September 19, 2024

New fund, who dis?

Hi there,

Here is this week’s Hot or Not.

Hot: AI funds

Salesforce Ventures announced a new $500M AI fund this week.

Just one year ago, it expanded the fund from $250M to $500M.

Salesforce Ventures is a key source for the company’s M&A pipeline. 

Four of Salesforce’s last 5 acquisitions (in 2023/2024) were previously backed by Salesforce Ventures. 

We looked at who it’s backing and its broader AI plans in this free report.

CB Insights customers can see Salesforce Ventures’ latest AI investments here.

Not: Difficult models

When selecting AI models, businesses and developers have many vendor choices: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc.

These can all cost serious $$$ to use, but price isn't always the top consideration.

Many businesses are sticking with OpenAI’s models — rather than switching to those developed by rivals like Google — simply because they are easier to use.

Take it from this OpenAI customer, who highlighted that ease of use is keeping them exactly where they are:

Want more buyer perspectives on Google Gemini and its rivals? Check ‘em out here.

Hot: Micromobility x last-mile delivery

Micromobility — transportation involving small vehicles like bicycles and scooters — has struggled in recent years.

But momentum in the micromobility last-mile delivery space is building.

For example, logistics giant Amazon has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to create micromobility hubs with fleets of e-bikes for last-mile delivery across Europe.

Learn more about the micromobility resurgence in this research brief.

Not: Stakeholder alignment issues

We surveyed 50 corporate strategy leaders.

Their number 1 pain point during strategic planning cycles? Stakeholder alignment. 

#2 is data issues — including inaccuracies or inconsistencies from internal data sources, as well as challenges finding relevant data available from external sources.

For example, one respondent said: 

“It's a complex world that we operate in and a lot of times clean full data is not available. We need to extrapolate, we need to support secondary data with syndicated data, with primary market research, with other sources that are not publicly available and all that takes time and effort and money.” — Director of Strategy at a top-tier hospital system

Find out what the most successful teams are doing to influence their organizations in this free report.

The +1

Painbow. Oh my ROYGBIV.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal 

Co-Founder & Exec Chair

P.S. We recently discussed our Future Tech Hotshots list — 52 emerging tech startups on track for a successful exit. Download the full convo here.

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