If you’ve tried sifting through endless “market opportunity” reports or pieced together competitive intel from Google searches, you know the pain. CB Insights promises to cut through all that, but does it actually help B2B teams find real market openings and avoid nasty surprises? If you’re responsible for growth, strategy, or just not screwing up the next big bet, this guide is for you.
We’ll break down the features that matter, skip the sales pitch, and call out what’s worth your time (and what isn’t).
Why CB Insights Gets Attention for B2B Market Teams
CB Insights has built a reputation as a one-stop shop for market intelligence—think startup data, funding rounds, tech trends, M&A, and more. Their dashboards look impressive, but it’s easy to get lost in the sea of charts if you don’t know what you’re after.
The good news: a handful of features actually make a difference for B2B teams trying to spot trends, competitors, and landmines. The rest? Honestly, you can skip unless you just want to look busy.
1. Market Sizing and Emerging Trends: Hype Radar vs. Real Signals
CB Insights is famous for its “market maps” and “trend reports.” These are flashy, but the real value is in two places:
- Industry Analytics Dashboards: These pull together data on funding, deal volume, and company activity. If you want to see if a market’s heating up or dying out, start here. Don’t just look at the top-level numbers—filter by geography, deal stage, or sub-sector.
- Trend Search: Plug in a technology or topic, and CB Insights surfaces related deals, news, and startups. Pro tip: Ignore the “hottest topics” list—it’s usually yesterday’s news. Instead, use the filters to find emerging spaces with a sudden uptick in investment, not just buzzwords.
What to Ignore: The “buzz score” and media mentions are noisy. Focus on real dollars flowing into areas, not just who’s getting press.
2. Company Profiles: More Than Just Crunchbase 2.0
It’s easy to think of CB Insights’ company database as just a fancier Crunchbase. But for B2B teams, two features stand out:
- Funding and Acquisition Timeline: This isn’t just about who raised money—it’s about when and how fast they’re growing. If a competitor just raised a big round, expect them to get aggressive.
- Mosaic Score: This is CB Insights’ attempt at predicting company health. Treat it as a rough guide, not gospel. If a company’s score jumps or drops fast, dig deeper. But don’t base decisions on a number alone.
Pro Tip: Use the “similar companies” feature to map out the competitive landscape quickly. Just don’t assume everyone listed is a real threat—do a sanity check.
3. Competitive Analysis: Finding Gaps and Hidden Rivals
One area where CB Insights beats most generic market tools is in competitor discovery:
- Market Maps: Visual layouts that show who’s playing in each sub-sector. Sounds simple, but seeing the full chessboard helps you spot crowded spaces or places with fewer players (aka opportunity).
- Competitor Comparison: Stack up competitors on funding, headcount, and momentum. This is great for finding fast risers or potential acquisition targets.
- Customer/Investor Overlap: See which VCs or customers are backing multiple competitors. If the same investors keep showing up, pay attention—they tend to know where the puck is going.
Watch Out: Market maps can be outdated. Always check the date and supplement with your own research if something feels off.
4. Signals and Alerts: Cut Through the Noise
No one has time to watch every move in the market. CB Insights’ alerting features are surprisingly useful—if you set them up right.
- Custom Alerts: Get notified when a competitor raises money, launches a product, or gets acquired. Set these to weekly (not real-time) or you’ll drown in notifications.
- Saved Searches: Build out saved searches for your key verticals or technologies. This makes it easy to check in on what matters without starting from scratch.
- Event Triggers: These catch things like new patents, layoffs, or leadership changes. It’s easy to ignore these, but sometimes a sudden change here hints at a pivot or upcoming trouble.
What to Ignore: Don’t let alert fatigue set in. Be ruthless—only set alerts for companies and signals that actually matter to your goals.
5. Market Entry and Partnership Intel: Who’s Buying, Selling, or Partnering
For B2B teams eyeing new markets, it’s critical to know not just who’s there but who’s open to partnerships, M&A, or pilots.
- Acquisition Tracking: See which companies are actively buying up startups in your space. This is gold for partnership or exit planning.
- Partnership Announcements: These are buried in the platform, but worth seeking out. They often reveal which larger companies are hungry for new tech or channels.
- Investor Networks: Mapping which VCs or corporates are backing certain trends can help you predict which areas will get more attention (and resources).
Reality Check: Not every partnership or acquisition is a win. Do a quick check on whether these deals actually made a dent, or were just PR.
6. Advanced Search and Filtering: Get Specific or Get Lost
CB Insights has a ton of data, but it’s only useful if you can slice it the way you need:
- Custom Filters: Dig into companies by funding stage, geography, technology, or business model. This is where you find niche competitors or white space.
- Export Functionality: You’ll want your own copy of any list you build. Export to CSV and do your own analysis—CB Insights’ built-in charts are fine, but you’ll need to double-check the numbers.
- Saved Views: If you’re tracking a market over time, save your filters and check back monthly. Trends take time, and you’ll spot real movement only by comparing snapshots.
Pro Tip: The search can be finicky—spell things exactly as they’re listed, or you’ll miss relevant results.
What Doesn’t Work (or Isn’t Worth the Price)
- Overly Generic Reports: CB Insights churns out a lot of “state of the industry” PDFs. Most are too broad to be actionable. Use them for context, not strategy.
- Automated Insights: The platform tries to surface “Top 10” lists and risk scores everywhere. Treat these as starting points, not answers.
- Paywalls on Deep Dives: Some of the best content is locked down even for paying users. If you hit a wall, don’t be afraid to ask your account rep for what you need—they’ll usually dig it up for you.
Keep It Simple: How to Get the Most Out of CB Insights
You don’t need to master every feature. Here’s a quick way to get started:
- Define what you actually want to know. (E.g., “Who are the new entrants in X market?” or “What’s the funding trend for Y technology?”)
- Set up saved searches and custom alerts. Don’t try to track everything.
- Check dashboards weekly, not daily. Trends don’t change overnight.
- Export data and sanity check. Don’t trust any tool blindly—cross-reference with other sources.
- Share only what matters. No one wants a 50-slide deck of charts. Summarize findings and point to clear risks or opportunities.
In short: CB Insights can actually help B2B teams find openings and dodge risks—if you use the right features and ignore the noise. Start small, stay skeptical, and adjust as you go. Don’t let the dashboards run your strategy; use them to sharpen your own judgment.