What you need to know: 

• Ambient AI is reducing clinician burnout by autonomously documenting clinical interactions. Physicians are already reporting benefits such as being able to see more patients each month.
• Strategic partnerships, like that between Abridge and Kaiser Permanente, are driving large-scale adoption.
• Tech giants like Microsoft and Oracle are entering the space, making ambient AI a key part of their health IT offerings.

Ambient AI — tech that autonomously monitors and reacts to changes in an environment — could be key to addressing the widespread issue of clinician burnout, which costs the US healthcare system an estimated $4.6B annually.  

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To do this, new tech-enabled solutions are targeting key bottlenecks throughout the clinical trial lifecycle for all participating stakeholders, from researchers to life science companies to patients.  

To help strategy teams prioritize clinical trials markets in their planning decisions, we plotted markets using CB Insights’ TECH framework, which scores markets across 2 dimensions:

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In August 2024, we surveyed 50 corporate strategy leaders (at the Director-level or above) working at companies across major industries to identify key challenges they face in driving influence across their organizations and the approaches they use to address them.

Only 40% have clearly defined KPIs to measure their success and alignment issues appeared as the top pain point for strategic planning.

Download the full report to delve into the most common pain points faced by strategy teams, the tactics used by the most influential teams to improve strategic planning, and what challenges still remain unaddressed.

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What you need to know: 

• Animal health is seeing rising demand and early-stage startups are building novel products targeting the space, including AI-based solutions.
• Focus areas for emerging trends include: Diagnostic platforms for vets, advanced therapies, methane-reducing solutions, AI-driven diagnostics & monitoring, and disease prevention & treatment.

Animal health — which includes companion and livestock animals — is steadily growing as a topic of interest among executives.

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The question is certainly top of mind for corporations getting to grips with emerging technology like generative AI — the answer could help identify future competitors, partners, new markets, or acquisition targets.  

Using CB Insights’ proprietary data and metrics — including Exit Probability, Commercial Maturity, Mosaic, headcount, patents, and funding — we identified the 52 emerging players our data says are most likely to have an outsized influence in the next 5–10 years and have a strong exit. 

Download the report to see:

• The full list of Future Tech Hotshots
• Key themes and industry analysis
• Methodology

MORE TOP COMPANY LISTS FROM CB INSIGHTS:

• Insurtech 50: The most promising insurtech startups of 2024
• AI 100: The most promising artificial intelligence startups of 2024
• The Digital Health 50: The most promising digital health companies of 2023
• Fintech 100: The most promising fintech startups of 2023

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What you need to know:

• Companies like Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, Lilium, and Volocopter are nearing eVTOL commercialization, with plans to launch air taxi services as soon as 2025, pending regulatory approvals.

• Regulatory hurdles, infrastructure requirements, and battery efficiency are key challenges that need to be addressed before eVTOLs can become a widespread mode of transportation.

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Essential resources to understand the future of healthcare:

• • The generative AI in healthcare market map — These tech companies are bringing generative AI into medical research and clinical settings.
  • Pharma AI Readiness Index: Who’s best-positioned for the AI boom? — Assess how prepared top pharmaceutical companies are to adopt and respond to rapidly evolving AI technologies.
  • 6 digital health markets gaining momentum in 2024 — We analyzed early-stage investment trends to uncover which digital health markets — from telepsychiatry to virtual & hybrid women’s healthcare — are quickly evolving and how.
• 
  • The Digital Health 50 — Here are the world’s most promising digital health startups.
  • Big Tech in Healthcare — How Amazon, Google, Microsoft, & Nvidia are looking to transform drug R&D, primary care, and more.
  • State of Digital Health Q2’24 Report — Funding in digital health drops, but larger check sizes and an uptick in exits highlight bright spots for the industry in Q2’24.
• 
  • Longevity tech market map — 64 promising startups across 12 categories aiming to expand lifespans, from human cryopreservation to cellular reprogramming.
  • Digital Health AI M&A — Every second acquisition in 2024 has been an AI company; here’s where we’re seeing the most activity.
  • 20 tech trends to watch closely in 2024 — The technology trends that will transform industries as generative AI takes center stage, including several directly impacting healthcare.

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Highlights from the 2024 cohort include:

• The 50 winners include 23 tech vendors and 27 insurers and intermediaries.
• $5.6B in equity funding raised over time, including $1B in 2024 so far (as of 8/19/24).
• Forty percent of winners are early-stage insurtechs addressing everything from wildfire risk to genAI-powered workflow automation.
• More than a dozen countries represented, spanning Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.
• 500+ business relationships since 2020, including with industry leaders like Swiss Re and Tokio Marine.

Our research team picked winning companies based on CB Insights datasets, including deal activity, industry partnerships, team strength, investor strength, patent activity, employee headcount, and proprietary Commercial Maturity and Mosaic scores. We also dug into Analyst Briefings submitted directly to us by startups.

Please click to enlarge.

CB Insights customers can interact with the entire Insurtech 50 list here and view a detailed category breakdown using the Expert Collection.

2024 INSURTECH 50 COHORT HIGHLIGHTS

Funding and valuations

The cohort has raised $5.6B across 210+ disclosed equity deals to date (as of 8/19/24). Next Insurance and Coalition lead in disclosed equity funding among the cohort ($1.1B and $770M, respectively).

In 2024 so far, this year’s winners have raised $1B across 38 disclosed equity deals. Just 5 deals account for more than half of this funding total:

• Altana AI — $200M Series C
• ICEYE — $93M Series D
• Vitesse — $93M Series C
• Cover Genius — $80M Series E
• Hyperexponential — $73M Series B

Altana AI reached a $1B valuation following its Series C round in July 2024. This earned it a spot in the unicorn club alongside the other unicorns in this year’s Insurtech 50 cohort: Accelerant, Coalition, and Next Insurance.

Stage breakdown

Forty percent of this year’s Insurtech 50 winners are early-stage companies (i.e., primarily seed or Series A). These companies are the fastest-growing among those analyzed, with a median 12-month headcount growth rate of 45% — 23 points higher than the median for the rest of the cohort.

Comparatively, 46% of winners are mid-stage (i.e., Series B or C), and 14% are late-stage (i.e., primarily Series D+).

Top investors

MS&AD Ventures has invested in 5 of this year’s winners, leading among venture capital (VC) firms, including corporate venture capital firms. The investor has backed 4 insurance providers — Accelerant, Anzen, Next Insurance, and Wagmo — and 1 tech vendor, Artificial Labs. 

Following MS&AD Ventures are Felicis, General Catalyst, Nationwide Ventures, and Portage — each of these investors has backed 4 winners.

When it comes to investment activity in 2024, Portage leads in the number of winners backed. So far this year, it has backed 3 insurance providers: CoverTree, Faye, and Hellas Direct.

Geographic distribution

This year’s Insurtech 50 winners are collectively headquartered across more than a dozen different countries. 

The majority of these companies (30) are based in the United States. Among US metro areas, New York and Silicon Valley lead the pack, as they are both home to 10 of the winners. These metro areas are followed by Boston (4 winners) and Atlanta (2 winners).

The UK follows the US with 8 winners — 6 based in London and 2 near Birmingham.

Headcount growth

Over 7,700 people are employed by the 2024 Insurtech 50 winners, with 4 companies employing about a third of the cohort’s workers: Next Insurance, Coalition, ICEYE, and Cover Genius.

From July 2023 to July 2024, this year’s winners created more than 1,400 jobs. One winner more than tripled its headcount over the period: Sixfold (+267% YoY).

The median 2024 Insurtech 50 winner has raised $0.6M in equity funding per employee. Altana AI and Next Insurance lead among the winners, each having raised $1.6M in equity funding per employee.

Company health

Forty-one of the 50 winners have a CB Insights Mosaic score — a proprietary measure of private company health and growth potential — of at least 700 out of 1,000 (as of 8/26/24). Compared to all private companies — insurtechs or otherwise — with Mosaic scores, these 41 winners rank in the top 3% by Mosaic score.

Next Insurance and Coalition — with Mosaic scores of 898 and 881, respectively — hold the highest scores among this year’s winners.

AI threads the tech vendor landscape

Most of the winning tech vendors offer AI products, which aligns with the broader momentum toward AI (and generative AI) adoption across the insurance industry. Applications often center on prioritization use cases, like risk ranking for underwriters and claims triage for adjusters.

The winners’ business relationships often incorporate the use of AI. Recent examples with industry figures include:

• Reask and AXA Climate — March 2024
• Akur8 and Tokio Marine HCC — April 2024
• Indico Data and Convex — June 2024

Insurtech managing general agents (MGAs) gain ground

MGAs — intermediaries with delegated underwriting authority from one or more insurance carriers as well as related entities like managing general underwriters — represent a sizable portion of the 2024 Insurtech 50 list. Their presence reflects broader industry momentum toward the business model.

Notably, most insurtechs within the commercial category are MGAs that offer property & casualty insurance to businesses. Established insurers have made strategic investments in several of these companies, including:

• American Family Insurance, which led Ledgebrook’s $24M Series A round in April 2024 via its CVC (American Family Ventures)
• Arch Capital Group, which participated in Rainbow’s $12M seed round in January 2024
• Hiscox, which led Coterie Insurance’s Series B round in March 2024

The post Insurtech 50: The most promising insurtech startups of 2024 appeared first on CB Insights Research.

In 2024 so far, a16z has backed more than 20 AI startups working within disruptive categories. For example, this year, it has invested in several AI-driven copilots and agents designed to automate key workflows in big industries like healthcare and finance. It has also turned its attention to multimedia generation startups expediting the creation of a wide variety of content, from images to videos to audio.

While championing AI’s advancement, the firm also acknowledges associated risks — its founders are proponents of open-source models, arguing that their transparency and accessibility will help ensure that AI is developed in a secure and ethical way. So far this year, the two largest a16z-backed AI deals have gone to open-source large language model (LLM) developers xAI and Mistral AI.

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As a result, a range of technologies have emerged to address issues across the entire trial lifecycle. These use AI, data analytics, and digital platforms to streamline processes, improve data quality, and boost patient engagement — all with the aim of driving down trial times and costs while increasing success rates.

This market map identifies 96 vendors in 14 categories reshaping clinical trials. This tech ecosystem offers sponsors and research organizations opportunities to conduct more efficient, patient-centric trials that also meet regulatory requirements.

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Longevity is a rather nascent but growing area of research for the biopharma industry — especially as tech advances in areas like AI and omics make it easier than ever to identify ways to manipulate the aging process. Existing consumer applications primarily focus on individuals wanting to stay healthy for longer, but the tide is shifting to products and services that slow or even reverse aging.

The rise of longevity tech will not just affect healthcare. Humans living longer, healthier lives would upend all sorts of societal and economic assumptions — impacting everything from retirement planning to insurance premiums to the size of the workforce to housing availability to trends in consumer demand. Few industries would be able to ignore the disruption from a longevity boom.

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We provide a deep dive on the state of insurtech in the full report. Here’s the TL;DR:

• Global insurtech funding increases to $1.3B in Q2’24 — the highest level since Q1’23. Insurtech funding grew 44% QoQ — led by 50% growth in funding to P&C insurtechs, from $0.6B to $0.9B. Funding to life & health (L&H) insurtechs also increased QoQ, ticking up from $0.3B to $0.4B.

• Insurtech deal count falls 27% QoQ to 82, the lowest level since 2016. The drop was nearly proportional across P&C and L&H: P&C deals fell 28% to 54 deals, while L&H deals decreased by 26% to 28 deals. On a percentage basis, the decline in insurtech deals outpaced the broader venture and fintech environments (where deal activity fell 7% and 16% QoQ, respectively).

• Median insurtech deal size increases 25% from $4M in 2023 to $5M in 2024 YTD. Only 2021 has seen a higher median deal size over the past 10 years. However, while the median early-stage insurtech deal size is at a record-high $4M this year, late-stage deal size ($31M) is the lowest it’s been since 2018. Insurtech mega-rounds (deals worth $100M+) were nearly nonexistent in Q2, with Sidecar Health, a health insurer, raising the quarter’s only such deal (a $165M Series D).

• Insurtech sees its first IPOs since Q3’22. Two insurtechs IPO’d in Q2’24 — Digit Insurance, an India-based insurance provider, and Saudi Arabia-based Rasan, which primarily focuses on auto insurance sales and vehicle services. Both IPOs occurred amid a broader lull in global IPO activity.

• Europe’s share of insurtech deals reaches 35% — a record high. Deals to Europe-based insurtechs stayed roughly steady, ticking up from 28 in Q1’24 to 29 in Q2’24. Comparatively, the US saw insurtech deal count fall from 61 to 40. Funding to Europe-based insurtechs reached a 7-quarter high ($0.5B), driven by two $93M deals for Finland-based ICEYE — a provider of data from satellite imagery — and UK-based Vitesse, a claims payments processor.

The post State of Insurtech Q2’24 Report appeared first on CB Insights Research.

This acquisition follows Commure’s Oct 2023 acquisition of another AI-driven provider workflow solution Athelas — which offers revenue cycle management (RCM) and automated documentation services — further bolstering its AI arsenal.

These deals reflect a key trend in healthcare M&A: AI is all the rage. 

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Massive rounds to AI companies were a key driver of the funding growth, with 3 of the 5 largest CVC-backed deals this quarter going to AI infrastructure players Scale ($1B), Mistral AI ($502M), and Cohere ($450M).

Based on our 124-page report, here is the TL;DR on the state of CVC:

• ​​Global CVC-backed funding climbs to $15.6B in Q2’24. Over half ($8.4B) of this funding came from $100M+ mega-rounds. Meanwhile, global deal volume declined by 12% QoQ to 782. This drop was particularly pronounced in Asia, which saw a 24% drop in deals QoQ.
• This year, the average CVC-backed deal size is $26.6M, up 27% from $20.9M in full-year 2023. The increase is due in part to billion-dollar deals to startups like Scale ($1B Series F, backed by the CVC arms of Intel, AMD, Cisco, and ServiceNow) and Wiz ($1B Series E, backed by Salesforce Ventures).
• CVC-backed funding to digital health startups falls 57% QoQ to 0.6B, its lowest point since Q4’17. Retail tech and fintech saw similar decreases, with funding down 52% and 8% QoQ, respectively. Companies not explicitly focused on AI face challenges raising funds in the weakened venture market.

• Quarterly CVC-backed funding in China slips to $0.2B, a 60% QoQ decrease. Deal volume also fell 24% QoQ to 59, its lowest level since 2015. China’s tech market has faced significant challenges, including rising macroeconomic concerns, escalating geopolitical tensions, and a strict regulatory environment.

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Meanwhile, overall AI deal volume broke its extended freefall in Q2’24, rising by 16% QoQ to reach 948. This bucked the trend in venture deals more broadly (-7% QoQ).

Based on our deep dive in the full report, here is the TL;DR on the state of AI:

• Global AI funding increases 59% QoQ to $23.2B in Q2’24 — the highest quarterly level on record, exceeding even the level seen during 2021’s venture boom. The jump was driven by a handful of $1B+ rounds and outpaced the growth in broader venture funding (+8%). Meanwhile, AI deal count climbed by 16% QoQ to reach 948, bucking the trend in venture deals more broadly (-7% QoQ).

• Average AI deal size is $28.9M in 2024 so far — up 55% vs. $18.6M in full-year 2023. A relatively small number of players have had an outsized impact on this upward trend, raising massive $1B+ deals in Q2’24: 
  • xAI — $6B Series B at a $24B valuation
  • G42 — $1.5B investment from Microsoft 
  • CoreWeave — $1.1B Series C at a $19B valuation
  • Wayve — $1.05B Series C from Softbank, Microsoft, and Nvidia
  • Scale — $1B Series F at a $13.8B valuation

Meanwhile, the median AI deal size is up 25% in 2024 so far.

• AI unicorn births remain steady at 6 QoQ in Q2’24. Generative AI was a key theme for new unicorns (private companies reaching $1B+ valuations). Some of these companies, like xAI, are focused on generative AI infrastructure. Others are primarily working on generative AI applications, like Perplexity (search) and Cognition (coding).

Among new AI unicorns in Q2’24, xAI landed the most sizable valuation. The company was valued at $24B after raising $6B in Series B funding, which it plans to use to bring its first products to market.

• AI companies raise 32 mega-rounds (deals worth $100M+) in Q2’24, marking a 28% increase QoQ. Meanwhile, funding from AI mega-round deals climbed 74% QoQ in Q2’24. This was largely driven by US mega-round deals, which collectively amounted to $10.8B — 67% of AI mega-round funding in Q2.
• Among major global regions, the US continues to lead in AI funding and deals. AI startups based in the US drew $15.2B across 476 deals in Q2’24. This equates to 66% of the global AI funding total and 50% of the global deal total in Q2.

The post State of AI Q2’24 Report appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Beyond relevance to government agencies, IQT’s investment activity has historically pointed to next-gen technologies that have the potential to be developed for use beyond the public sector.

IQT has participated in over 50 disclosed deals since the beginning of 2022, with many of its investments falling into areas categorized as “deep tech” — cutting-edge technologies rooted in scientific or engineering advances, such as biotech and quantum computing.

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The impact on the pharma industry has been substantial, with Ozempic’s producer, Novo Nordisk, seeing a 36% rise in sales in 2023 driven by the accelerated adoption of its GLP-1 products. D2C pharmacies like Hims are also entering the space, offering their own GLP-1 drugs at a fraction of the cost to patients. 

The rapid growth in prescriptions for these appetite-curbing drugs has drawn wide-spread attention from corporates across industries.  

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The technology has been top of mind for major insurers such as Cigna, Sun Life, and Munich Re, with discussion on corporate earnings calls surging over the past year.

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Amid the decline, investors have shifted their focus to writing fewer, larger checks for more mature companies in the digital health ecosystem. Meanwhile, their interest in early-stage companies has cooled.

Based on our deep dive in the full report, here is the TL;DR on the state of digital health:

• Global digital health funding declines by 26% QoQ, with funding falling to $2.9B across 235 deals in Q2’24 — the lowest quarterly deal volume seen since 2014. However, the annual average deal size globally is $16.7M in 2024 YTD, up 40% from the average for full-year 2023, signaling that investors are writing fewer but larger checks.

• US deal share grows to 61%, up from 54% in Q1’24. While digital health funding in the US declined by 18% QoQ in Q2’24, the US’ proportion of the global deal volume grew, marked by an increase in mid- to late-stage deal share. Median deal size is also up in the US in 2024 so far — sitting at $7.5M vs. $4.6M in full-year 2023.

• Mid-stage deal share jumps to 26% in 2024 YTD, while early-stage deal share falls by 14 percentage points. Early-stage deals have consistently accounted for 60%+ of all digital health deals in recent years. However, in 2024 YTD, early-stage deal share has dropped to 51% as mid- and late-stage deals have captured more investor interest. In the US, early-stage deal share has fallen to 45% in 2024 YTD vs. 62% in full-year 2023.

• $100M+ mega-rounds drop off in Q2’24 but are more varied across the digital health landscape. Digital health mega-rounds dropped from 8 in Q1’24 to 5 in Q2’24. While mega-rounds were focused on biotech in Q1’24, they were more spread out in Q2’24, spanning areas like care navigation, ultrasound tech, and value-based care tools. The largest deal of the quarter ($200M Series D) went to Foodsmart — a telenutrition company focused on chronic disease management.

Source: CB Insights — Foodsmart Funding Insights

• Digital health exits increase in Q2’24, rising from 26 to 32 QoQ. AI-driven platforms were the highlight here, with Tempus (precision medicine) and XtalPi (drug R&D) going public via IPO and Nuvo Group (remote pregnancy monitoring) going public via SPAC. Digital health M&A exit activity also picked up in Q2’24, especially in Europe, which saw M&A deals jump from 5 to 10 QoQ. Globally, virtual care, provider workflow tools, and drug R&D platforms were key categories for M&A in Q2’24.

The post State of Digital Health Q2’24 Report appeared first on CB Insights Research.

From ambient documentation to surgical tools and digital wound care, AI solutions are helping providers focus on patients, improve diagnostics, and find new ways to perform surgeries and other procedures.

To determine which health systems are most prepared for the shift, CB Insights has launched the Hospital AI Readiness Index.

We looked at the top private-sector health systems in the US (by hospital count) and ranked them based on how prepared they are to adapt to a rapidly evolving AI landscape across 2 key pillars: innovation and execution.

• Innovation: The innovation score measures a health system’s track record of developing or acquiring novel AI capabilities. This score is based on CB Insights data including patents, acquisitions, and deal-making activity. It also considers the presence of an AI-dedicated research center.
• Execution: The execution score measures a health system’s ability to bring AI-powered products and services into clinical practice as well as deploy AI internally across business and back-office functions. This score is based on CB Insights data including business relationships, product launch media mentions, and earnings transcripts.

Below, we present the 25 health systems (inclusive of subsidiaries and venture arms) most prepared for AI.

Want to dive into key data featured in this index? CB Insights customers can check out the links below:

• AI investments
• AI acquisitions
• AI patents

Leaders

Mayo Clinic leads in AI readiness primarily due to its relatively high level of AI innovation. 

Its innovative nature is reflected in part by its patent activity. For example, Mayo has filed 50+ patents across areas like cardiovascular health and oncology. It has also invested in AI-enabled companies addressing a range of use cases in healthcare, from clinical documentation to surgical intelligence.

Intermountain Health and Cleveland Clinic round out the top three. 

Notable activities for these players include Intermountain’s internal development of a real-time clinical decision support platform. Meanwhile, Cleveland Clinic stands out on the execution front due to its high volume of AI-focused business relationships, such as a partnership with PathAI focused on leveraging pathology algorithms to enhance translational research and clinical care.

Source: CB Insights — Cleveland Clinic Business Relationship Insights

Innovation

Innovation scores are based on the presence of an AI-dedicated research center and CB Insights data on AI-related patents as well as acquisitions and deal-making activity since 2019 (as of 5/29/2024).

The most active health system in terms of investment count is Mayo Clinic. Its investments highlight areas where AI is picking up steam in healthcare. For example, at the end of 2023, it participated in a funding round for Abridge — a startup that helps transcribe patient-provider conversations and create clinical notes using generative AI — alongside investors like CVS Health Ventures, the American College of Cardiology, and Kaiser Permanente Ventures. Mayo Clinic has also funded companies like Theator, which combines computer vision and AI to help surgeons draw and act on insights from videos of procedures.

Intermountain Health is the second most active AI investor among evaluated health systems. Via its venture arm, Intermountain Ventures, it backed AI-powered patient engagement platform Gyant, which has since been acquired. Most recently, its venture arm invested in Freenome, which develops blood tests for early cancer detection.

When it comes to patent count, Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic lead the pack. 

One focus area for Mayo Clinic is cardiovascular health. For example, in 2022, it was granted a patent for a system that uses a machine learning model to analyze electrocardiogram (ECG) data and predict the likelihood that a patient will have a stroke. 

Source: CB Insights — Mayo Clinic patents

Meanwhile, Cleveland Clinic was granted a patent for a decision support system that utilizes machine learning to individualize radiotherapy doses, enhancing the precision and effectiveness of cancer treatments.

The evaluated health systems are not overly acquisitive — just one has inked an acquisition in the past 5 years: Providence. In 2019, it acquired Lumedic, which uses blockchain and AI to streamline healthcare revenue cycle management.

Execution

Execution scores are based on CB Insights data including AI-related business relationships, product launch media mentions, and earnings transcripts since 2019 (as of 5/29/2024).

The majority of the health systems evaluated for this ranking have established business relationships with AI-enabled companies.

For example, in 2024 so far:

• Mayo Clinic teamed up with Techcyte to develop a platform that will help healthcare organizations harness AI in their pathology practices.
• Meanwhile, Banner Health worked with Regard to ease the administrative burden on clinicians by automating key tasks, like notetaking and chart reviews.
• Johns Hopkins Medicine partnered with Healthy.io to offer digital wound care services to patients.

Few evaluated health systems have earnings calls, as many are non-profit organizations with different financial reporting requirements than publicly traded companies. However, earnings calls among systems that do hold them reveal how AI is coming into view in a hospital setting. 

For example, Community Health Systems’ EVP of clinical operations, Miguel Benet, highlighted how AI could be deployed to streamline clinical documentation on an earnings call in Q4’23. He also discussed how CHS is using AI to provide patients with relevant information regarding local resources upon discharge — an initiative that has already yielded positive results, such as reductions in length of stay.

Source: CB Insights — Community Health Systems earnings transcripts

Four of the health systems on this list have launched AI-enabled products. 

For example, last year, Intermountain Health developed a platform equipped with real-time clinical decision support tools that leverage AI to improve patient diagnosis and treatment. Just a few months ago, CommonSpirit Health launched Insightli, an internal AI assistant capable of generating written content.

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Based on our deep dive below, here is the TL;DR on the state of venture:

1. Venture funding climbs for a second straight quarter, reaching $65.7B, up 8% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ). However, while funding gained momentum, deals slid for the ninth quarter in a row to 6,230. Global deal volume is now less than half of what it was at its peak in Q1’22.
2. At $14.4M, the average deal size is up 17% this year so far vs. 2023. Even in a more cautious investing environment, the deals that do happen have ballooned in size as investors put more behind select startups. 
3. AI startups are dominating global funding, capturing 35% in Q2’24. This is the highest quarterly share on record. AI startups drew $23.2B in Q2’24 — up 59% QoQ — driven by mammoth $1B+ deals to Elon Musk’s xAI as well as Scale, CoreWeave, and others. 
4. The US is attracting a greater portion of exit activity, with exit share rising 4 percentage points QoQ to 39%. This represents its highest share in 2 years. Top US-based exits in Q2’24 included IPOs from Tempus and Rubrik — both valued at over $5B — as well as Hyundai’s acquisition of Motional priced at $4.1B.
5. SOSV is the most active venture investor, backing 35 companies in Q2’24. It’s followed by Andreessen Horowitz (33 companies), General Catalyst (31 companies), and Lightspeed Venture Partners (28).
6. Fintech funding rebounds 19% QoQ to hit $8.9B — a 5-quarter high — led by $600M+ rounds to Stripe and AlphaSense. But it was a different story for the retail tech and digital health sectors: retail tech funding was stagnant from Q1 to Q2, while digital health funding slipped by 26%.
7. Quarterly funding to startups in Asia falls below $10B for the first time since 2014. The drop was especially severe in China, where some international investors have pulled back or retreated altogether amid rising geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, the US and Europe — the two largest regions for venture investment — each saw funding grow by double-digit percentages in Q2’24.

Venture funding ticked up for a second consecutive quarter, reaching $65.7B in Q2’24. Nearly half of this funding (47%) came from mega-rounds (deals worth $100M+). xAI’s $6B round alone represented nearly one-tenth of the global total and helped prevent funding from declining QoQ.

Despite the strong showing, deal volume slipped for a ninth straight quarter — sinking 7% to 6,230 — as investors remain cautious in the less exuberant market. The US, Europe, and Asia all saw deal count decrease QoQ, while it grew slightly across Canada, LatAm, Africa, and Oceania.

With deals down and funding up, the average deal size has climbed this year, pacing at $14.4M — up 17% compared to full-year 2023. Notably, it’s not just a few massive deals that are pulling that figure up: the median deal size has also grown from $2.5M to $3M over the same period. 

Among investment stages, the median deal size has increased across early- and mid-stage rounds, while it has fallen slightly at the late stage.

One factor more than any other is driving gains in the venture market right now, and that’s AI. Startups developing AI solutions raised $23.2B in Q2’24 — accounting for 35% of the global total, the highest share ever recorded. This share has been trending up for several years now, especially since the arrival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT in late 2022.

Leading the pack among AI startups, Elon Musk’s xAI outfit raised a whopping $6B round in Q2’24. The 1-year-old company, now valued at $24B, had no trouble finding investors, who believe xAI will gain a competitive edge through integration with Musk’s network of companies (and their data). For instance, Tesla could use xAI’s latest multimodal AI model, which includes vision capabilities, to bring more advanced perception to its Optimus humanoid.

The Funding Insights from xAI’s CB Insights profile point to synergies between xAI and Musk’s other companies, like Tesla.

Other top AI rounds in Q2’24 went to:

• G42 — $1.5B investment from Microsoft
• CoreWeave — $1.1B Series C at a $19B valuation
• Wayve — $1.05B Series C from SoftBank, Nvidia, and Microsoft
• Scale — $1B Series F led by Accel, with backing from corporates including AMD, Amazon, Intel, and Nvidia

Customers can explore thousands of AI startups across industries and technologies in the CB Insights AI Expert Collection.

In Q2’24, the US saw 39% of all exits, which included both IPOs and M&A transactions. The figure represents an increase of 4 percentage points QoQ and puts the US in the No. 1 spot globally, tied with Europe.

Notably, US IPOs are gaining some strength, with Q2 seeing blockbuster debuts from Tempus (valued at $6.1B) and Rubrik ($5.6B). We predicted both companies would go public in our Tech IPO Pipeline report, published in late 2023. 

Go deeper with CB Insights buyer interviews for Tempus and Rubrik to see what their customers are saying.

Meanwhile, the US venture market’s top M&A deal went to Motional, an autonomous driving startup founded as a joint venture between Hyundai and Aptiv. Hyundai took a majority stake in the company at a $4.1B valuation. Per the Funding Insights on Motional’s CB Insights profile, Hyundai and Motional are co-developing a robotaxi service with a target release of 2024.

The Acquisition Insights from Hyundai’s CB Insights profile break down the structure and goals of the Motional deal.

Around the world, the most active venture investor right now is SOSV. The firm, which primarily backs early-stage startups, invested in 35 unique companies in Q2’24, placing it ahead of a16z (33 companies), General Catalyst (31), and Lightspeed (28). 

Customers can use this CB Insights platform search to see SOSV’s top portfolio companies ranked by Mosaic score — which measures a private company’s health — alongside data cuts like commercial maturity, headcount growth, and more.

Among industry sectors, fintech saw funding grow the most, watching it rise 19% QoQ to reach $8.9B. This marks a rebound for the sector vs. Q1’24. Top fintech deals in the quarter went to payments leader Stripe and market intelligence firm AlphaSense. 

The retail tech and digital health sectors were worse off than fintech. Retail tech funding was roughly stagnant QoQ, while digital health funding plummeted to below $3B — its second-lowest quarterly level since 2016.

Among major global regions, the US and Europe outpaced the market as a whole for funding growth in Q2’24. 

Asia, on the other hand, saw its funding fall 13% QoQ to $9.7B. The decline was most pronounced in China, where dollars tumbled more than 50% to $2.2B, whereas India, Singapore, and Japan all experienced funding growth QoQ. 

The top two equity deals in the region went to United Arab Emirates’ G42 and India-based Zepto.

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