FINDING A VENTURE capitalist to back your startup has never been easy. That is why Metal, a platform that helps match founders to investors, exists—and can charge $1,200 a quarter. Even so, it is a surprise to Sameer Nusrat, a manager at Metal, when on a Monday morning 100 people pack into(挤进) a bougie(时髦的，小资的) co-working space in east London for an event he is hosting: “Is your dream vc into you?” For a growing number of founders in the capital, the answer to that question is “no”.
找到一位风险投资人来支持你的初创企业从来都不是易事。这正是Metal——一个帮助创始人与投资者牵线的平台——存在的原因，它每季度收费1200美元。即便如此，Metal的经理萨米尔·努斯拉特还是感到意外：一个周一上午，100人挤进伦敦东部一个时髦的共享办公空间，参加他主持的活动：“你的梦想风投喜欢你吗？”对于首都越来越多创始人来说，这个问题的答案是“不”。
This year is shaping up to be a record one for venture capital in Britain. Investors, many of them American, have already poured over $26bn into startups, almost matching their splurge(挥霍，大手笔花费) during the covid-19 pandemic. At the same time, artificial intelligence has made analysing startups simpler than ever, notes James Wise of Balderton Capital. Research that used to take a day can now be done in minutes. In theory, it has never been easier to find a Prince Charming(白马王子，理想伴侣) in a Patagonia fleece(Patagonia抓绒衣，风投标志性穿着) (still the vc outfit of choice) or for him to find you.
今年英国的风险投资有望创下纪录。投资者——其中许多是美国人——已经向初创企业投入超过260亿美元，几乎与新冠疫情期间的挥霍相当。与此同时，Balderton Capital的詹姆斯·怀斯指出，人工智能让分析初创企业变得前所未有的简单。过去需要一天的研究现在几分钟就能完成。理论上，找到一位穿着Patagonia抓绒衣（仍是风投的首选装束）的白马王子，或者让他找到你，从未如此容易。
Yet more information and money only seems to have made investors pickier. Since 2023 the total value of vc deals in Britain has risen, but their number has fallen, according to PitchBook, a data firm (see chart). In the first half of 2026 nearly three-quarters of investment went into startups working on ai, much of it to a small cohort(一群，一批) of companies. vcs seem to have a favourite type, and they obsess(痴迷，念念不忘) about a narrow set of founders. The dating pool(约会池，可选对象范围) is becoming more exclusive(排他的，高级的).
然而，更多的信息和资金似乎只让投资者更加挑剔。根据数据公司PitchBook的数据（见图表），自2023年以来，英国风投交易的总价值上升，但交易数量下降。2026年上半年，近四分之三的投资流向了从事AI的初创企业，其中大部分流向了少数几家公司。风投似乎有偏爱的类型，他们痴迷于一小群创始人。约会池正变得越来越排他。