December 5, 2024

Snip snip

Hi there, 

Here is this week's Hot or Not.

Hot: Customized therapeutics

Mayo Clinic is moving beyond the one-size-fits-all model of treatment.

The health system is betting on AI-driven startups tailoring treatments to individual patients, using biofeedback for physiotherapy and microrobots for precise drug delivery.

The result? 

Customized care that maximizes treatment efficiency and speeds patient recovery.

Discover how AI is redefining the future of care in The Future According to Mayo Clinic.

Not: Scaling in Europe

The EU recently noted that scaling startups is a top priority.

Per the EU president, “We are roughly as good as the US at creating startups. But when it comes to scale-ups, we are doing much worse than our competitors. We have to close that gap.”

Gotta love the delusion of the first part of that statement. 

But guess they’re at least talking about getting their isht together. 

In fairness, our research has been pointing to this scaling divide, particularly when it comes to AI.

So far in 2024, 80% of deals to Europe-based AI startups have been early-stage (vs. just 70% in the US).

Meanwhile, Europe is producing fewer big AI companies, with AI unicorn births (startups reaching $1B+ valuations) remaining low while the US’ count soars.

Dive deeper into the divide in our State of AI Q3'24 Report.

Hot: Try before you buy

On Wednesday, Salesforce disclosed it spent $344M to buy Zoomin in September. 

Salesforce Ventures previously invested in the unstructured data management startup.

While Salesforce has pulled back on massive M&A, it’s kept up its dealmaking pattern: 3 out of 4 of this year's acquisitions were in Salesforce Ventures’ portfolio. 

We deconstruct Salesforce’s “try before you buy” M&A strategy here.

Not: IPO haircuts

Last week, autonomous vehicle (AV) company Pony.ai debuted on the Nasdaq at a $5.3B valuation (up from $4.6B at its offering price). 

That’s nearly half of its last private valuation ($8.6B). 

Pony.ai joins other Chinese AV players that have recently gone public (Horizon Robotics, WeRide) at discounted valuations to their last private company financing.

This IPO haircut is something that many global unicorns (in the USA, China, Europe, and beyond) will need to do. 

Full list of those unicorns here. 

The +1

Intense. If you squint really hard, it still makes absolutely no sense.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. What trends should you be watching in the AI realm? Download this analyst-led session to find out.

Get started with CB Insights

CB Insights' emerging technology insights platform provides all the

analysis and data from this newsletter. Our data is the easiest way to discover and respond to emerging tech. 

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here