the event, describes the fund’s distinct model of bringing on influencers and creators as strategic investors who then use their platforms to drive brand awareness and retail distribution.
Jeff Erickson and Adam Shaw of F&F Ventures, the event’s hosts, announced their own newly launched fund focused on consumer goods and e-commerce. Erickson and Shaw emphasized mutual fit, with plans to invest where their e-commerce expertise and distribution networks can add direct value.
The Mountain West focus
Ty Boswell of Album VC said the fund targets pre-seed to Series A companies in tech, AI and infrastructure with a focus on the Mountain West region. Album says they are looking for founders who are “delusionally confident” about their vision and company.
Capital Eleven’s Zavell added that “Idaho is kind of what Utah was 10 or 15 years ago.” The Boise-based fund is industry-agnostic and is looking throughout the Mountain West for emerging talent.
Kickstart, one of Utah’s longest-running seed funds focused on the Mountain West, reiterated the excitement and belief in the Utah ecosystem. A representative from Campus Founders Fund, which is funded by Kickstart, shared their focus on investing in student talent as a venture fund that operates across several universities in the Mountain West.
According to PitchBook’s Q2 2026 Venture Monitor, AI companies have absorbed 86% of all U.S. venture capital for the first half of 2026, with capital heavily concentrated on the West and East coasts. The investors pitching to Utah founders are looking beyond the coasts and at the Mountain West for what comes next.
What the Founders & Funders event revealed was a glimpse into what the next chapter of Silicon Slopes may look like. Across the board, investors signaled a shift away from horizontal SaaS and toward vertical AI-enabled software solutions and consumer brands — areas where Utah founders are already building.
