Market maps build conviction. We govern the decision.
CB Insights is strong sector maps, market intelligence, and trend research. Capital Refinery sits above it as the decision integrity layer that takes over once a specific deal moves into IC prep.
The stack researches. Capital Refinery governs the decision.
What CB Insights owns
Sector maps, company discovery, trend analysis.
Strong for sector maps, market intelligence, and trend research. Useful for building thematic conviction and pre-engagement context. The right tool for the market intelligence layer.
What Capital Refinery owns
The IC decision and the drift after it.
Lane-aware IC memo from raw deal pack, Risk Signals graded against firm policy, source-backed numbers, IC anchor on approval, drift tracking, signed exports.
Why teams run both
CB Insights drives sector conviction. Capital Refinery defends each specific deal.
Sector intelligence informs which deals to pursue. Capital Refinery makes the chosen deal defensible at IC and afterward. Different layers, complementary stacks.
Institutional readiness measurement
CB Insights solves market intelligence, technology research, and sector analysis. Capital Refinery operates a category CB Insights doesn’t: institutional readiness measurement on the specific operating business — graded against the same 10-axis framework that buy-side ICs, lender credit committees, and LPs use to evaluate. The artifact carries a deterministic fingerprint and a public verification URL.
The two product surfaces don’t compete — they operate at different layers of the stack. CB Insights handles market intelligence and sector context; Capital Refinery handles structural readiness measurement on the specific business and decision integrity. See institutional readiness and the same-engine architecture for the dimension CB Insights doesn’t address.
Keep CB Insights for market intelligence. Add the layer that governs the decision.
Bring us a deal where the sector conviction is set and the underwriting is starting. Same-day diagnostic pack back.
Keep CB Insights if you need venture and market intelligence research. Use Capital Refinery when you need a neutral, evidence-backed readiness artifact that shows what will survive institutional review.
Capital Refinery is the institutional measurement layer. It does not replace CB Insights; it sits next to it. The decision to engage is a routing decision, not a swap.
Working with an advisor or AI consultant? Use CR as the independent measurement layer via the Modernization Impact Review. Want to shape the methodology? Apply as a design partner.