Hi there, 

76.3% of you liked the first round of "hot or not," so we’re back for round 2.

Hot: McKinsey’s M&A efforts

McKinsey is consistently more aggressive on the M&A front than peers Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and Bain & Company.

And the firm has been acquisitive across a broad (and sometimes surprising) array of spaces, highlighting its growing ambitions beyond traditional strategy consulting.

Recent McKinsey acquisitions have come in these areas:

• AI & ML Ops (yes, really)

• Supply chain consulting

• Digital transformation services

• Sustainability consulting

• Digital marketing

To dig into McKinsey’s entire M&A history, visit its company profile here.

Not: Apple acquisitions go cold
 

While Apple’s acquisitions have laid the groundwork for features like Siri, its M&A spending has slowed over the last few years. 

• In FY 2021, Apple spent just $33M on acquisitions, according to regulatory filings — down from $1.5B in 2020. 

• In FY 2022, it spent $306M. 

Meanwhile, its peers like Microsoft and Amazon have continued to spend billions.

Apple only made 2 known acquisitions in 2022 (highlighted below on its CB Insights profile) — and none through the first 2 months of 2023. 

Hot: ChatGPT on VC
 

ChatGPT does venture capital?

Indeed.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is building out a generative AI ecosystem by investing in startups.

The nerd squad at CB Insights breaks it down in our OpenAI Investment Thesis Map.

Not: Coinbase Ventures deal size

Coinbase Ventures, one of the most active corporate venture arms, has already done 10 deals in the first 2 months of 2023.

While its dealmaking pace has held strong, the average and median deal size has dramatically fallen as the firm has shifted almost entirely to seed-stage deals and away from the occasional later-stage deal, which it was doing in 2021 and 2022.

Hot: Google & the supply chain

Global supply chain challenges were a constant throughout the pandemic. 

This has created an opportunity for technologies that boost supply chain visibility and efficiency.

Learn how big tech players like Google are using their varied datasets to do just that in this report.

Not: Groceries in 10 minutes

Remember the ultrafast delivery wars?

Neither do we. 

But there was a time in the wonderful days of 2021 when the talk of the town was companies like:

• Gorillas 

• Jokr 

• Getir 

• Gopuff

• Rohlik 

I worked at a company back in the day called Kozmo that tried this.

Our business model was that we’d buy stuff for $2 and sell it for $1, but we’d make it up in volume.

It worked as you might expect.

Now the shine of ultrafast delivery has worn off.  

After 2021’s record investment to companies offering super speedy delivery from hyperlocal micro-fulfillment centers, just 1 deal has happened in 2023 vs. 8 over the same period last year.

CB Insights customers can explore more data on food delivery startups in our Food & Meal Delivery Collection. 

Plus, check in on notable food delivery companies that bit the dust in recent months in our startup failures report.

BTW, I don’t say it often enough…I love you.

Anand

@asanwal

P.S. There is less than 2 weeks left to apply for this year’s AI 100 ranking. If you know one of the most promising AI startups in the world, fill out an application today.