In this episode of Innovator Coffee, we sit down with Lu Zhang, Founding Partner of Fusion Fund, for a wide-ranging conversation on where AI is heading in 2025–2026 and what truly matters beyond the hype.
Drawing from her deep experience investing at the intersection of AI, healthcare, enterprise infrastructure, space tech, and open source, Lu shares firsthand insights from Silicon Valley, Davos, and JPMorgan Healthcare Conference.
The conversation also dives into global AI dynamics, geopolitical tensions, open-source innovation, AI agents, physical AI, and the emerging leadership challenges of managing both human and digital labor. This episode is a must-listen for founders, investors, enterprise leaders, and anyone navigating the real decisions behind AI’s next phase.
Lu Zhang is the Founding Partner of Fusion Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley that focuses on AI-driven technologies, enterprise AI, healthcare AI, space tech, and deep tech innovation.
Since founding Fusion Fund, Lu has built a strong track record of backing AI-native companies from inception through scale, with multiple IPOs and significant exits across her portfolio. She is a long-time investor in healthcare AI, federal/federated computing, AI governance, space infrastructure, and physical AI, and has been actively investing in space technology since 2017.
00:00 – 01:00 | Welcome & Introduction
Introducing Lu Zhang and framing the discussion around AI, innovation, and global technology trends.
01:00 – 05:00 | AI in 2025–2026: From Hype to Practicality
Why AI adoption has shifted toward concrete use cases, cost reduction, inference efficiency, and small language models for enterprise deployment.
05:00 – 08:30 | Vertical AI Opportunities
Healthcare AI, insurance, finance, logistics, and why highly regulated industries are now moving faster than expected.
08:30 – 12:00 | Global AI & Geopolitics
Insights from Davos: U.S. leadership, Europe’s regulatory shift, data sovereignty concerns, and emerging geopolitical tensions.
12:00 – 15:30 | AI Economics & Social Impact
Hyper-efficient startups, revenue growth with smaller teams, labor disruption, and the societal challenges of AI concentration.
15:30 – 18:30 | Open Source & New Model Architectures
Why open source matters more than ever, the role of GitHub traction, and why the next breakthrough may come from new model architectures—not just LLMs.
18:30 – 22:30 | AI Agents & Governance Challenges
Agent protocols, infrastructure readiness, governance gaps, and why enterprises are struggling with agent-to-agent decision-making.
22:30 – 26:30 | Physical AI & the Road Ahead
Physical AI, simulation systems, data layers, space robotics, and where Silicon Valley still has a long-term edge.
26:30 – 27:00 | Closing Thoughts
Why 2026 will be even more intense — and why collaboration between startups and enterprises is accelerating.
Tom Kong*Stanford EE alumni,*Founder@ Stanford AGI Adventist Community (10K+ members so far from top VC, Engineers, startups from Silicon Valley )*AI Lecturer, a serial entrepreneur in media and data. Advisor @ techtimes.com and heyboss.ai*AI deployment for 8 years, with NLP and recent LLMs (RAG, Agent, Diffusion)Wickey Wang*IT Security Compliance Leader & University Faculty*Growth fund VC advisor and Angel Investor with cybersecurity and AI focus*GAI Security book co-author*AI Security Non-Profit (SafenAI) Co-founderQuestions, Suggestions, Feedback and Comments? You can find us in LinkedIn: / wickey-wang-cisa-six-sigma-green-belt-2aaa913
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