April 23, 2024

Spoonful of AI

Hi there,

Here is this week’s Hot or Not.

Hot: Microsoft in healthcare

Microsoft is building on its momentum in generative AI to move deeper into healthcare.

The tech behemoth is strongly focused on building genAI tools for drug development.

It has collaborated with pharma and biotech firms to address everything from target identification to clinical trials.

For example, its venture fund (M12) backed iLoF — a startup using AI to build a digital library of biomarkers to support drug discovery and development.

iLoF planned to use the funding to scale up and further develop its platform, per CBI investment insights.

Dive into insights for all of M12’s investments on its CBI profile.

Microsoft is also active outside of drug development — learn more about its other healthcare focus areas in this strategy map.

Not: Lacework's valuation

Cloud security startup Wiz is reportedly in talks to acquire rival Lacework for $150M to $200M.

Lacework was last valued at $8.3B in November 2021. The acquisition price would represent a 97%+ markdown. The startup has raised $1.9B in equity funding, so a $200M acquisition would be just 10% of its total funding raised.

Both Wiz and Lacework are part of a group of cybersecurity startups, like Orca Security and Aqua Security, that have jumped on the cloud computing wave. We covered the group’s pricing dynamics here and how buyers are evaluating vendors in the market here.

Wiz has sprinted ahead in terms of valuation. It landed a $10B valuation in February just 3 years after its founding, with $900M in total equity funding.

It has also grown its team dramatically. 

Now, Wiz is on the M&A hunt — in line with the cybersecurity consolidation trend we’ve been tracking.

The company acquired cloud security startup Gem Security for $350M earlier this month and cloud-based developer platform Raftt in December 2023.

We predicted in February that Gem Security was a likely M&A target.

See our other M&A predictions in the 2024 tech trends report.

Hot: Climate tech

In honor of Earth Day yesterday, here are 40+ promising decarbonization tech companies actively scaling tech to reduce emissions.

We used CBI Commercial Maturity levels 4 (Scaling) and 5 (Established) to build the list — helping you know at a glance these companies are ready to work with.

The list includes: 

1. Northvolt (EV battery recycling) 
2. Climeworks (direct air capture)
3. Watershed (carbon management & accounting platform) 
4. EcoVadis (ESG reporting)
5. Tomorrow.io (weather intelligence)
6. And 40+ others

CB Insights customers can explore the full list of companies here.

Not: Fintech funding

Last quarter, fintech funding dropped to its lowest level since 2017.

This contrasted with industries like digital health and retail tech, which saw funding rise in Q1’24.

Even venture capital overall saw funding come up last quarter.

So what’s going on in fintech?

Dive into the downturn in our State of Fintech Q1’24 Report.

I love you.

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. Want to learn more about healthcare’s comeback in Q1’24? Our analysts are going to dive in live next week. Register for the briefing now to save your spot.

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