Enterprise Weekly #435: Corporate Budgets, Generative AI Adoption, and more
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Enterprise Weekly #435: Corporate Budgets, Generative AI Adoption, and more
Let’s talk about corporate budgets.
According to Gartner’s forecast from July, global IT spend is predicted to grow almost 4.3% to $4.7T in 2023. While any YoY growth is great to see, overall IT spend is on a decline from previous 2023 predictions of 5%+.
Software saw the most growth at 13.5% as CIOs increase utilization and reallocate spending to core tools and platforms that support efficiency gains.
Work-Bench Cofounder & General Partner, Jon Lehr spoke to TechCrunch about what this means on the startup side, “On the whole, it’s still rough out there. Budgets are smaller, sales cycles are longer, and things like unexpected customer reorgs or enhanced security reviews can blow up or delay deals that may be on the 1-yard line and key for a startup’s quarter.” While we believe there’s still money to be had, our advice to startups looking to ink deals with enterprise customers is to be sure to engage with champions that can move the needle on deals and target service lines with existing budget.
In terms of categories and to some surprise, Generative AI isn't picking up major dollars...yet. To-date, there’s limited spend within the broader Generative AI category within the Fortune 500. While there’s immense excitement and attention, big projects aren’t making it to the finish line thanks to a combination of challenges, including, 1) needing approval from multiple stakeholders, and 2) the lack of an overarching strategy at a firm level for where and how to use Generative AI before investing in point solutions and enabling tooling. In fact, only 4% of CIOs characterize Generative AI innovations as translating to significant new projects.
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All Summer Long: Work-Bench Infrasummer
📚 Read more news:
Fortune: These 21 PE Power Players Are Shaping the $8T Industry as a New Guard Emerges
Tech Brew: How Startups Are Turning Generative AI Into Workplace Tools
The Information: ‘Tidal Wave’ of Down Rounds Hits Startups
WSJ: Companies Weigh Growing Power of Cloud Providers Amid AI Boom
WSJ: Sequoia Capital Slashes Crypto Fund as It Downsizes Amid Startup Crunch
📚 Read more (th)reads:
Company: Socure
Role: Director of Engineering
Technology: Identity Verification
Funding: $742M from Workbench, Capital One Ventures, Sorenson Capital, Accel, Scale Venture Partners, Commerce Ventures, Flint Capital, Work-Bench
🌟 Company of the Week 🌟
CorralData raises $1.5M led by NY Angels, and Others
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Seed • New York, NY
Founder: Alex Lirtsman (CEO)
Reflex raises $5M led by Lux Capital
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Seed • San Francisco, CA
HushMesh raises $5.2M led by Paladin Capital Group
Risk / Security • Venture • Falls Church, VA
Abbey Labs raises $5.3M led by Point72 Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • San Francisco, CA
Language I/O raises $8M led by Joint Effects
Sales / Marketing • Series A • Cheyenne, WY
Lightup raises $9M led by Andreessen Horowitz and Newland Ventures
Risk / Security • Series A • Mountain View, CA
Plerion raises $10M led by Prosus Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • Sydney, Australia
Silk Security raises $12.5M led by Insight Partners and Hetz Ventures
Risk / Security • Seed • New York, NY
Akkio raises $15M led by Bain Capital Ventures and Pandome
Data / AI / Machine Learning • Series A • Cambridge, MA
Converge Insurance raises $15M led by Forgepoint Capital
Risk / Security • Series A • New York, NY
Socket raises $20M led by Andreessen Horowitz
Risk / Security • Series A • San Francisco, CA
Cyble raises $24M led by Blackbird Ventures and King River Capital
Risk / Security • Series B • Alpharetta, GA
Neon raises $46M led by Menlo Ventures
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series B • San Francisco, CA
Endor Labs raises $70M led by Lightspeed Venture Partners
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series A • Palo Alto, CA
Tradeshift raises $70M led by HSBC
Future of Work • Venture • San Francisco, CA
Nile raises $175M led by March Capital and Sanabil Investments
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Series C • San Jose, CA
Dynatrace acquires Rookout for an Undisclosed Amount
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • Tel Aviv, Israel
EventMobi acquires Run The World for an Undisclosed Amount
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • San Francisco, CA
Francisco Partners acquires New Relic for $6.5B
Infrastructure / Dev Tools • Acquisition • Mountain View, CA