November 14, 2024

Catching lightning in a bottle

Hi there, 

Here is this week's Hot or Not.

Hot: Coding AI valuations

Cursor has received investment offers at a $2.5B valuation per reports this week.

The AI coding assistant was last valued at $400M just six months ago. 

Other companies in the space have grown their valuations at lightning speed this year:

• Codeium: 2.5x in 7 months 
• Magic: 3x in 6 months
• Cognition: 6x in 1 month

Coding copilots are becoming standard-issue tools at enterprises, driving investor interest in the market and plenty of FOMO. 

Looking ahead, companies like Cognition and Magic are aiming for true coding agents that can fully replace the work of human engineers. 

The long-term opportunity is massive: there are 1.8M software engineers in the US with a median pay of $130K per year, per BLS data. The prospect of AI coding co-pilots making those engineers bionic or even replacing some of them is certainly appealing to organizations.

Not: Insurtech deal count

In Q3’24, insurtech saw 77 equity deals — down 10% QoQ and 42% YoY.

This marked the lowest quarterly deal count since 2016.

Despite the broader declines in insurtech deals (and funding), insurtech investors remain bullish on early-stage dealmaking.

The median early-stage insurtech deal size is $4M in 2024 so far, up from $2.5M for full-year 2023.

Dive deeper into what’s going down in insurtech in our just-released State of Insurtech Q3’24 Report.

Hot: Robots in hospitals

Mayo Clinic was ranked No. 1 in our Hospital AI Readiness Index.

Its recent AI investment activity shines a light on how AI is shaping the hospitals of the future.

One focus area is robotics. Mayo Clinic has backed rounds to: 

• Bionaut Labs — focused on precision drug delivery for brain disorders using microrobots
• Endiatx — develops a tiny “robotic pill” for remote examinations of the gastrointestinal tract
• Collaborative Robotics — AI-powered robots for operational tasks
• Clarapath — automated tissue sectioning and transfer system

The takeaway: Robots are poised to expand their reach in hospitals, inside and outside of the operating room.

Learn more in the future according to the Mayo Clinic.

Not: Fintech deals

Insurtech is not the only investment area seeing plummeting deal numbers. 

Fintech deal volume took a hit in Q3’24, plunging to its lowest quarterly level since 2017. 

Meanwhile, total fintech funding fell 25% QoQ to $7.3B.

Amid the drops, 52% of top early-stage fintech deals went to markets outside the US and UK. 

Less-crowded markets like France, India, Italy, and Kenya are emerging as hotbeds where fintechs can establish niches and reach new clients.

The +1

Volatile. My interest rate in this chart is zero.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. We’re getting ready to reveal this year’s Digital Health 50 winners. Why should these digital health startups be on your radar? Learn more on December 3.

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