SSIA 2025 First Findings

We've completed our analysis of the 2025 State of Startups with Industry Analysts and here is my presentation of our first findings: Business outcomes, best AR use cases, alignment to funding stages, investment levels, VC recommendations - and of course which IA firms startups are using the most for different purposes.

One pattern emerged across the board:

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗔𝗥 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 - 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲.

This is for you!

• How AR builds 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

• Where Startup AR drives 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁

• What practitioners rate the best 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝘀𝗲𝘀

• Which AR activities to focus on 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲

This year we had 350 contributors, including 30 VCs/accelerators representing an additional 1,200 portfolio startups, and 200 industry analysts from 118 firms.

I'm especially delighted to see the engagement from the startup investor and support ecosystem grow steeply from 20 to now 30 firms including some very large organisations. Also, great to see contribution not just from private VCs but also from public organisations, too! Welcome on board!

Another great development is that you've flooded us with excellent comments to our questions. Hundreds. This generous sharing of deeper context is immensely helpful and much appreciated.

One pattern emerged across both, startups and investor responses:

Startups with analyst experience gave 𝗻𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗲 the value ratings vs. those without. Investors showed the same pattern.

It's the old "𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙤𝙣'𝙩 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬"...

We're now working on the written report and we're analysing correlations to surface even more findings. Follow me to get notified of the PDF report and further insights as they become available!

In the meantime

✅ Who should see this? Help us to connect!

✅ What questions should we explore next? I'd love your thoughts!

Backed by the University of Edinburgh Business School.

Co-led with Prof. Neil Pollock and the wonderful Robin Schaffer.