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Omer Ismail joined Jefferies at the Private Growth Conference in Santa Monica, where he described the conference as “a great opportunity to network with other builders, hearing their stories, exchanging ideas, talking about trends in AI and the marketplace.” He sat down to discuss OnePay’s strategy, its use of AI, and why he thinks the next era of US fintech belongs to platforms. 

Evans sat down at the Jefferies Private Growth Conference in Santa Monica, where he described the event as “speed dating at its most efficient — exactly who we are as a productivity company,” to talk about context, consolidation, and what it takes to build a company that outlasts its founder. 

On the data point that seed stage deal volume was down 25% in Q1, Acharya pushed back entirely. “That doesn’t match my experience at all. There are more people trying new things than ever before because the cost of trying has gotten so low. We’re seeing more seed deals than ever before.”

After years of false starts, the IPO market feels like it is approaching a genuine inflection point. The consensus among bankers and investors at this year’s conference was notably more optimistic than the macro backdrop might suggest. That optimism has since found its first proof point: shares in chipmaker Cerebras Systems more than doubled on its market debut after raising $5.5 billion, the largest IPO of the year, confirming that investor appetite for the right AI story is very much alive. 

What analysts came to call the “SaaSpocalypse,” a months-long compression of software valuations driven by existential fears about artificial intelligence, shook the confidence of executives and investors who had long treated the dominance of enterprise software as a given.

The Jefferies 2025 Public Tech Conference brought together top bankers, investors, founders, and tech executives to discuss the sector’s key trends and developments. The insights below are drawn from interviews and panels with conference attendees. When tariff announcements rattled markets in early April, no sector took a bigger hit than technology. Public tech stocks fell

At last year’s Private Growth Conference, expectations were high that the IPO market would reopen — and by year’s end, the data looked encouraging. The Jefferies 2025 Private Growth Conference brought together hundreds of top bankers, investors, founders, and tech executives to discuss the sector’s key trends and developments. The insights below are drawn from

Both sponsors and strategics are eager to transact, and with the right conditions, many expect activity to pick up. The question is whether recent volatility will get in the way.

At Jefferies’ Private Growth Conference, sector leaders discussed the trajectory of AI adoption and how it’s shaping dealmaking in 2025.