PitchBook and Madrona to Talk AI and Capital Concentration at Seattle Tech Week

Bringing the Founded & Funded podcast live for a data-driven look at what's waiting to go public

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PitchBook, the leading private capital market intelligence platform, today announced it will co-host a live recording of Madrona’s Founded & Funded podcast during the fourth annual Seattle Tech Week. The conversation will feature PitchBook Executive Vice President of Research & Market Intelligence Nizar Tarhuni and Madrona Partner Sabrina Albert. The event brings together two homegrown Seattle institutions, underscoring the region's continued momentum in tech and venture capital.

The timing is notable as funding concentration is reshaping the AI landscape fast – three companies alone accounted for roughly two-thirds of all AI venture funding in the first quarter of 2026, while the private market now holds a record 945 US unicorns worth a combined $5.3 trillion.

Against that backdrop, the AI narrative has shifted quickly over the past two years – from early doubts about SaaS, to soaring AI valuations, to growing scrutiny over the durability of the application layer. Tarhuni and Albert will dig into what the data actually shows: which companies have real staying power, what's driving the concentration of capital at the top of the market, and what it means for an IPO market that remains bifurcated between a handful of mega-listings and a private market still waiting for its next price signal.

The live recording will be followed by an audience Q&A and networking reception.

Founded & Funded Live: Seattle Tech Week: Learn more and register here.

• Date: Tuesday, July 28 | 3:00 – 6:00 PM
• Location: PitchBook’s Seattle Headquarters
• Speakers:
  • Nizar Tarhuni – Executive Vice President of Research and Market Intelligence, PitchBook
    Nizar leads PitchBook's global Institutional Research and News organizations, overseeing more than 140 analysts and journalists delivering investment strategy, fund performance, and credit research alongside a daily news product for private market investors. He built PitchBook's first institutional-grade research product and led the acquisition of Leveraged Commentary & Data (LCD) from S&P. Nizar holds a bachelor's degree in economics and finance from Linfield University.
  • Sabrina Albert (Wu) – Partner, Madrona
    Sabrina invests in early-stage companies from Seed through Series C, with a focus on intelligent applications, enterprise software, and agentic systems, and supports growth and strategy across Madrona's portfolio. She co-authors the biweekly newsletter Aspiring for Intelligence, covering the future of AI in the enterprise. Sabrina holds a degree in political economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

About PitchBook, a Morningstar company

As the pulse of private capital markets, PitchBook delivers trusted, real-time data, research, and technology to help investors, dealmakers, and innovators make decisions with confidence. Its products provide comprehensive information on companies, investors, funds, deals, and people, along with tools that help professionals analyze market activity and make informed decisions. Founded in 2007, PitchBook today serves more than 100,000 clients worldwide and is recognized as the leading source of private capital market intelligence. PitchBook has grown to over 3,000 employees across offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, London, Singapore, Mumbai, and other global locations. Since 2016, PitchBook has operated as a subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc.

For more information, visit www.pitchbook.com.

About Madrona

Madrona is a venture capital firm investing in visionary founders and teams across stages from pre-seed to Series C. Founded in 1995 with a Series A investment in Amazon, the firm invests across the technology landscape with a focus on Applied AI, Infrastructure, and beyond from its headquarters in Seattle and a growing office in Palo Alto, CA. Madrona was an early investor in companies such as Snowflake, UiPath, Smartsheet, Rover, Redfin, Runway, Unstructured, and Apptio.

For more information, visit www.madrona.com.