CB Insights

Turkey day conversation ?? Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate. Need some talking points for your dinner table? In the spirit of giving, we got you covered. Sink your teeth into 15 tech trends to watch in 2025: https://cbi.team/497MF0S

Deflating valuations Across VC, exit valuations on a per employee basis have deflated — from $1.7M in 2021 to $1.3M in 2024. (AKA divide M&A exit valuation by employee headcount at the time of the acquisition.) Fintech exit valuations in particular have been compressed (at $1.1M per employee since 2023) compared to other sectors. The reset is creating opportunities for strategic acquirers.

Corporate VCs ?? early-stage startups Two-thirds of all corporate VC-backed deals this year have gone to early-stage startups. That’s the highest level in over a decade. The trend highlights a strategic shift toward emerging opportunities, especially in AI. AI startups now capture 1 in 3 venture dollars, and across investor types, 72% of deals to AI companies this year are early-stage.

? Startup shut downs ? So far this month, two companies that raised hundreds of millions in funding shut down: *Bowery Farming— vertical farming startup *Forward— high-tech unmanned medical stations Both had high capital costs and failed to secure fresh funding (or sufficient revenue). They top the list of startup failures so far this year based on total funding. Get details on 480+ more startup failures: https://cbi.team/3Zireqw

New report: 15 tech trends to watch closely in 2025 To identify these trends, we used CB Insights datasets, including acquisition data, valuations, key people data, earnings transcripts, our proprietary scoring algorithms to measure business health, and more. Here is a selection of key findings from the report: > AI agents are given money to spend: AI agents’ utility is limited until they can make transactions seamlessly. A small group of tech players is building new infrastructure to make that happen. > The future data center arrives: With data center power usage expected to more than double by 2026, big tech companies are morphing into energy innovators to support AI workloads. There’s a huge opportunity in improving data centers’ energy efficiency. > Disease management enters a new phase with AI: AI is improving care delivery across 3 key areas of disease management: precise symptom evaluation; testing/screening for earlier disease detection (including before symptoms even appear); and finding at-risk individuals in datasets of entire patient populations. Get all the data & key recommendations in the 93-slide report: https://cbi.team/40SV3zb

We're honored to have been featured at Microsoft Ignite! The CB Insights Graph Connector for Microsoft Copilot is going to change how 400+ million Office 365 users get work done. We’re bringing instant, trusted insights directly into their workspace. Whether you’re building pitch decks, comparing competitor datapoints, or researching emerging market trends — intelligence has never been this accessible. Learn more → https://cbi.team/4eGvB3h #MSIgnite #MicrosoftIgnite #MicrosoftCopilot #Office365 #AI #businessintelligence #marketintelligence #innovation

AI M&A is fueling the next wave of corporate strategy. Out of all corporate tech M&A deals, the share that AI companies represent has doubled since 2020. As companies look to bring in fresh AI tech and talent in 2025, where are the clearest opportunities? We map out the most likely AI acquisition targets here: https://cbi.team/3ZjBUoE

Excited to share a really cool product update and #MicrosoftIgnite video: CB Insights' market intelligence is now available in Microsoft Copilot! Here's why we built our Copilot Connector: It’s tough to do your job when insights about your competitors or key markets are locked away with a handful of execs...Those insights belong to everyone in a company, so they can be the smartest, fastest version of themselves. That's what we work on at CB Insights, and that's why we're excited about this collaboration with #Microsoft. Now our market intelligence can be woven right into the answers Copilot generates and the docs it creates. We were thrilled to see our Microsoft collaboration highlighted during a main stage key note at #MicrosoftIgnite yesterday. A big thank you to Nicole Herskowitz for the demo. Learn more → https://lnkd.in/gFauR5eG #MSIgnite

We launch new innovations every month to help our customers bet on the right markets, stay ahead of competitors, and source the right companies. Here’s what’s new this month… ?? We reinvented reading. Seriously. Our new Browser Analyst turns articles and company web pages into actionable intelligence with one click. Reading news? Get personal insights to improve your business – your Browser Analyst understands your strategy, competitors, and market trends. Researching companies? Get instant insight on their strengths and weaknesses. ?? Triple the data – our most comprehensive company database ever. We added another million companies this month. With 3.5M companies on board, we have more than tripled the companies in our database since the start of the year – and we’ll reach 10x by year-end. All of it double-validated, just like you expect from CB Insights. ?? Automatic company watchlists and alerts – you’re a step ahead. Our company watchlists track acquisition targets, follow your competitors, and even reverse engineer their partners. Now with powerful charts and email alerts for the moves that matter most. ?? ChatCBI: The most powerful research partner. ChatCBI is even smarter about applying our proprietary data to give you an “only from CB Insights” edge. And now, you can ask follow-up questions to explore your ideas. Answers can also be organized in tables. If you tried it before, try it again. This is next level. ?? Our insights, now in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Office 365. CB Insights’ proprietary data and research are now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Office 365 applications. Use our insight to instantly generate Excel tables with real-time market trends, draft a Word document assessing the competition, or create a PowerPoint pitching a new acquisition. Join us on December 4th at 2 PM ET to see a live demo of what’s new. Get more info and save your spot here: https://cbi.team/3UZ1H3g

We believe the insight needed to do your job belongs to everyone in an organization — not just in the hands of a few people at the top. So we’re partnering with Microsoft Copilot to bring our insight to 400+ million Office 365 users. Through our new Copilot Connector, CB Insights’ proprietary data and research is now available in Microsoft 365 Copilot and all Office 365 applications — delivering insights right where you work. Now, you can instantly generate Excel tables with our real-time market trends, draft a Word document assessing the competition, or create a PowerPoint analyzing potential acquisitions. Learn more → https://cbi.team/4eGvB3h Smarter, faster strategy, sales, marketing, and product decisions — it all starts here. Read the press release → https://cbi.team/3YQpnaQ #MSIgnite #MicrosoftIgnite #MicrosoftCopilot #Office365 #AI #businessintelligence #marketintelligence #innovation