October 9, 2025

Out with the old

Hi there,

We’ll be at ITC next week. 

If you're there, stop by the Discovery Desk (Booth #411) for exclusive CB Insights’ exhibitor scouting reports and SWOTs. 

Plan your time like a pro.

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

Hot: AI infrastructure mega-rounds 

September delivered the most $100M+ deals in 2 years, with AI infrastructure capturing 78% of total dollars.

Seven AI inference and performance optimization companies raised mega-rounds this month, with 5 out of the 7 already generating revenue. For example, Baseten grew revenue 10x in 12 months, while Rebellions projects $68M for 2025.

See which AI infrastructure companies are poised to dominate in our Book of Scouting Reports.

Not: Immature fintechs

Investors are backing proven fintechs over early-stage bets. Mid- and late-stage deals hit 22% of total fintech activity in 2025 YTD, the highest share since 2021.

Money is flowing to scaling fintechs across areas like:

• Automated accounts payable: Xelix ($160M Series B)
• Small business financial management: Hala ($157M Series B)
• ERP solutions: Omie ($158M Series D)

See the full breakdown of trends shaping fintech's next wave of growth in our 

State of Fintech Q3'25 report, made in collaboration with Money20/20.

Hot:  Efficient AI agents
 

AI agent startups are running lean with small teams, and coding agents are the leanest of all. 

Anysphere (Cursor) and Lovable are generating over $2M in revenue per employee, dwarfing the rest of the AI agent landscape.

Track the fastest-growing coding AI startups in CB Insights' AI agent revenue ranking.

Not: Conventional SEO

Generative engine optimization (GEO) is the new SEO, helping brands track and optimize their visibility across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other emerging AI search engines.

The stakes are massive.

OpenAI recently announced Instant Checkout, which will let users buy directly in ChatGPT via Shopify and Stripe, while Adobe reports AI platform traffic to e-commerce sites surged 4,700% YoY in July 2025.

We analyzed 20+ GEO companies using CB Insights Mosaic scores to identify which vendors are best positioned to help brands win in AI search.

The +1

Curiosity killed the chart. This scale is broken.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. Want to learn about the healthtech startups transforming care delivery? Register for our briefing on the 2025 Digital Health 50. 

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