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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These tech leaders are collaborating with energy incumbents and startups alike to tap into renewable energy sources and decarbonize their operations.

While these big tech players are competing in the energy space, they are also developing unique strategies:

• Amazon is working to decarbonize its transportation and fulfillment center operations, with a focus on hydrogen tech.
• Google is pioneering new models for clean energy procurement as it works to boost the sustainability of its data center network.
• Microsoft is focusing on renewable energy sources — like solar and fusion — and carbon capture technologies to meet the growing energy demands of its AI-driven operations.
• Nvidia is enhancing data center energy efficiency and investing in the development of a green and reliable power grid.

This report uses CB Insights datasets like investments, acquisitions, business relationships, company scouting reports, earnings transcripts, and more. Learn more about our data here.

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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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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

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Across themes like customer experience and genAI, insurance companies must make the right innovation bets to lower claims costs and stay ahead of the competition.

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

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If you’re already a customer, log in here.

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With the rapid development of generative AI, consultancies are keen to use the tech to streamline internal processes and launch AI-based products for their enterprise clients. 

Boston Consulting Group, for example, is zeroing in on responsible AI through its partnership with large language model developer Anthropic. Meanwhile, Deloitte’s AI Institute launched an internal generative AI copilot in January 2024 to streamline tasks like coding and project planning, with plans to offer the tool to 100K employees. 

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Amid the funding decline, investors are favoring smaller mid- and late-stage deals. However, they are still willing to place early-stage bets where they see strong opportunities.

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

• • Global climate tech funding declines by 20% QoQ to $4.9B in Q2’24 — the lowest quarterly total since Q2’20. While deal count rebounded QoQ to 397 in Q2, it still came in well below 2023’s quarterly totals.

• • Climate tech doesn’t see any unicorn births (private companies reaching $1B+ valuations) in Q2’24, marking climate tech’s second straight quarter without any new unicorns. This coincides with a decline in late-stage deal sizes — the median deal size at that stage is $38M in 2024 YTD, down 16% vs. full-year 2023.

• • Late-stage deal sizes decline, while early-stage sizes show strength. The median late-stage deal size is $38M in 2024 YTD — down 16% from full-year 2023. In contrast, median early-stage size is up 39% YTD, suggesting that investors are still willing to place bets where they see strong early-stage opportunities. Two of the largest early-stage deals in Q2’24 went to Cylib and Aether Fuels. Both companies intend to use the funding to scale and support commercialization initiatives — goals that are generally communicated by later-stage companies.

• • $100M+ mega-rounds continue to trend down in Q2’24. Climate tech mega-rounds dropped from 17 in Q1’24 to 9 in Q2’24. The majority of Q2’24’s mega-round recipients are focused on scaling operations and achieving full-scale commercialization. For example, one of the quarter’s largest deals ($375M Series G) went to battery materials developer Sila, which plans to use the funding to ramp up silicon anode production.

Source: CB Insights — Sila Funding Insights

• Climate tech funding drops yet again in Asia. Climate tech startups in the region raised a total of $0.4B in Q2’24, down 33% QoQ and 89% YoY. China suffered the sharpest funding decline (-90% QoQ) among highlighted countries in the region. India and Japan watched funding fall by 28% and 57% QoQ, respectively.

More energy resources from CB insights

• 5 climate tech markets gaining momentum in 2024
• The grid tech market map: The companies tackling the growing need for reliable electricity
• The energy impact of generative AI: 3 technologies transforming the future of data centers
• Analyzing 15 oil & gas leaders’ tech priorities: Here’s where incumbents are buying, investing, and partnering
• Sodium-ion batteries are poised for a breakout moment — energy players should prepare
• Why energy giants should have green ammonia on their radar

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After nearly a decade of big tech companies venturing into launching their own financial products, the major players have now pulled back. Most have shifted to roles as tech providers, broadly supporting advances in financial infrastructure.

Amazon and Google stand out in this area:

• Amazon is embedding itself in more financial transactions via partnerships, investments, and acquisitions. It’s using these relationships to reach customers across more geographies and a wider range of services. 
• Google has shifted away from providing financial services and instead is connecting its existing platforms to others’ financial offerings. The company is also investing and partnering to enable digital-first financial tools.

We mined CB Insights data on Amazon’s and Google’s investments, acquisitions, and partnerships, as well as patents and earnings transcripts, from January 2021 to July 2024 to explore how the companies are reengineering their fintech strategies.

Download the full report to see where they are making moves.

This report uses CB Insights datasets like investments, acquisitions, business relationships, earnings call insights, patents, and more. Learn more about our data here.

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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.

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That future isn’t too far off. 

The idea of autonomous AI agents — LLM-powered bots that can independently reason and execute tasks — caught on like wildfire in 2023, marking an important evolution beyond chatbots and copilots. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described agents as “AI’s killer function” as recently as May 2024.  

While much of the tech remains limited in its ability to execute tasks reliably, use cases are gaining traction in horizontal enterprise applications like customer support, sales, and engineering.

We mined CB Insights startup, financing, business model, and buyer interview data to map the evolving landscape and analyze its future. 

In the 28-page report, we cover: 

• The state of AI agents: Investment is surging to companies in the space, but limitations — most notably, agent reliability — remain. 
• Leading horizontal applications and impacts: The landscape of VC-backed agent startups is dominated by a focus on horizontal applications — across sales, customer support, and other enterprise and general productivity workflows.
• Emerging industry applications and opportunities: While few agentic companies focus on single industries, companies are emerging to target workflows across financial services, industrials, and more. 

Download the full report to get all of the data and analysis.

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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.

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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.

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However, two huge deals — for market intelligence firm AlphaSense and payments juggernaut Stripe — obscured the reality that it was another tepid quarter for the sector as a whole.

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

• Funding increases by 19% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ), buoyed by 2 blockbuster deals. Quarterly funding rose in Q2’24 to $8.9B. But if it weren’t for 2 late-stage deals for Stripe ($694M) and AlphaSense ($650M), funding would have remained flat QoQ. A 16% decline in deal volume also indicates fintech investors remain cautious.​
• Average deal size decreases to $12.8M, down 4% vs. 2023. The slight decline in average deal size YTD highlights broad stagnation in fintech deal sizes. Yet, when looking at the median, deal size has ticked up from $3.1M in 2023 to $4M this year. The 29% increase could signal strength in the long tail of smaller fintech deals.
• Mid- and late-stage deal share is at 20% YTD, up from 18% in 2023. In a more favorable operating environment, investors are showing greater confidence in later-stage companies than they did in the past 2 years — especially in areas like payments and lending. In payments, mid- and late-stage rounds make up 27% of deals YTD, vs. 21% in 2023. In digital lending, mid- and late-stage deals make up 35% of deals YTD, compared to 20% in 2023. 
• 30% of the biggest early-stage deals are for digital asset companies. Crypto and blockchain-focused fintechs are receiving renewed focus, as the crypto winter thaws. Digital asset companies accounted for nearly one-third of the top 10 seed/angel and top 10 Series A rounds. The two largest early-stage deals in the crypto space went to digital asset infrastructure platforms TradeDog ($75M seed) and Biton ($44M Series A).
• US-based funding increases by 45% QoQ to $4.8B. In addition to the funding increase, the US led the world across a few metrics in Q2’24, including share of equity deals (40%) and exits (36%). Mega-rounds led the way: Nine of the 10 biggest deals in the US were worth $100M or more, the most since Q2’22. LatAm was the only other major global region with a funding increase, up by 22% to $442M.

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To meet this demand, businesses across industries are embedding financial tools — from buy now, pay later (BNPL) to insurance distribution — into their platforms. Integrating these financial services can help not only improve customer engagement, but also drive new revenue streams and loyalty in the process. 

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

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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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Increasingly sophisticated models are opening up new applications that enterprises are eager to harness. 

AI development platforms — which enable enterprises to manage the AI lifecycle, from data preparation to model deployment and continuous monitoring — are responding to the call.

These one-stop shop platforms, from enterprise machine learning (ML) players (Dataiku, H2O.ai) to big tech products (Google Cloud Vertex AI, Amazon SageMaker and Bedrock), are jumping on the opportunity to adapt their offerings for the genAI era and capture more enterprise AI spend.

We mined CB Insights valuation, headcount, and financing data, as well as 50+ buyer interviews, to map the evolving landscape and analyze its future. 

In the 32-page report, we cover: 

• The AI development platform market landscape: GenAI is putting pressure on legacy ML companies while new players muscle in.
• How enterprise buyers are evaluating the ROI of their AI tool spend: Productivity gains and cost savings are in focus. 
• The future of enterprise AI development: From small language models to big tech’s advantages in the landscape, we cover the opportunities and challenges both enterprises and vendors face.
• Sample buyer case studies by industry: How buyers including Fortune 500 companies are leveraging AI across financial services, manufacturing, and healthcare. 

Download the full report to get all of the data.

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These leaders are harnessing their existing offerings — in areas like cloud computing, AI, and hardware — to service healthcare providers and pharmaceutical companies.

While big tech players are competing with each other in this landscape, they are also carving out distinct strategies: 

• Amazon is going deeper into primary and specialized care.
• Google is amassing troves of health data, which could play a role in its biotech bets. 
• Microsoft is equipping healthcare organizations with AI tools to improve clinical research, drug R&D, and care delivery.
• Nvidia’s long-standing hardware dominance positions it to play a major role in the future of smart hospitals. 

This report uses CB Insights datasets like investments, acquisitions, business relationships, patents, buyer interviews, company scouting reports, and more. Learn more about our data here.

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As a result, femtech categories — spanning hardware, software, and tech-enabled services — have emerged to address a variety of women’s health needs, from menstruation and maternity to menopause and pelvic health. 

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

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Driving this growth were mega-rounds (deals worth $100M+), which accounted for 47% of the funding — their highest share since Q1’22.

CVC deal count remained steady QoQ, again showcasing CVCs’ resilience compared to the broader venture market, which saw quarterly deals plummet to their lowest level in years.

Based on our 122-page report, here is the TL;DR on the state of CVC:

• ​Global CVC-backed funding rebounded 26% QoQ to reach $15B in Q1’24. Nearly half ($7B) of this funding came from $100M+ mega-rounds. Meanwhile, global deal volume was roughly flat, ticking up 1% QoQ to 851.

• CVCs participated in 33 $100M+ mega-rounds in Q1’24, tied for the highest total since Q3’22. The top 2 mega-rounds went to Wonder ($700M, with backing from American Express Ventures and Google Ventures) and Figure ($675M, with backing from Intel Capital, M12, NVentures, OpenAI Startup Fund, and Samsung Ventures).
• Early-stage companies have captured 66% of CVC deals in 2024 YTD, pacing at the highest share in over a decade. The increase is driven largely by Europe and Asia, which have seen 73% and 66% of deals this year go to early-stage companies, respectively. In the US, 59% of the year’s CVC deals are early-stage.
• CVC deals to fintech companies increased 41% QoQ to 165. This was the highest level since Q4’22. Blockchain investment firm OKX Ventures was the most active CVC across sectors, backing 27 total companies in Q1’24. Coinbase Ventures was also a top CVC last quarter with 11 companies backed, signaling a potential rebound in crypto-focused CVC activity. 
• CVC-backed funding in China fell to $0.3B, a 40% QoQ decrease. Deal volume also fell 14% QoQ to 78, its lowest level since Q1’20. Sungrow New Energy, a developer of renewable energy hardware, raised the largest round for China-based companies at $48M, with backing from CVC Zhongan Capital.

The post State of CVC Q1’24 Report appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Even so, median insurtech deal size is up in 2024 so far — signaling that investors are still willing to make notable bets where they see opportunities.

Here is the TL;DR on the state of insurtech:

• Insurtech funding falls 18% QoQ to hit $0.9B in Q1’24 — the lowest quarterly level since 2018. The decline was particularly pronounced in P&C insurtech, which saw funding drop by 25% QoQ. Meanwhile, broader insurtech deal count ticked up by 3% to reach 107 in Q1’24.

• No $100M+ mega-round insurtech deals are raised for the first time since 2018. Relatedly, late-stage deal share — which often comprises larger, mega-round deals — is down to 7% in 2024 so far. Hyperexponential, a pricing platform, raised the largest insurtech deal in Q1’24 — a $73M Series B round.
• Europe sees quarterly insurtech deal count rise for the first time since Q2’22. Europe-based insurtech startups raised 28 deals in Q1’24, up from 24 in Q4’23. Funding also more than tripled QoQ, rising to $284M in Q1’24. The region saw the 2 largest insurtech deals in Q1’24: Hyperexponential’s Series B round and embedded insurer ELEMENT’s $54M Series C round.
• Median insurtech deal size is $5M in 2024 so far, up 19% vs. $4.2M in full-year 2023. This elevated median deal size is partially linked to an uptick in median early-stage deal size, which sits at $3.2M in 2024 so far. Meanwhile, the average insurtech deal size in 2024 YTD ($9.8M) is down 17% from full-year 2023.
• Insurtech sees its fewest M&A exits since 2018. Exit activity has nearly halted in insurtech, with M&A exits declining from 13 in Q4’23 to just 5 in Q1’24. Comparatively, fintech M&A exits largely remained flat QoQ — ticking down from 153 in Q4’23 to 152 in Q1’24.

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Now, our Book of Scouting Reports offers in-depth analysis on every single one of the 100 winners, from Databricks to OpenAI. 

Combining CB Insights’ proprietary data and AI, scouting reports provide insight into a company’s:

• Business model
• Financials
• Employee headcount
• Market position
• Customer feedback
• Key competitors
• Opportunities
• Threats

Download the book to see all 100 reports. 

Learn more about how CB Insights’ one-click scouting reports can reduce hours of work to seconds. 

For more on the methodology behind the AI 100 list, go here.

The post Book of Scouting Reports: The most promising AI companies in the world appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Massive rounds to players like generative AI startup Anthropic were key drivers behind the jump, as overall AI deal volume dipped for the fourth straight quarter in Q1’24. 

Here is the TL;DR on the state of AI:

• Global AI funding reaches $13.1B. AI funding increased 24% QoQ to reach $13.1B — its highest quarterly level since Q1’23. This outpaced the growth in broader venture funding (+11%). Meanwhile, AI deals slipped for the fourth consecutive quarter, hitting their lowest quarterly count since 2018 (739 deals). This drop was particularly pronounced in Asia, which saw a 30% drop in deals QoQ.
  

• Average deal size YTD in AI is $23.1M, up 21% vs. $19.1M in full-year 2023. A couple of genAI infrastructure players have had an outsized impact on this upward trend, raising massive $1B+ deals: Anthropic ($2.8B Series D) and Moonshot AI ($1B Series B). Notably, Anthropic raised an additional deal worth $750M in Q1’24, bringing its total funding for the quarter to $3.5B.
• AI unicorn births remain steady at 6 QoQ in Q1’24. Three of these new unicorns are generative AI model developers: Moonshot AI, Together AI, and Krutrim all reached $1B+ valuations in Q1’24.
• AI M&A exits drop 36% in Q1’24. There were 69 M&A deals for AI companies in Q1’24, marking a 36% decrease from Q4’23. Amid the downturn, Europe saw its share of broader global exits rise by 12 percentage points QoQ, while Asia experienced a 15-point drop. Meanwhile, the US’ share remained steady at 41%.
• US AI funding rises 52% QoQ to reach $9.3B. Asia was the only other major global region to see a funding increase (+6%) in Q1’24. Funding totals for both regions were heavily buoyed by the $1B+ rounds to genAI infrastructure startups Anthropic (US) and Moonshot AI (China).

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Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff called AI “the single most important moment in the history of the technology industry” in the company’s most recent earnings call. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said, in his April 2024 letter, “we are completely convinced the consequences [of AI] will be extraordinary.” 

Others are hyper-focused on AI’s potential to drive new efficiencies and product development. Big pharma companies are pushing ahead with AI-powered drug discovery collaborations, with the goal of accelerating drug development timelines. Payments giants, meanwhile, are leveraging AI to fight back against a wave of fraud.  

Much of the hype around recent advances has yet to translate to revenue. No AI-discovered drug has been approved yet for sale (though Insilico Medicine brought the first drug fully generated by AI into human trials in 2023), and Salesforce acknowledged its latest AI push would not have a material impact on its revenue this year. 

But the promise of future opportunities — and the perceived risk of inaction — is driving leaders to make moves now that could eventually reshape some of the world’s biggest industries. Our 70-slide report surveys the AI strategies of the following companies:

• Financial services & insurance: JPMorgan, Visa, Mastercard, UnitedHealth Group
• Enterprise tech: Oracle, Salesforce
• Pharma: Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Johnson & Johnson
• Industrials: Toyota, Siemens

Using the CB Insights technology intelligence platform, we analyzed signals like investment & partnership activity, executive chatter in earnings transcripts, patents, and more to understand their efforts. Download the full report to see them all. 

Largest companies based on market cap (as of 4/15/2024). Our analysis excludes big tech, semiconductor developers, and state-owned companies.

The post AI strategies for 11 of the world’s largest companies: Where Eli Lilly, Visa, Oracle, and 8 other giants are making moves appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Digital health funding grew 48% quarter-over-quarter in Q1’24. This growth was supported by an increase in $100M+ mega-rounds, which were largely directed at biotech startups and other players leveraging AI.

Despite the increase, however, total funding still came in below pre-pandemic levels in Q1’24. Meanwhile, deal count continued to trend down.

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

• ​Global digital health funding increases 48% QoQ to reach $3.7B in Q1’24. However, funding was still down 12% vs. Q1’23 and 63% vs. Q1’22. Meanwhile, digital health deal count declined in Q1’24, dropping to its lowest quarterly level since 2014.
  
  
• Funding to US digital health startups rises 44% QoQ. However, the US also saw deals drop to 144 — the fewest in a quarter since 2013. Despite the decline, the US still saw the majority of global digital health deals (53%) and funding (70%) in Q1’24. The US also secured 6 out of 7 digital health mega-rounds in the quarter.
• Average digital health deal size is up 38% in 2024 so far. After dropping from $23.1M in 2021 to $11.9M in 2023, average deal size is up to $16.4M in 2024 so far. This is being driven in part by the resurgence of mega-round deals. In Q1’24, these deals accounted for their second-highest share of quarterly funding since 2022.
• Digital health sees 7 $100M+ mega-rounds in Q1’24. Digital health mega-round deals rebounded QoQ in Q1’24. The largest digital health deal of the quarter went to Freenome — a biotech company focused on cancer detection. While biotech drove the top deals, Q1’24 mega-rounds were spread across the digital health industry, from biomedical NLP to robotics for microsurgery.
• No new unicorns (private companies valued at $1B+) emerge. While Freenome added $1B to its valuation following its Series F mega-round in February 2024, the company had already attained unicorn status in 2020. Among Q1’24 mega-round earners, Abridge saw the largest increase in disclosed valuation. It reached an $850M valuation — up 350% from October 2023.

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