July 3, 2025

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Hi there,

We just dropped our latest unicorn market map of 1,276 companies with $1B+ valuations. Check it out here. 

And now, here is this week's Hot or Not.

Hot: Xero's $2.5B shopping spree

Xero's $2.5B buyout of payments firm Melio signals major platform wars brewing in small business tech. 

Financial services infrastructure has established itself as a must-have for SMBs: embedded payments tools ($9.6B), spend management platforms ($3.5B), and enterprise cross-border payments ($3.4B) have collectively raised 77% of all funding across SMB fintech markets since 2020, when Covid forced businesses to scramble for digital alternatives.

That infrastructure boom created winners and losers — companies with essential financial plumbing commanded premium valuations while point solutions got squeezed. 

Now platforms like Xero are consolidating the stack, betting that controlling payments gives it leverage over accounting software rivals.

See how else the SMB fintech space is shaking out in our market map.

Not: Apple’s homegrown LLM strategy

Apple might ditch its own AI models for Siri — and that's a pretty big deal for a company that loves building everything in-house.

The iPhone maker is chatting with Anthropic and OpenAI about powering future Siri versions instead of using Apple's own foundation models. After testing both options, Apple execs think Anthropic's tech works better than what they've built internally.

This comes after Apple had to push back its AI-enhanced Siri from early 2025 to spring 2026. 

While other big tech players like Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are ramping up massive AI infrastructure spending — with combined capex hitting unprecedented levels — Apple's struggles highlight how even trillion-dollar giants can't always build the best AI in-house.

Hot: Nvidia’s software moat 

With Nvidia's acquisition of CentML last week, the chipmaker is pushing further beyond hardware and into the software realm.

CentML's compiler technology directly strengthens Nvidia's CUDA platform, the software layer that competitors say keeps Nvidia dominant despite growing hardware competition from the likes of AMD. The deal brings three co-founders and 15+ engineers.

Nvidia's strategy is clear: own the software layer that makes its chips indispensable. While competitors focus on matching Nvidia's hardware specs, the real moat lies in the integrated ecosystem that makes AI workloads run efficiently. 

The move validates our 2025 Tech M&A predictions, where we flagged AI optimization players like CentML as prime acquisition targets for enterprises future-proofing their AI infrastructure capabilities.

Not: Human factory workers 

Amazon's warehouse workforce is shrinking as robots take over. 

The company now operates over 1M robots globally, with facilities averaging just 670 human employees — the lowest in 16 years.

CEO Andy Jassy confirmed the trend: fewer people will handle jobs that robots can do. While some workers get retrained for higher-paying technical roles, the math is stark — total employment is declining even as operations expand.

This signals a broader transformation beyond Amazon. Despite early predictions of fully automated "dark warehouses," nearly 80% of facilities still rely on manual processes. The industry is instead embracing hybrid models where technology augments human capabilities, creating upskilled roles managing robotic systems alongside traditional workers.

CB Insights customers can see 275+ companies building warehouse automation technology here.

The +1

50 shades of pink. This chart took "seeing the world through rose-colored glasses" a bit too literally.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

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