Over the last month or so, JP Morgan has purchased 2 content/media assets. In early September 2021, it bought The Infatuation, a publisher that offers reviews and recommendations on restaurants in 50 cities across the USA and internationally. 

And later in the month, it bought Frank, an online portal with content and tools that help students research and apply for financial aid. (Note: In April 2023, Frank was accused of defrauding JPMorgan, inflating the number of Frank customers before the sale.)

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The post Stripe, HubSpot, And JP Morgan Are Buying Audiences. Why Acquiring Media Companies And Communities Is About To Explode appeared first on CB Insights Research.

It’s driving value in both customer-facing experiences and back-end operations. This includes tackling challenges specific to digital retail, like personalizing product merchandising and forecasting inventory needs. 

While customer service has been the dominant focus so far, more advanced use cases are on the horizon. These include multi-application orchestration through solutions like composable AI, which helps synchronize genAI tools across an organization’s e-commerce tech stack. 

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The post The generative AI for e-commerce market map appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Prefer to listen in? Check out our discussion of the report here: 

An empowered digital workforce would reshape industries as we know them. The implications would be enormous, changing how companies hire and scale, as well as what they can achieve with a small headcount. 

That future isn’t too far off. 

The idea of autonomous AI agents — LLM-powered bots that can independently reason and execute tasks — caught on like wildfire in 2023, marking an important evolution beyond chatbots and copilots. 

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has described agents as “AI’s killer function” as recently as May 2024.  

While much of the tech remains limited in its ability to execute tasks reliably, use cases are gaining traction in horizontal enterprise applications like customer support, sales, and engineering.

We mined CB Insights startup, financing, business model, and buyer interview data to map the evolving landscape and analyze its future. 

In the 28-page report, we cover: 

• The state of AI agents: Investment is surging to companies in the space, but limitations — most notably, agent reliability — remain. 
• Leading horizontal applications and impacts: The landscape of VC-backed agent startups is dominated by a focus on horizontal applications — across sales, customer support, and other enterprise and general productivity workflows.
• Emerging industry applications and opportunities: While few agentic companies focus on single industries, companies are emerging to target workflows across financial services, industrials, and more. 

Download the full report to get all of the data and analysis.

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The publicly traded marketing software and CRM platform plans to integrate Clearbit’s external company and contact enrichment data with companies’ internal customer data. 

The Clearbit acquisition puts HubSpot on track to own more of the go-to-market (GTM) tech stack — helping its customers find best-fit prospects based on internal and external data in one platform. 

The acquisition also marks a near-term opportunity to go after ZoomInfo. 

And it sets HubSpot up for a longer-term fight with fast-growing data intelligence and sales engagement platforms like Apollo.io and LinkedIn Sales Navigator.

We dive in below.

Battling ZoomInfo

A quick look at CB Insights interview transcripts with software buyers shows that Clearbit was already battling and beating ZoomInfo in certain areas.

As this buyer highlights, vs. ZoomInfo, Clearbit was “overwhelmingly the best database for the companies we sell to.”

Add in that Clearbit was already integrating with HubSpot, this likely allowed HubSpot’s corp dev team some insight into the product’s value and usage by customers.

Read the full transcript here.

While the above comment is a signal of volume, this conversation transcript highlighted Clearbit winning over ZoomInfo because it “had a higher accuracy rate with our total addressable market.”

Read the full transcript here.

In our scorecard of data enrichment vendors based on these interviews, we see customer satisfaction (CSAT) for ZoomInfo lagging behind other players, including Clearbit.

Taking on data enrichment & sales engagement players

More broadly, HubSpot now has an additional product arrow in its quiver to capture a slice of the data enrichment and sales engagement market, which includes LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Apollo, Cognism, Lusha, and others. 

It’s hard to tease out exactly how big the LI Sales Navigator business is but some data we’ve gleaned:

• In 2016, LinkedIn Premium Subscription was $155M (prior to the closing of its acquisition by Microsoft).
• The business now goes by different names so it’s hard to know exactly where Sales Navigator now sits and Microsoft disclosures on it are minimal, but we do know that LI Sales Solutions grew to $1B+ in revenue by 2021.

LI Sales Navigator has been incredibly fast-growing, big, and sticky. 

HubSpot is also taking aim at Apollo. The company, which provides data enrichment and sequencing tools, raised a $100M Series D at a $1.6B valuation in August 2023 — up 78% from its 2022 valuation. 

Apollo has also been growing its team rapidly compared to other companies in the space highlighting its traction especially vs. publicly traded ZoomInfo, which our software buyer transcripts consistently highlight. 

Looking ahead

HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit points to more M&A in the space.

Here is a snapshot of still private ZoomInfo competitors from CB Insights:

Competitor context: ZoomInfo’s challenges for asset managers

These 3 firms each have $400,000,000+ invested in ZoomInfo:

• Carlyle
• Capital World Investors
• Vanguard

In addition, Blackrock has $390M and Wellington has $375M.

Image source: Nasdaq

The CB Insights software buyer interview transcripts and private market data have been highlighting for some time the competitive, product, M&A integration and pricing challenges ZoomInfo faces

On April 10th, we published a brief on the pressure ZoomInfo is facing using the quantitative and qualitative info on the CBI platform. 

The market cap then was $9.3B. 

It stands at $5B today.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg of ZoomInfo research and data we have (25+ pieces of proprietary insight and data as you’ll see).

If you invest in public technology companies and want a 360-degree view of what is going on in their markets, find out here.

The post M&A strategy teardown: Why did HubSpot acquire Clearbit? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Customer data platforms (CDPs) can help marketing and data teams reduce their reliance on third-party cookies to track customer journeys for strategic insights and targeted advertisements. 

Major companies are actively evaluating and investing in CDP vendors. For example: 

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The post Here’s how much data executives are paying for customer data platforms — and who they’re buying from appeared first on CB Insights Research.

However, big tech players like Google and Apple — which between them have billions of global users — have made moves to increase the privacy of their platforms by significantly limiting the usefulness of cookies to marketers.

Tech vendors are coming up with solutions to help digital marketers continue to deliver personalized campaigns at scale without third-party cookies. This means using techniques like device fingerprinting that track other signals of consumer behaviors and preferences, or else more precisely targeting audiences using strategies like referral marketing, location-based marketing, or social listening. 

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The post The cookieless targeting market map appeared first on CB Insights Research.

For example, Coca-Cola launched a generative AI marketing campaign to connect with younger consumers this year. In fashion, H&M has partnered with Snap to create a virtual try-on filter.

By using AI-powered tools to deepen and broaden customer engagement, brands can open the door to a wide variety of additional benefits, such as increased loyalty and conversion, reduced returns, and new data to inform brand strategy.

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The post 103 companies powering AI-driven digital experiences for CPG & fashion brands appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Earlier this month, AI-powered copywriting software Jasper announced a partnership with Google Cloud that aims to provide more businesses with access to its quickfire content creation tools.

The deal follows Google and Microsoft announcing generative AI products designed to improve productivity and enhance user experiences. Microsoft has partnered with and made substantial investments in OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, while Google is developing its Bard generative AI chatbot.

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The post Jasper partners with Google Cloud as AI-powered copywriting copilots gain momentum appeared first on CB Insights Research.

CB Insights customers can log in to download the scorecard, quickly compare the vendors below, and read the underlying transcripts for each solution.

• 6sense
• Clearbit
• Demandbase
• Drift
• Qualified

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The post Top ABM and conversational marketing companies — and why customers chose them appeared first on CB Insights Research.

The streaming service generated $31.6B in revenue in 2022. It also claims to represent around 5% of total direct-to-consumer entertainment spending. 

However, 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. 

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The post Could Netflix be the next Disney? How the streamer is betting on ads and gaming to become an entertainment powerhouse appeared first on CB Insights Research.

But after bringing in $260M in funding, momentum in the space has stalled, with funding drying up in part due to the broader venture slowdown (link-in-bio companies have raised just $12M in 2023 YTD).

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The post Did Instagram’s new feature update just torch $260M of venture funding to link-in-bio companies? appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Location-based marketing companies offer brands and retailers insight into consumer geographical patterns to help them better understand how marketing efforts influence website and in-store traffic. These solutions can help with closed-loop measurement efforts for retail media networks by bridging the gap between ad exposure and purchasing.

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The post Market Trend Report: Location-based marketing for brands & retailers appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Companies building marketing attribution technology provide teams with insight into effective channels for digital marketing to help advertisers make informed spending decisions. Some of these solutions focus on closed-loop attribution — providing a direct link between targeted ads and sales — to help improve return on ad spend (ROAS) for advertisers.

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Substack has believers.

But do the valuation and implied valuation multiple make Substack a good or bad deal? Using CB Insights data, we analyzed Substack’s valuation and valuation multiple vs. Substack competitors including:

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The post Is Substack’s community financing round a good deal? Analyzing its valuation and valuation multiple vs. competitors ConvertKit, beehiiv, and Medium appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Emerging use cases in retail could deliver time and cost savings across significant areas of operations like marketing, where companies spend nearly 14% of their budgets.

Here are 6 ways generative AI can automate tasks and scale critical work for brands and retailers:

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The post 6 applications of generative AI in retail appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Accurate and engaging descriptions can boost conversion rates and reduce returns. More than 87% of online shoppers rank product descriptions as being very important in their purchase decisions, according to Salsify.

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The post How generative AI can help brands automate e-commerce product descriptions appeared first on CB Insights Research.

This technology will become increasingly important as labor shortages and the rising volume of customer service requests from e-commerce push brands and retailers to improve customer satisfaction while keeping costs under control.

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The post How generative AI can augment customer service agents appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Quickly scaling visual content creation will allow brands to target different markets and consumers with more relevant content, supporting personalization efforts.

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The post How generative AI can help brands personalize their marketing appeared first on CB Insights Research.

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The post 139 companies helping marketers tap into the growing retail media networks opportunity appeared first on CB Insights Research.

3D representations of physical goods can boost conversions by giving online shoppers a more accurate preview of the item they intend to buy. 3D assets could also be repurposed for augmented reality content, virtual goods, and digital twin products.

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The post How generative AI can help brands create 3D product catalogs appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Most companies in the virtual photoshoots space are focused on fashion, using virtual models for styling and envisioning clothing on different body types. AI-generated models save money by eliminating the need to hire external talent. 

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Traditional design processes in fashion are often tedious: it can take anywhere from 3 to 8 months for a style to reach production. Generative AI would speed up the creative process and reduce manual work for designers, while also saving costs on materials that would otherwise be used to produce physical samples.

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Nowhere is that more visible than the Super Bowl, which has long been the advertiser’s golden opportunity to reach a broad audience of captivated US consumers. Last year’s event drew an estimated 112M TV viewers, and brands paid up to $7M for a 30-second ad slot.

To stand out from the pack, TV advertisers are turning to a range of emerging technologies to make ads that have the potential to go viral, deliver a strong return on ad spend (ROAS), and reach entirely new audiences. 

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The post The Future of the Super Bowl Ad: How tech like generative AI is automating TV ad creation & production appeared first on CB Insights Research.

For example, those focused on market research can discover relevant tech solutions in our market research & consumer insights market map, determine which markets to prioritize with our corresponding MVP framework, and decide which companies are ideal for partnerships or investments using our market-specific ESP Vendor Rankings, like this one covering consumer survey solutions.

Looking ahead to 2023, our predictions include:

• As new social media and virtual platforms emerge, creating digital content that engages and converts — particularly 3D content — will become a greater priority. We anticipate that AI will increasingly be used to automate content creation.
• The fragmentation of the digital advertising space and current macro challenges will compel marketing teams to be more particular about where they spend their money. Amid this shift, we expect that retail media networks and connected TVs will be big winners of marketing spend in 2023.
• Brands and retailers will continue to leverage partnerships as a low-cost method for experimenting with web3 and metaverse tech and identifying the best engagement strategies for the future. 

As 2023 approaches, we brought together our top digital engagement research in the curated list below.

DIGITAL CONTENT

• Expanding on Sequoia’s generative AI market map: The 250 companies driving generative AI forward
• [Client Research] MVP Technology Framework: Digital Content for Consumer & Retail
• [Client Research] 171 companies helping brands scale and automate their digital content offerings
• [Client Research] 95+ early-stage companies using AI to create and edit digital content

MARKETING TECH

• Unbundling Meta: How the tech giant’s digital advertising business is being disrupted
• [Client Research] Unbundling TikTok: How influencer marketing and the creator economy are getting disrupted
• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Retail Media Networks
• [Client Research] These 14 technologies are helping retailers build out their media networks — here are the ones to prioritize
• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Loyalty & Retention Tech in Consumer & Retail
• [Client Research] 10 technologies that strengthen customer loyalty and retention — and the ones retail leaders should prioritize now
• [Client Research] 125 companies using tech to enhance market research & consumer insights
• [Client Research] Prioritizing 11 technologies driving more effective market research & consumer insights
• [Client Research] These 134 companies are transforming how brands & retailers acquire customers
• [Client Research] Prioritizing 11 technologies making customer acquisition easier and faster for retail leaders
• [Client Research] Analyzing 7-Eleven’s growth strategy: How the world’s largest convenience chain is improving customer experience and engagement

CUSTOMER SERVICE TECH

• The Future of the Post-Purchase Experience: How technology is transforming the way we shop
• [Client Research] 54 companies using AI to automate customer service interactions
• [Client Research] Tech Market Map Report: Customer Service in Consumer & Retail
• [Client Research] MVP Technology Framework: Customer Service for Consumer & Retail Leaders
• [Client Research] Analyzing Twilio’s growth strategy: How the cloud giant is shaping the future of business communications
• [Client Research] Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing agent support tools
• [Client Research] Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing business messaging solutions
• [Client Research] Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing communications platform-as-a-service solutions
• [Client Research] Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing AI-enabled chatbots
• [Client Research] Why consumer & retail leaders are prioritizing customer feedback management

MEDIA AND ENTERTAINMENT

• What L’Oréal, Nike, and LVMH are doing in Web3
• 100+ Web3 companies building the future of the internet
• The metaverse could be tech’s next trillion-dollar opportunity: These are the companies making it a reality
• The Big Tech in Metaverse Report: How Meta, Qualcomm, and Microsoft are building the metaverse
• These 95+ AR/VR companies hint at what the metaverse has in store
• Metaverse of madness: 13 big industries the rise of virtual worlds could disrupt
• Analyzing the NBA’s business growth strategy: How the basketball league is investing in technology to better engage with fans
• [Client Research] The Future of Human-Machine Interactions: How technology is becoming more immersive, accessible, and empathetic
• [Client Research] Analyzing Microsoft’s metaverse strategy: How the tech giant is building a gaming empire
• [Client Research] 70+ early-stage startups shaping the future of consumer wearable technology
• [Client Research] Analyzing Qualcomm’s growth strategy: How the semiconductor giant is building for the metaverse and next-gen digital technologies

The post Our top digital engagement research and trends to watch appeared first on CB Insights Research.

Amid a plateau in e-commerce growth and profit challenges — which have led to drops in Shopify’s stock price as well as layoffs — the e-commerce infrastructure leader continues to invest in solutions that will help its roughly 1.8M merchants grow. 

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The post Analyzing Shopify’s growth strategy: How the e-commerce platform is expanding its merchants’ reach and speeding up delivery appeared first on CB Insights Research.