March 13, 2024

Takin’ care of business

Hi there,

Which Y Combinator startups are growing headcount the fastest? 

59 (or 22% of the group) were genAI-focused startups — up from just 11 startups in its Summer 2022 batch 6 months earlier. We mapped all 59 out here.

If you want to see who has had the fastest headcount growth since graduating, you can do that on CB Insights by running this search.

In the last 12 months, here are the W23 startups (with a minimum headcount today of 20) that are growing the fastest:

Automation/AI is one through line, while a number of marketplaces are also high up on the list.

CB Insights customers can use this search to explore the list. 

For the complete list of W23 startups with industry and category breakdowns, CBI customers can view the Y Combinator Winter 2023 Collection.

Finger on the pulse

Funding to genAI startups shot up 5x to hit $21.8B in 2023.

Now what?

Well:

• Chip rivalries will grow amid the GPU shortage
• Open-source will mount a challenge to closed LLMs
• Horizontal genAI startups without a moat are going to bite the dust

And that’s not all — we dive into 18 genAI trends that corporate strategists, executives, and everyday consumers should watch in 2024.

Mother Nature moola

Climate tech, like many other industries, saw funding decline in 2023.

But deal count actually rose year-over-year.

Climate Capital was the most active climate tech investor last year, participating in 49 deals.

CBI customers can unlock the full list of top investors in this research brief.

Out of this world

The market for geospatial tech is growing fast as satellite launches proliferate, drones become more affordable, and imaging tech advances.

The tech is attracting attention across an increasing number of industries, including insurance and manufacturing.

From earth observation satellites to geospatial analytics, we identify 130 key geospatial & satellite players in this market map.

Industry Standard

Fast Company. Sam Becker (@smbecker) uses the CB Insights Celebrity VC Index to look at top celebrity investors.

Forbes. Jeff Kauflin (@JeffKauflin) discusses what fintech unicorns are worth now and cites CB Insights data.

The Motley Fool. Danny Vena (@dannyvena) covers Nvidia stock and cites CB Insights data.

I love you. 

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. We’re getting ready to release this year’s AI 100 — our list of the most promising AI startups in the world. We will take you behind the scenes to explore the selection process on April 11. Register today to save your spot.

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