Data

What is Commercial Maturity?

Commercial Maturity is a CB Insights proprietary metric. It measures a private company’s current ability to compete for customers or serve as a partner. Ranging from 1 to 5, it provides a clear, quantitative measurement for where a company lies in its development and growth process.

What is the Commercial Maturity scale and how are companies scored?

The Commercial Maturity scale ranges from 1 to 5, with 1 indicating the earliest stage companies, and 5 the most mature companies. A company’s level is determined by our scoring algorithm which reviews all of a company’s data points and determines whether the company satisfies the required criteria for it to be classified at each level. 

Commercial Maturity Scale
Level 1:Emerging	Initial research & development	Companies are new and beginning to develop a product. They have been around for only a few years, still consist of founding members, and have yet to raise a Series A.
Level 2:Validating	Testing and refining product	Companies are introducing their products to the market through pilots and testing. These companies are still in the early stages and starting to validate their products.
Level 3:Deploying	Growing commercial distribution	Companies have validated an idea and are beginning commercial distribution. They have a live product that is starting to gain customers.
Level 4:Scaling	Expanding to additional markets	Companies are gaining market traction and expanding their businesses. These companies are growing in clients and partners, headcount, and revenue.
Level 5:Established	Major market presence	Companies are well-established in the market. They have achieved widespread industry adoption and reached stability in their tenure in operation.

Teams can have confidence in the accurate classification of a company’s Commercial Maturity because of the milestone-driven algorithm which uses a wide range of 30+ signals and 10 datasets to get a complete picture of the company. These datasets include:

Can Commercial Maturity help me identify emerging technologies? 

Yes. Companies with Commercial Maturity of 1 or 2 are in the early stages of their development processes. Filtering to this level of Commercial Maturity in Search can help you identify new technologies that are in their testing phases.

Can Commercial Maturity help me make build, buy, partner decisions?

Levels streamline the process of creating lists by allowing to swiftly filter and pinpoint companies that warrant further investigation. By providing insights into a company’s current stage in its development and commercialization journey, it allows it to rapidly identify potential targets. In essence, the Commercial Maturity metric aids making informed ‘buy, build, or partner’ decisions by offering a simplified screening process to understand a company’s progression.

What other areas can Commercial Maturity help me?

1. Acquisition Target Screening: Commercial Maturity can help identify potential acquisition targets, particularly young companies that may be struggling to scale up. These companies might have promising products or services, but lack the necessary resources or expertise to grow.
2. Assessing Market Position of Companies: Companies with high Commercial Maturity typically have a strong market presence and maturity. This provides valuable insights into a company’s competitive standing in the market.
3. Understanding Business Stability: High Commercial Maturity often indicates that a company is stable and has a proven business model. Such companies are generally better candidates for building long-term partnerships.
4. Strategic Planning: Commercial Maturity can provide insights into market trends and emerging technologies, which can inform strategic planning and decision-making.
5. Risk Assessment: Companies with low Commercial Maturity might pose higher risks due to factors like unproven business models or unstable market positions.

Where can I find a company’s Commercial Maturity? 

Commercial Maturity is available in the ‘Outlook’ section of a company profile. In Company Search, the filter is listed under the Outlook filter category on the left hand side (previously named Performance Metrics/Mosaic).

How often is Commercial Maturity updated?

It is updated daily. When a new data point is added for a company, re-scoring of Commercial Maturity for that company is triggered.

How many companies are scored? 

110k private tech companies with sufficient data points will be scored. Coverage is expected to grow with more information added to company profiles and increased company coverage.

Why do only some companies have Commercial Maturity?

Companies must be private and have sufficient data – including defined, mandatory signals for us to be able to determine Commercial Maturity. Without enough data on a company, we cannot determine a level. Because public companies have exceeded our Commercial Maturity levels, they are not in scope now or in the foreseeable future.

How is Commercial Maturity different from Mosaic?

Commercial Maturity measures a private company’s current ability to compete for customers or serve as a partner, i.e. where it currently stands on its path from ideation to widespread adoption. Mosaic projects the likelihood that a private company will achieve a successful exit or higher valuation in the future.

When evaluating companies, those with the highest combination of Mosaic and Commercial Maturity scores are considered the strongest. These are the companies that have established themselves in a market and are predicted to have future success. When looking for emerging disruptors, a low Commercial Maturity level should be coupled with a high Mosaic score. These companies are at an early stage, still iterating and testing the market, but have high potential for future success.

For example, a company with substantial funding and a strong founding team might have a very high Mosaic score (600+ – Top 10 percentile). However, its Commercial Maturity might be 3 (indicating that it’s in the deployment stage and starting to gain customers) because the company has just begun to sell its product.

Commercial Maturity, Mosaic Health, and Exit Probability, make up a company’s Outlook. Commercial Maturity represents past achievements, Mosaic Health represents the present state, and Exit Probability represents the future prospect of a company.