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.

The post Future of the workforce: How AI agents will transform enterprise workflows appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Since 2018, the CRM giant has backed over 300 companies and acquired 25 companies. This includes big-ticket purchases like MuleSoft ($6.9B in 2018), Tableau ($15.7B in 2019), and Slack ($27.7B in 2021). 

Under pressure to improve profitability, Salesforce disbanded its M&A committee in March 2023, tapping the brakes on large deals.

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The post Deconstructing Salesforce’s M&A strategy and predicting 3 companies it will acquire next appeared first on CB Insights Research.

The publicly traded marketing software and CRM platform plans to integrate Clearbit’s external company and contact enrichment data with companies’ internal customer data. 

The Clearbit acquisition puts HubSpot on track to own more of the go-to-market (GTM) tech stack — helping its customers find best-fit prospects based on internal and external data in one platform. 

The acquisition also marks a near-term opportunity to go after ZoomInfo. 

And it sets HubSpot up for a longer-term fight with fast-growing data intelligence and sales engagement platforms like Apollo.io and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

We dive in below.

Battling ZoomInfo

A quick look at CB Insights interview transcripts with software buyers shows that Clearbit was already battling and beating ZoomInfo in certain areas.

As this buyer highlights, vs. ZoomInfo, Clearbit was “overwhelmingly the best database for the companies we sell to.”

Add in that Clearbit was already integrating with HubSpot, this likely allowed HubSpot’s corp dev team some insight into the product’s value and usage by customers.

Read the full transcript here.

While the above comment is a signal of volume, this conversation transcript highlighted Clearbit winning over ZoomInfo because it “had a higher accuracy rate with our total addressable market.”

Read the full transcript here.

In our scorecard of data enrichment vendors based on these interviews, we see customer satisfaction (CSAT) for ZoomInfo lagging behind other players, including Clearbit.

Taking on data enrichment & sales engagement players

More broadly, HubSpot now has an additional product arrow in its quiver to capture a slice of the data enrichment and sales engagement market, which includes LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, Cognism, Lusha, and others. 

It’s hard to tease out exactly how big the LI Sales Navigator business is but some data we’ve gleaned:

• In 2016, LinkedIn Premium Subscription was $155M (prior to the closing of its acquisition by Microsoft).
• The business now goes by different names so it’s hard to know exactly where Sales Navigator now sits and Microsoft disclosures on it are minimal, but we do know that LI Sales Solutions grew to $1B+ in revenue by 2021.

LI Sales Navigator has been incredibly fast-growing, big, and sticky. 

HubSpot is also taking aim at Apollo. The company, which provides data enrichment and sequencing tools, raised a $100M Series D at a $1.6B valuation in August 2023 — up 78% from its 2022 valuation. 

Apollo has also been growing its team rapidly compared to other companies in the space highlighting its traction especially vs. publicly traded ZoomInfo, which our software buyer transcripts consistently highlight. 

Looking ahead

HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit points to more M&A in the space.

Here is a snapshot of still private ZoomInfo competitors from CB Insights:

Competitor context: ZoomInfo’s challenges for asset managers

These 3 firms each have $400,000,000+ invested in ZoomInfo:

• Carlyle
• Capital World Investors
• Vanguard

In addition, Blackrock has $390M and Wellington has $375M.

Image source: Nasdaq

The CB Insights software buyer interview transcripts and private market data have been highlighting for some time the competitive, product, M&A integration and pricing challenges ZoomInfo faces

On April 10th, we published a brief on the pressure ZoomInfo is facing using the quantitative and qualitative info on the CBI platform. 

The market cap then was $9.3B. 

It stands at $5B today.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg of ZoomInfo research and data we have (25+ pieces of proprietary insight and data as you’ll see).

If you invest in public technology companies and want a 360-degree view of what is going on in their markets, find out here.

The post M&A strategy teardown: Why did HubSpot acquire Clearbit? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Customer data platforms (CDPs) can help marketing and data teams reduce their reliance on third-party cookies to track customer journeys for strategic insights and targeted advertisements. 

Major companies are actively evaluating and investing in CDP vendors. For example: 

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The post Here’s how much data executives are paying for customer data platforms — and who they’re buying from appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Given that unicorn births have nearly stopped, this is a notable event especially as Apollo attacks publicly traded ZoomInfo.

And Apollo’s upward valuation trajectory runs counter to the trend we’ve seen across Series D+ valuations, which have compressed by upwards of 60% YoY.

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The post Customer perspectives on the B2B sales startups taking on ZoomInfo appeared first on CB Insights Research.

The company has been downsizing to reduce costs after multiple acquisitions and a hiring spree drove Twilio’s headcount up to nearly 9,000 employees in summer 2022. That figure has since dropped 15% over the past 6 months.

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The post Are Twilio’s layoffs a sign of struggle for the CPaaS space? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Top players are using M&A to build up their capabilities, taking on everything from sales engagement to forecasting.

Which startups could get acquired next? We used the following CB Insights data to find out:

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The post The sales and revenue operations space is consolidating. Which company will get acquired next? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

But after bringing in $260M in funding, momentum in the space has stalled, with funding drying up in part due to the broader venture slowdown (link-in-bio companies have raised just $12M in 2023 YTD).

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The post Did Instagram’s new feature update just torch $260M of venture funding to link-in-bio companies? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Download the scorecard to quickly compare the below vendors. To read the interview transcripts for each solution, reserve your Yardstiq subscription here.

• Apollo.io
• Clearbit
• Cognism
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Lusha
• Seamless.AI
• ZoomInfo

Other sales intelligence platforms mentioned by buyers include:

• Outreach
• RevenueBase
• RocketReach
• SalesIntel
• UserGems

Scorecard produced in partnership with Pavilion — a global community for GTM leaders, CEOs, and their teams.

The post Top data enrichment companies — and why customers chose them appeared first on CB Insights Research.

This technology will become increasingly important as labor shortages and the rising volume of customer service requests from e-commerce push brands and retailers to improve customer satisfaction while keeping costs under control.

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The post How generative AI can augment customer service agents appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Taken together, that’s a lot of activist hedge funds pushing for strategic changes — including divestitures — at Salesforce.

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The post With Elliott Management, Starboard Value, and Third Point now invested in Salesforce, what assets might it sell off and who are the likely acquirers? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

While not new, this technology is becoming table stakes for brands and retailers as a surge in customer service requests — driven by a rise in e-commerce adoption — and lasting labor shortages push them to look for solutions to automate interactions with customers across the entire buying journey.

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The post 54 companies using AI to automate customer service interactions appeared first on CB Insights Research.

A growing number of tech solutions are being designed to help merchandisers make faster decisions, drive productivity, and scale their work across channels in the face of these complications.

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The post Forma.ai, a sales and commission management platform, raises $45M. Forma.ai competitors are CallidusCloud, CaptivateIQ, Commissionly, Compgun, Performio, QuotaPath, Spiff, Varicent, and Xactly. appeared first on CB Insights Research.

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Brands and retailers are increasingly investing in tech-enabled customer service solutions that can help support and convert customers — either online or in stores — in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Using CB Insights data, we examined tech markets across customer service for consumer & retail leaders and ranked them across two metrics — market momentum and industry leader activity — to help companies decide whether to monitor, vet, or prioritize these technologies.

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The post B2B conversational sales and marketing solution Qualified raises $95M from investors including Salesforce. Qualified competitors are Drift and Intercom. appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Brands and retailers are increasingly investing in tech-enabled customer service solutions that can help support and convert customers — either online or in stores — in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Using CB Insights data, we examined tech markets across customer service for consumer & retail leaders and ranked them across two metrics — market momentum and industry leader activity — to help companies decide whether to monitor, vet, or prioritize these technologies.

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The post Upside, formerly GetUpside, climbs to $1.5B valuation with new financing from Bessemer and General Catalyst, among others. Upside competitors are Ibotta, GasBuddy, Fetch, Drop, Dosh, Honey, and Rakuten Rewards. appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Brands and retailers are increasingly investing in tech-enabled customer service solutions that can help support and convert customers — either online or in stores — in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Using CB Insights data, we examined tech markets across customer service for consumer & retail leaders and ranked them across two metrics — market momentum and industry leader activity — to help companies decide whether to monitor, vet, or prioritize these technologies.

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The post Demostack, a SaaS demo software, raises from Tiger Global, Bessemer, and others. Demostack competitors include Navattic, Reprise, and Walnut. appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Brands and retailers are increasingly investing in tech-enabled customer service solutions that can help support and convert customers — either online or in stores — in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Using CB Insights data, we examined tech markets across customer service for consumer & retail leaders and ranked them across two metrics — market momentum and industry leader activity — to help companies decide whether to monitor, vet, or prioritize these technologies.

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The post Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing customer feedback management appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Brands and retailers are increasingly investing in tech-enabled customer service solutions that can help support and convert customers — either online or in stores — in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Using CB Insights data, we examined tech markets across customer service for consumer & retail leaders and ranked them across two metrics — market momentum and industry leader activity — to help companies decide whether to monitor, vet, or prioritize these technologies.

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The post Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing AI-enabled chatbots appeared first on CB Insights Research.

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The post Revenue operations software BoostUp raises $28.5M. BoostUp competitors in the revenue intelligence market include Aviso, Clari, and IntroHive. appeared first on CB Insights Research.

HOW’S THE COMPANY PERFORMING?

• California-based Apollo.io enables sales teams to connect and engage with prospects.
• Its sales tools are currently being used by over 160K companies worldwide.
• The company’s paying segment has grown by 60% since November 2021, increasing from 9K to 16K businesses.
• Its annual recurring revenue grew by almost 3x last year.
• Apollo.io has developed integrations with sales tools like Salesforce, LinkedIn, HubSpot, Marketo, and Sendgrid.

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The post Apollo.io hits $900M valuation with financing from Sequoia Capital as it aims to take on ZoomInfo. Apollo.io’s other competitors include Cognism, Lusha, UserGems, Sales Intel, and Reply.io. appeared first on CB Insights Research.