April 11, 2024

Starin’ through my rear view

Hi there, 

The auto industry is facing a massive wave of change.

First and foremost: the shift toward electric, software-defined vehicles.

This shift is demanding more agility and flexibility from automakers. 

We’ve highlighted Tesla’s advantage here before, with comments from Ford Motor Company CEO Jim Farley on the difficulties legacy auto manufacturers face in wrangling their value chains.

Now enter AI.

New capabilities are changing the way automakers design, build, sell, and repair vehicles. 

We identified 15 high-momentum tech markets that the auto industry should be watching here. They span the entire automotive value chain including:

• R&D (e.g., generative design)
• Production & assembly (e.g., manufacturing AI copilots)
• Sales & distribution (e.g., digital engagement platforms)
• Vehicle use (e.g., automotive cybersecurity)
• Aftermarket (e.g., automated vehicle inspection)

For example, AI-powered chatbots for auto service desks are showing early traction. 

One company here (Numa) claims that integrating its chatbot can expedite customer approvals on repair orders, as highlighted by CBI instant insights on its partnership with dealership software provider CDK Global. 

Get an eye into the future of the auto industry with the free report. 

Funds in the sun

Silicon Valley still holds the venture capital crown.

The metro drew $4 out of every $10 in US funding in Q1’24.

That’s more than 3x the amount of funding raised by runner-up NYC.

Learn more about the state of venture in the US and beyond in a live briefing on April 16.

Come and get it

We love to see people remixing CB Insights data. 

Matt Turck and FirstMark Capital recently released their 10th annual landscape on machine learning, AI, and data — using CBI company data. 

You can check the market map out here.

If you use our data, tag us on socials or reply back to me and we’ll feature your analysis in a future newsletter.

Drug lord

AstraZeneca is vying to become a top player across oncology, rare diseases, and vaccines/immunotherapies.

We mined its investments, partnerships, and acquisitions to see how it plans to achieve that.

Turns out that a central component of its growth strategy is AI-fueled drug discovery.

Learn more about how AstraZeneca is putting AI to work in this strategy map.

Industry Standard

Bg2 Pod. Bill Gurley (@bgurley) and Brad Gerstner (@altcap) discuss the AI boom and feature CB Insights data.

TechCrunch. Mary Ann Azevedo (@bayareawriter) covers the fintech funding slowdown and cites CB Insights research.

Axios. Lucinda Shen (@ShenLucinda) dives into global fintech funding and cites CB Insights data.

I love you. 

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. How’s digital health faring in the venture arena so far this year? Our analysts are going to dive in live on April 30. Register today to save your spot.

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