2025: A Year of Clarification

A Founder's Reflection from INP Capital

If there is one word I would use to describe 2025, it would be #clarification.

Not clarity — because 2025 was certainly not a year of certainty. Rather, it was a year of clarification: of priorities, of focus, and of what truly endures over long cycles of time. It was a year that demanded as much restraint as conviction, and as much patience as decisiveness.

Navigating a Quiet but Demanding Market

Throughout 2025, market uncertainty persisted. While technology cycles like Generative AI compressed further, the climate and energy transition moved from future-focused concepts to "building for today" with real regulation and infrastructure constraints

While liquidity improved in parts of the market, confidence remained uneven. Emotionally, 2025 was not a loud year; it was not a time for posturing or excess. Instead, it was a quietly demanding year—the kind that distinguishes organizations built to last from those built merely to react.

For INP Capital, this year was defined by a "quietly demanding" atmosphere. It was a time to distinguish organizations built to last from those built merely to react. We frequently chose to say “no” more often than “yes,” slowing down when the broader market was accelerating in the opposite direction. This investment discipline was a deliberate choice.

That discipline was not accidental. It was a choice.

Where Long-Term Themes Became Real

For many years, INP Capital has focused on a deliberately small set of long-term themes:

• AI embedded in mission-critical systems

• Energy and climate transition

• Deep, industrial innovation

These were convictions formed well before AI became a dominant narrative, and they were themes we stayed committed to through multiple market cycles. In 2025, these ideas were no longer abstract.

Across companies such as ApplyBoard, GrubMarket and COVU, we saw what happens when AI is deeply embedded into existing operational workflows — transforming legacy industries like education, food supply chains and insurance, not by replacing humans, but by fundamentally reshaping cost structures, speed, and decision-making.

In sustainability and climate innovation, companies including Xpansiv, Samsara Eco, Genecis Bioindustries, and Eden Brew advanced along distinct paths. They share a vital trait: they operate in industries where regulation, infrastructure, and standards matter as much as the technology itself. These are not short-cycle businesses; they are built on trust, compliance, and adoption—and they compound over time.

These are not short-cycle businesses. They are built on trust, compliance, and adoption — and they compound over time.

Ultimately, this year reinforced a simple truth: long-term value is built where technology meets constraint.

Restraint in a Noisy AI Cycle

AI remained the loudest conversation of 2025, but not all AI is created equal. Rather than engaging in the model-layer arms race or short-term application hype, we continued to focus on companies where AI acts as invisible leverage—working quietly within the seams of existing systems.

In some cases, our strategy meant standing still while others moved faster. In hindsight, restraint proved to be just as important as insight.

Discipline Over Expansion

Internally, 2025 was defined by a deliberate decision: not to grow for growth’s sake.

Despite our expanding footprint across North America and the Asia-Pacific region, we chose not to scale our investment team or parallel infrastructure. Instead, we focused on strengthening our fundamentals:

• Governance and decision-making across jurisdictions

• Documenting and rigorously revisiting investment decisions

• Capital allocation discipline

• Deeper our capability to support founders across borders

This work was not visible from the outside, but it was essential.

A Moment of Perspective

Early in 2025, INP Capital was recognized by the Canadian Venture Capital & Private Equity Association as one of CVCA “The 50.” We did not view this as a milestone to celebrate, but as a moment to reflect. This recognition mattered because it came from a peer-driven body that values consistency, governance, and long-term contribution to the innovation ecosystem.

Later in the year, we convened our annual Investor Conference in Vancouver. The purpose was not to showcase performance, but to pause and reflect collectively on our position in a decade that will redefine how technology, capital, and regulation interact. What stood out was a shared alignment: discipline over speed, substance over narrative, and the importance of building companies that can endure.

Looking Ahead

2026 will not be an easy year, but it will be a revealing one. Capital will continue to concentrate around quality, while weak narratives will fade. Strong businesses embedded in regulation, infrastructure, and mission-critical workflows will stand out.

We remain cautious of over-financialized AI stories and increasingly optimistic about:

• AI as operational leverage in real industries

• Climate and energy technologies tied to real regulation and infrastructure

• Companies that have quietly prepared for their inflection points

Risk will persist, but risk is not something to fear—it is something to understand and price honestly.

A Long-Term View

INP Capital was founded on a simple belief: that technology, paired with patient capital and disciplined execution, can reshape industries and build lasting value. That belief was tested in 2025—and strengthened.

We move forward with humility, conviction, and a clear sense of responsibility. We are still walking the road—carefully, deliberately, and for the long term.

Steven Xu

Co-Founder & CEO

INP Capital

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