CB Insights

Humanoid robots have already made a big splash this year, and a handful of developers are targeting 2024 to release their humanoid robots. They are designed to perform tasks similar to humans, and technologies like generative AI and reinforcement learning are helping drive this progress. However, the impact will be limited at first. It will likely take 3-5 years to see more widespread commercial rollout and usefulness. In one graphic, we map 6 industries that humanoids will impact the most in both the near- and long-term, as well as the technology firms making this possible.

In Q2'24, #fintech funding rebounded 19% QoQ to hit $8.9B — a 5-quarter high. Among industry sectors, fintech saw funding grow the most — but blockbuster deals to Stripe and AlphaSense buoyed an otherwise flat quarter for the sector. Dig into our new 150+ page State of Fintech Report for insights and data on funding, deal activity, mega-rounds, exit activity, top investors and so much more: https://cbi.team/465VTch

Which hospitals are best equipped to take advantage of AI? We just launched the Hospital AI Readiness Index — where we looked at the top private-sector health systems in the US (by hospital count) for their ability to innovate and execute with AI. Find out which hospitals are best positioned for the AI boom here: https://cbi.team/4d1gv7I

Major oil & gas players are setting ambitious climate goals in response to mounting pressure from regulators and activist investors. To meet the demands posed by these groups, oil & gas companies are diversifying and investing in green initiatives. For example, ExxonMobil is committing over $20B to lower-emission projects, while Chevron advances renewable fuels and carbon capture. However, some incumbents have pulled back amid booming oil prices. Find out where these companies and 13 others are investing, acquiring, and partnering to drive the energy transition in this report: https://cbi.team/464O8TZ

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News broke last week that OpenAI was hacked in early 2023. Although the hacker didn’t gain access to the company’s code or AI systems (they just viewed internal employee forums), the breach is a reminder of how AI models are one of the hottest attack targets right now. A host of machine learning security (MLSec) platforms have emerged to defend them, with some safeguarding models from outside threats like data poisoning and prompt injection, and others helping prevent employees from leaking sensitive data into AI tools. MLSec platforms make up one of the fastest-growing markets in the generative AI infrastructure space, with their collective employee headcount more than doubling YoY, as of May. We dig into the machine learning security market and what buyers need to know to navigate it here: https://cbi.team/4cRFs5A

Over 12 years ago, Google announced its largest acquisition — $1.7B for YouTube, a video platform that at the time had fewer than 100 employees. Since then, Google’s checkbook has opened wide. The tech giant now has announced over 200 acquisitions. Google’s biggest acquisition to date is Motorola Mobility, which it acquired for $12.5B in 2012 before selling it off for a quarter of its acquisition price 2 years later. Its largest acquisition which it still holds is cybersecurity company Mandiant, which it acquired for $5.4B in 2022. Using CB Insights M&A data, we made a visual timeline of the largest acquisitions in Google’s history.

Sanofi is transforming how treatments are developed and delivered to patients. For example, the pharma giant is establishing partnerships to speed up drug discovery using AI. These efforts extend across its core R&D focus areas, including immunology and oncology. But drug discovery isn’t the only area of Sanofi’s strategy getting supercharged by AI. Learn more about how it’s leveraging the tech in our Sanofi strategy map. https://cbi.team/4eOHVQ6

AI development platforms are gaining traction amid the #genAI rush. So we spoke to 50+ customers of these platforms to gain insight into their use of these tools and thoughts on the future of the space. One area we dove deeper into was how enterprise buyers are evaluating the ROI of their AI tool spend. Two interconnected factors emerged: productivity gains and cost savings. For example, this Hugging Face customer highlights how they quantify the value by considering how long it would have taken to achieve the same results without the AI tool. To learn more about the direct cost savings achieved by enterprises using AI development platforms, download the free report here: https://cbi.team/464NxSf

The Q2’24 venture results are in. Funding climbed a tad while deals fell for the ninth straight quarter. When we dig into the data, things get more interesting... Of the $65.7B raised by startups in Q2’24, 28% went to AI startups. This marks the highest quarterly funding share to AI on record. That equates to $18.3B for #AI startups in Q2’24 — a figure bolstered by mammoth deals to Elon Musk’s xAI as well as Scale, CoreWeave, and others. Explore the trend in our State of Venture Q2’24 Report: https://cbi.team/3RX3uUH