☕ Funding status

The state of the H1 venture market.

July 05, 2024 PRESENTED BY It's Friday. Hello and welcome to this weekday wedged between a federal holiday and a weekend. We're keeping it tight with a couple of quick reads. In today's edition: Beyond AI, venture market remains stodgy midway through 2024 Why marketers aren't cookie-free yet 2023 an 'unprecedented' year for cyber extortion —Patrick Kulp, Jasmine Sheena, Alex Zank, Annie Saunders AI Where things stand Chokchaipoomichaiya/Getty Images Unless you're among a handful of high-flying AI companies, the startup-funding market remains a difficult place. PitchBook's analysts took stock of where some of their already-subdued expectations for 2024 stand halfway through the year in a new report. They found that "sticky" inflation, which led the Federal Reserve to pause interest rate drops, put a damper on exits and fundraising, along with high interest rates and geopolitical tensions. With $20.4 billion in open funds tracked so far this year and some "lags in data collection," PitchBook now forecasts a total venture capital haul for 2024 of $79.3 billion—with a downside estimate of $58.8 billion and an upside of $92.1 billion. That middle stat would put 2024 slightly below last year's total of $84.7 billion, and at less than half of the stratospheric highs of 2021 and 2022 ($175 billion and $191 billion, respectively). "Expectations for the turnaround in the VC market entering 2024 were not especially high," analysts wrote in the report. "Through the first six months of 2024, inflation continued to be sticky, interest rates remained at the high level they ended 2023 with, and geopolitical events kept a haze on the horizon." Keep reading here.—PK PRESENTED BY SPLUNK All systems are a no go The key to keeping your org's operations smooth and steady? Digital resilience—aka ensuring that your mission-critical digital systems remain secure and reliable, no matter the ups and downs. That sweet, sweet spot of resilience comes from being able to react to incidents and fix problems faster. Of course, the challenge is making this happen across sprawling tech stacks. Luckily, Splunk can help. Splunk gives you greater control with unified security and observability to help sidestep outages. And with this kind of real-time visibility, your security, IT, and engineering teams can work together to predict problems + fix issues fast, before they become major disruptions. Ready to upgrade your resilience? Hit the ground running with a free trial. AD TECH Cookie jar Francis Scialabba While Google only began phasing out third-party cookies in January, some people had been freaking out about it long before: 40% of marketers Adobe surveyed in 2022 who said the cookie phaseout would hurt their businesses thought it would cause "significant harm or devastation." Several months later, marketers are still trying to adjust to the new ad tech landscape. It's being reshaped by not only the decrease in cookies, but also by the effects of generative AI and expected higher demand for content, according to a survey of 2,800 marketers Adobe released this week (having recently debuted its own GenAI tools.) While marketers now say they're less concerned about the cookie phaseout, many say they don't have the structure in place to adapt, according to Adobe. "Brands are struggling to build a strong data foundation beyond third-party cookies, and risk hurting their business," Adobe found. Keep reading on Marketing Brew.—JS CYBERSECURITY Risk analysis Sarayut Thaneerat/Getty Images CFOs should understand by now that cybersecurity is an enterprise risk and not just something for those techies in IT to worry about. New analysis from Marsh shows that cyberattacks aren't going away. In fact, 2023 was a banner year for one type of attack, the broker found. Marsh analyzed the 1,800-plus cyber claims that its US and Canadian clients submitted last year. About a fifth (21%) of clients reported at least one cyber event during 2023, which fell in the range of 16% to 21% over the last five years. But not everything was business as usual in 2023. According to the report, organizations saw a record number of cyber extortions (282), a 64% bump from 2022. Cyber extortion is a cyberattack that includes a blackmailing component, like when an attacker threatens to release sensitive information if the victim doesn't pay a ransom demand. While only a small percentage (17%) of cyber claims included an extortion component, "ransomware remains a top concern for organizations given their increased frequency, sophistication, and potential severity," according to a Marsh news release. The median ransom demand shot up to $20 million compared with $1.4 million in 2022, and the median payment increased to $6.5 million from $335,000. While extortion events are up, more companies are clearly over it. Keep reading on CFO Brew.—AZ TOGETHER WITH NOTION AIs on the prize. Notion AI can now reach beyond your Notion workspace and tap into Slack. What does this mean? Instead of searching through your apps or pinging teammates, Notion AI can find the info you're looking for ASAP. That's two incredibly valuable knowledge resources, now all the easier to navigate. Learn why this matters. BITS AND BYTES Stat: 35%. That's how much of an increase in tire life Enso says it will achieve with its tires, The Verge reported in a story about companies making "eco-friendlier" tires. Quote: "Everybody expected a local contamination issue…But I think what most people don't understand about this fire is how big it was and how wide-ranging the implications are."—David Gay, coordinator of the National Atmospheric Deposition Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, to Grist in a story about the ramifications of the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. Read: Chicago teachers demand climate solutions in their next contract (Grist) Stay resilient: Keep your systems secure and reliable with Splunk. See how Splunk gives you greater digital control with unified security and observability—so you can sidestep major disruptions. Start with a free trial.* *A message from our sponsor. SHARE THE BREW Share Tech Brew with your coworkers, acquire free Brew swag, and then make new friends as a result of your fresh Brew swag. We're saying we'll give you free stuff and more friends if you share a link. One link. Your referral count: 0 Click to Share Or copy & paste your referral link to others: emergingtechbrew.com/r/?kid=b3968dba Written by Patrick Kulp, Jasmine Sheena, Alex Zank, and Annie Saunders Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.   Guide → What is AI?   Guide → What is 5G? Take The Brew to work Marketers: Marketing Brew Corporate: CFO Brew   HR Brew Tech: IT Brew   Retailers: Retail Brew Healthcare: Healthcare Brew Get smarter in just 5 minutes Business News: Morning Brew Money & Career: Money With Katie   Bossy   Brew Markets   The Playbook Interested in podcasts? Check out ours here ADVERTISE // CAREERS // SHOP // FAQ Update your email preferences or unsubscribe here. View our privacy policy here. Copyright © 2024 Morning Brew. 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