The many faces of disruption: Web Summit 2019 key takeaways – PitchBook News & Analysis

The exiled whistleblower, made famous in 2013 for revealing the extent of US government data snooping, was easily one of the most high-profile speakers at an event that demonstrates an increasing awareness of technology's potentialfor better or worse.

Ping explained that 5G and AI, recurring topics throughout the whole week, represented a "tipping point" for information and communications technology. Specifically, he touted "5G+X"the "X" being technologies like AI, VR and AR, among othersas the "new electricity." Huawei, which is investing $1.5 billion into its 5G+X developer program over the next five years, is not alone in this sentiment.

"[Businesses and consumers] haven't really yet discovered exactly how revolutionary this technology truly is," said Ronan Dunne, executive vice president and CEO ofVerizon Consumer Group, who appeared on the same stage the following day. "It's so powerful, that in truth, the best way to think about it is as a wholly new technology, ushering in a new era of transformation."

From a VC perspective, the 5G space still remains nascent. So far in 2019,around $127 million has been invested across 28 VC deals for startups explicitly operating in the 5G space, according to the PitchBook Platform. Nevertheless, this figure exceeds both the $90 million raised last year across 20 VC deals and the same figure funneled into 24 such deals in 2017.

He added that the number of investors has also become more diverse in terms of geography: "Last year, the huge shadow of [Japanese telecom giant]SoftBank was almost kind of putting the rest of the VC in the shade. I felt a renewed energy on Monday when I was in a room with about 500 of the leading ambassadors in the world."

Another related area of focus was profitability. One key panel question asked was whether Silicon Valley was "pivoting to profits." Ravi Viswanathan, founder ofNewView Capital, noted thatas in previous yearsthere is once again a focus on the distance to profitability, particularly in the wake of WeWork.

"I actually do think it's very healthy because it forces boards, management teams, investors and everyone in all the other constituencies to really look within themselves and make sure these companies become durable," he said. "And if they aren't durable, then maybe they're not a public company, maybe it's some other exit." Meanwhile, Rytis Vitkauskas, a partner atLightspeed, said it was less a matter of venture capital pivoting toward profitability and more of a "focus [on] how sensible the growth [of startups] is and the efficiency."

Featured images clockwise from top left:Edward Snowden (Piaras Mdheach/CC BY 2.0)Guo Ping (David Fitzgerald/CC BY 2.0)Rytis Vitkauskas (Harry Murphy/CC BY 2.0)Margrethe Vestager, European Commission (Sam Barnes/CC BY 2.0)

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The many faces of disruption: Web Summit 2019 key takeaways - PitchBook News & Analysis