Blackstone's Jas Khaira on Building Next-Gen AI Giants at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

TL;DR

• Blackstone Growth investor Jas Khaira will take the Builders Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 to break down how to build and scale next-generation AI giants.
• His session will dig into Blackstone's AI investment strategy, from infrastructure and data centers to enterprise applications and scaling playbooks.
• Disrupt 2026 runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, with attendees able to get 50 percent off a second pass when registering now.

Who Is Jas Khaira

Jas Khaira is a Senior Managing Director at Blackstone and a key figure in Blackstone Growth, the firm's growth equity platform. Based in the Bay Area, Khaira focuses on backing fast-growing enterprise software, AI infrastructure, and tech-enabled services companies.

He has been closely involved in some of Blackstone's most-watched tech bets during the AI boom, working with founders on everything from early scaling challenges to global expansion. Known for operating at the intersection of capital and company-building, Khaira brings an investor-operator perspective that is especially relevant as AI startups race from impressive demos to durable businesses.

What to Expect on the Builders Stage

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Khaira will headline a session on the Builders Stage, the Disrupt track dedicated to tactical, founder-first advice on building companies.

Instead of high-level hype about artificial intelligence, the conversation will focus on execution: how AI-first startups raise the right capital at the right time, hire for hypergrowth, navigate GPU and infrastructure constraints, and build moats in a market where models evolve weekly.

Attendees can expect candid lessons on what separates AI startups that scale into giants from those that stall after product-market fit, including pricing, go-to-market, partnerships, and working with large enterprises hungry for AI transformation.

Inside Blackstone's AI Investment Strategy

Blackstone, which manages more than $1 trillion in assets, has emerged as one of the most aggressive capital deployers behind the AI revolution.

The firm's strategy spans the full AI stack. On the infrastructure side, that includes massive investments in data centers, power, digital infrastructure, and picks-and-shovels providers like CoreWeave. On the application side, Blackstone Growth has been backing enterprise SaaS and AI-enabled software companies poised to benefit from AI adoption across healthcare, financial services, cybersecurity, and industrials.

Khaira's session will offer a rare inside look at how Blackstone evaluates AI opportunities now, what metrics and team traits matter most in 2026, and where the firm sees the next wave of value creation as AI moves from experimentation to essential infrastructure.

Why This Session Matters Right Now

The timing could not be more critical. After two years of frenzied funding, the AI market in 2026 is bifurcating. Foundation model leaders, AI cloud providers, and vertical AI winners are pulling away, while thousands of well-funded startups face pressure to prove revenue, retention, and real ROI.

For founders, the questions have shifted from how to build with AI to how to scale profitably with AI. For investors, the focus is on sustainable unit economics, defensible data advantages, and paths to IPO in a reopening market.

Khaira sits at the center of those conversations, advising portfolio companies on scaling through volatility, navigating higher compute costs, and preparing for public-market scrutiny. His Builders Stage talk is positioned as a practical roadmap for the next generation of AI giants.

How to Catch It at Disrupt 2026 and Save 50 Percent

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 takes place October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, bringing together more than 10,000 founders, investors, operators, and press for three days of interviews, breakouts, Startup Battlefield, and networking.

Khaira's Builders Stage session will be one of the must-see investor-led talks on the agenda, alongside other top VCs, AI founders, and operators.

Those planning to attend can register now through TechCrunch, with a limited-time offer of 50 percent off a second pass. The deal is designed for co-founders, teams, and investor-founder duos heading to San Francisco together, making it easier to cover more stages, meetings, and roundtables across Disrupt week.

AndroGuider Team

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