Startups Are Making Fewer Acquisitions, And AI School Tools Aren’t Just For Cheating

September 23, 2023 With Funding Down, Startups Are Making Fewer Acquisitions It's not just VC funding that has declined for startups. M&A dealmaking between VC-backed companies has slowed too, and Crunchbase data finds that 2023 is on pace to be one of the slowest years for VC-backed startups buying VC-backed startups. Startup M&A → AI School Tools Aren't Just For Cheating Amid a surge in AI-related venture funding, sizable investments are going to edtech startups focused on educator-friendly use cases like streamlining lesson-planning and personalizing instruction. We look at what's getting funded. Edtech AI → The Week's 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Mapbox Leads Another Huge Week For AI There are some reports the AI craze may be cooling, but that's not the case in funding this week. Three of the top four rounds went to startups directly tied to AI. Top Rounds → For $100M-Plus Rounds, It's Unclear What's Normal Just 97 U.S.-based companies have landed a round of $100 million or more at Series A through Series D so far in 2023, per Crunchbase data. We put together a list with the biggest rounds and the U.S. startups that got them. Megaround Decline → Cisco's Splunk Deal Highlights Growing Interest In The Intersection Of Cybersecurity And AI Cisco Systems has agreed to buy Splunk in a deal valued at about $28 billion that furthers the hardware giant's push into software. Cyber Intelligence → Getting Low In Colorado: Startup Funding Is Far Off Its Peak So far this year, investment to startups in Colorado is on track to hit a multiyear low. Colorado Funding → Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | View in Browser | Unsubscribe Crunchbase, Inc. 564 Market Street, Suite 700 San Francisco, CA 94104