October 10, 2024

Safety first

Hi there,

Here is this week’s Hot or Not.

Hot: AI security

AI security is a hot market right now.

It’s growing in importance as AI-powered applications and new attack surfaces — from customer service chatbots to fraud detection algorithms — proliferate. 

Funding to the space has jumped in 2024 to hit $371M across 21 deals — and the vast majority of these deals are early-stage.

With early-stage activity dominating the market, we explored:

• New AI threats and the categories emerging to address them, such as AI agent security
• The movement of CVCs — like GV (Google Ventures) and Salesforce Ventures — into the space
• The AI security startups that could get acquired next

Dig into each of these areas in this research brief.

Not: B2B BNPL headcounts

Business-to-business (B2B) buy now, pay later (BNPL) — told you I love acronyms — solutions enable businesses to pay for goods and services in installments. 

This market is less crowded than its consumer-focused counterpart due to complexities like the size of payments and the number of parties involved.

Headcount trends in the space have been pretty volatile, with many companies witnessing sizable headcount drops over the past year.

However, companies in the market have the potential to gain momentum as digital payments and financing become a bigger part of B2B transactions.

How do B2B BNPL solutions stack up against other B2B payment tools? Find out in this market ranking report for strategy teams.

Hot: Content licensing

OpenAI continues to lock in content to enrich ChatGPT. 

On Tuesday, it announced a partnership with Hearst, a leading newspaper and magazine holding group (including the San Francisco Chronicle, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, etc.). 

It's the latest in a range of content and product partnerships OpenAI has pursued in the last year. 

Customers can get a comprehensive list of confirmed content licensing deals, their value, and the drivers behind this activity here. 

Not: US automation

“I will cripple you and you have no idea what that means.” 

— Harold Dagget, chief negotiator for the International Longshoremen’s Association 

Last week, US dockworkers won a 62% pay raise (over 6 years) after a 3-day strike that threatened to upend the American economy. 

What's interesting about this negotiation is how much automation is a battleground topic. 

A key demand of the ILA remains “that there will be no automation or semi-automation.” 

US ports are way behind the rest of the world in automation — on the World Bank’s annual ranking of port productivity based on number of containers moved on and off ships per hour there is not one US port in the top 50. 

Beyond port automation, US manufacturing automation also lags other major countries based on installed robots.

Source: Bloomberg

To remain competitive, that will need to change. We map out the technologies defining next-generation manufacturing in this report.

The +1

Barf. Imagine being in a meeting and someone shows this and you say “looks great”?

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. Our Game Changers 2025 Report covers 9 technologies that could change the world. And we’re hosting a roundtable discussion on October 29 to tell you all about them — register today to explore:

• Cellular and epigenetic reprogramming
• AI agent marketplaces
• Biocomputing
• GPS-less navigation systems
• Quantum-optimized portfolios
• Ultra-deep drilling
• Brain manipulation
• Advanced nuclear propulsion
• AI weather prediction

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