Investing in artificial intelligence (AI) startups is the latest bandwagon VCs are piling onto. But as last year’s crypto experts quickly work to rebrand as AI experts, they’ll have to compete with the VCs who have been investing in the category all along.

Seattle-based Ascend is one of them. Firm founder and solo GP Kirby Winfield has been involved in the AI sector as either a founder or investor since the 90s. Now that seemingly every VC has turned their attention to the category he told TechCrunch he’s glad he’s been in it for so long and therefore will not make some of the mistakes newer entrants will.

“It’s so easy to throw together a vertical AI demo,” Winfield told TechCrunch. “You see a lot of folks who would have been decent SaaS founders, trying to be decent AI founders. I would say it is pretty easy to identify who has actual chops from a technical perspective. We are really fortunate to be investing at this time regardless of the hype.”

Ascend is announcing the close of $25 million for its second fund. Winfield said the firm will invest in pre-seed AI and machine learning (ML) companies largely based in the Pacific Northwest. This continues the firm’s strategy from its first fund which raised $15 million and started deploying in 2019.