Hi there,

Today, we released some killer new features on CB Insights. 

• Market Reports: Understand 1,000+ technology markets with reports on everything from payment infrastructure to real-world data.

• Valuation Comps: See how a company’s valuation compares to competitors — for instance, OpenAI vs. Hugging Face vs. Anthropic.  

• Employee Headcount: Analyze company headcount growth vs. competition going back 3 years. Take a look at Stripe vs. Adyen using our headcount comparison tool.

And there’s more — like coverage on 1M+ competitor relationships. 

See how the CB Insights platform can help you make better tech decisions here.

Hot: GenAI unicorns

There are now 13 generative AI unicorns. 

Five joined the ranks in 2023, including Cohere and Runway earlier this month. Cohere is one of several unicorns that have emerged from the authors of a seminal Google research paper on transformers. 

These companies are getting to the $1B valuation marker faster too. 

Across the 13 genAI unicorns, the average time to reach unicorn status is 3.6 years. For the unicorn club as a whole, the average is 7 years — almost twice as long.

But there’s a wide gulf between their valuations and revenues.

CB Insights customers can see data on genAI company revenues, headcount growth, and top investors in this brief.

Not: Amazon brand aggregators
 

As Amazon’s growth has slowed, aggregators that acquire and grow brands that sell on Amazon and other marketplaces are struggling. 

Thrasio, the most well-funded company in the space ($3B+, including debt), has slowed from 10 acquisitions in 2021 down to just 1 in 2022 and 1 in 2023 so far.

The aggregators leaned on debt to help them acquire new brands.

Now that debt may be at risk. We dug into which debt providers might be at greatest risk here. The top debt provider had invested in 5 unique Amazon aggregators.

Looking ahead, expect more consolidation among brand acquirers. For example, in the last year, Germany-based Razor Group has acquired 3 fellow aggregators.

Hot: Netflix in gaming
 

Netflix has evolved from a mail-order DVD service into a media giant with $31.6B in revenue.

Yet, ​​the company is still transforming its business model to pull ahead in the intense competition between social media, gaming, and streaming giants in the entertainment arena.

All eyes are on its advertising technology, pricing strategies, and content spending.

However, Netflix’s activity points to other areas that could be central to its growth strategy.

For example, it has also been highly active in the gaming and consumer product realms.

Learn more about how the streamer is evolving to compete with Disney in our Netflix strategy map.

Digital media unicorn Vice Media just filed for bankruptcy.

This comes less than a month after BuzzFeed announced it was closing its News division.

And these overfunded/overhyped companies that were going to save the media are cutting employees.

CB Insights customers can dig deeper into these headcount trends and use our comparison tool to find out which media companies have been hit the hardest here.

Hot: Passwordless authentication
 

Google recently announced it would allow personal account users to log in with passkeys — a passwordless authentication method.

Passwordless authentication replaces static credentials with other secure methods, like biometrics, to allow users to access their accounts.

This authentication method has the potential to not only help prevent costly data breaches but also reduce costs for enterprise IT departments.

Many businesses have already adopted passwordless authentication for their workforces, and this recent move by Google will likely accelerate adoption.

We use funding and valuation data to analyze the passwordless authentication market in this brief. 

CB Insights customers can also explore the market on their own in our brand-new Passwordless Authentication Market Report.

Not: Edtech valuations

We don’t need no education.

Funding to edtech startups has slowed dramatically. 

We analyze the state of the edtech market here. 

With just $114M raised in 2023 so far, it is not looking pretty for the sector.

I love you. 

Anand 

@asanwal 

P.S. If you’re interested in valuation comps, headcount data, or our market reports, sign up for a customized walkthrough today.