To answer your last question: yes. Business models, nor funding models have changed much in recent years. And those all "demand"¹ the hoovering of data. ¹ not

To answer your last question: yes. Business models, nor funding models have changed much in recent years. And those all "demand"¹ the hoovering of data. ¹ not literally. But VC, startup cycles etc all drive towards "just gather as much data as possible".