By CB Insights
Report updated May 26, 2026
CB Insights
For corporate strategy, M&A, venture capital, and sales teams requiring predictive market intelligence on private companies.
CB Insights is an established finance app that is free with in-app purchases. With a 4.5/5 rating from 42 reviews, it shows polarized user reception. Users particularly appreciate quick access to industry insights and company data while traveling keeps professionals informed on the go, though recent updates removed the mobile site functionality and introduced errors during file downloads for mobile users remains a common concern.
What is CB Insights?
CB Insights is a market intelligence platform providing predictive analytics on private and public companies via mobile and web interfaces.
Users hire the platform to automate due diligence and scouting workflows, replacing manual research with predictive AI agents.
Current Momentum
v3.7 · 1mo ago
Maintenance- Integrated native Claude and ChatGPT support.
- Expanded equity deal coverage.
Active Nemesis
PitchBook Mobile
By PitchBook Data
Other Rivals
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User MoodAI-powered deep analysis surfacing high-signal insights. Still in beta, accuracy improves daily. For informational purposes only.
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
Strategy LLM trained on proprietary research and predictive data for automated analysis
Automated agents for SWOT analysis, due diligence, and acquisition scouting
Predictive health and growth potential scoring for private companies
How much does it cost?
- Free trial
- Enterprise/Professional subscription
Monetization relies on a B2B subscription model anchored by high-value predictive data and AI agent access.
Who Built It?
Providing institutional-grade market intelligence and predictive analytics for corporate strategy and innovation teams. Enabling data-driven decision-making through a mobile-first interface.
Portfolio
1
Apps
Who is CB Insights?
CB Insights operates as a high-value B2B intelligence platform that bridges the gap between complex predictive data science and executive decision-making. Their moat is built on proprietary market intelligence and institutional trust, positioning them as a critical utility for deal-makers and innovation leaders rather than a general-purpose information tool. The recent integration of LLM-powered agents into their core terminal and mobile experience signals a strategic pivot toward AI-driven, conversational analysis as the primary interface for their data. This shift aims to consolidate their role as the central hub for corporate scouting and M&A due diligence.
Who is CB Insights for?
- Corporate strategy teams
- Venture capitalists
- Innovation leaders at large enterprises
Portfolio momentum
Released 2 updates in the last 6 months for their single active application, indicating a maintenance-focused development cycle.
What do users think recently?
Low confidence · 18 reviews analyzed
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a mixed sentiment. Users appreciate quick access to industry insights and company data while traveling keeps professionals informed on the go, but report recent updates removed the mobile site functionality and introduced errors during file downloads for mobile users.
Limited review volume (18 reviews). Sentiment analysis will deepen as more data lands.
What is the competitive landscape for CB Insights?
How's The Finance Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
Head to Head
To compete, CB Insights must double down on its unique tech-trend scouting reports while improving the depth of its private company deal-tracking features to match PitchBook's institutional-grade utility.
What sets CB Insights apart
Broader focus on tech trends and public company research offers a more holistic view of the market.
Lightweight mobile architecture provides a faster, more responsive experience for quick scouting reports.
What's PitchBook Mobile's Edge
Superior depth in private equity and venture capital deal-level data for professional investment workflows.
Established mobile-first ecosystem allows users to manage complex deal pipelines directly from their devices.
Contenders
Provides comprehensive financial modeling and public company data that exceeds standard market intelligence offerings.
Leverages S&P Global's massive data infrastructure to provide real-time updates on global market movements.
High-frequency release cadence demonstrates a commitment to rapid iteration for professional financial workflows.
Focuses on portfolio-level analytics and deep-dive financial metrics rather than broad tech-trend scouting.
Uses advanced AI-driven semantic search to extract insights from transcripts, filings, and research reports.
Aggressive update schedule indicates a focus on rapid AI feature deployment to capture market share.
Peers
Unrivaled global news coverage and real-time market data integration for immediate financial decision-making.
Massive user base creates a standard for business news consumption that is difficult to displace.
Seeking Alpha: News & Analysis
★4.8 (123.9K)Seeking Alpha Ltd.
⚡Provides crowd-sourced investment research and analysis, serving as a secondary source for market sentiment and company-specific insights.
Community-driven research model provides diverse perspectives on public companies that institutional tools often lack.
Focuses on actionable investment ideas rather than broad market scouting or private company tracking.
MarketWatch - News & Data
★4.7 (234.1K)Dow Jones & Company, Inc., publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
⚡A high-traffic financial news and data platform that serves as a general-purpose tool for market participants.
Broad accessibility and high-volume news delivery make it a staple for general financial market awareness.
Integrates seamlessly with Dow Jones content to provide a comprehensive view of global economic events.
Financial Times: Business News
★4.5 (49.4K)Financial Times Ltd.
⚡Provides high-quality, global business journalism that complements the data-heavy approach of market intelligence apps.
Focuses on high-level editorial analysis and global economic trends rather than raw company data points.
Strong brand authority in the professional business community provides a distinct competitive advantage.
New Kids on the Block
Uses AI to unify search across disparate enterprise apps, potentially replacing manual market research workflows.
Focuses on internal knowledge management rather than external market data, creating a unique productivity niche.
The outtake for CB Insights
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Mosaic Score predictive modeling creates high switching costs
- Proprietary research library functions as a B2B distribution barrier
Critical Frictions
- Mobile download errors erode daily utility
- Lack of enterprise SSO creates friction for professional subscribers
Growth Levers
- Education partnerships offer untapped B2B distribution
- Wearable integration could capture on-the-go scouting demand
Market Threats
- AlphaSense's rapid AI deployment schedule threatens search-discovery market share
- PitchBook's institutional-grade deal tracking outpaces current mobile capabilities
What are the next best moves?
Rebuild mobile download logic because file download errors are a top-cited complaint → restore daily utility
User reviews explicitly flag failing downloads as a primary barrier to mobile usage.
Trade-off: Push the dark mode interface sprint to Q4 — download stability has 3× the churn impact.
Ship enterprise SSO support because lack of organizational login is a top-cited barrier → increase enterprise adoption
Professional subscribers report the absence of enterprise login makes the app difficult to use.
Trade-off: Pause the integration of additional LLM models — SSO is a prerequisite for enterprise-wide mobile deployment.
A counter-intuitive read
The platform's mobile navigation regression is a strategic risk because it forces power users back to desktop, effectively nullifying the 'on-the-go' value proposition that justifies the enterprise subscription.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Deep deal-level private equity tracking (available in PitchBook Mobile but absent here)
- Portfolio-level analytics (available in FactSet but absent here)
Key Takeaways
CB Insights holds its market lead through proprietary predictive data, but mobile usability regressions threaten to alienate the high-value professional user base, so the team must prioritize stability and enterprise authentication to protect retention.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The market intelligence space is consolidating around AI-driven search, and CB Insights' current mobile friction leaves it exposed to more agile competitors. Addressing the download and authentication barriers is critical to maintaining the platform's utility as a primary research tool for enterprise users.
Mobile navigation and download regressions in the latest update erode daily utility, which compounds the rating drag visible on Android.
AlphaSense's rapid AI-feature deployment schedule pulls search-discovery attention away from CB Insights, accelerating churn pressure on professional users into Q2.