Hi there, 

So indulge me for a second…

CB Insights data/research is usually an ingredient in other people’s stories, so it was nice chatting with Sara Fischer at Axios specifically about CB Insights. We covered a lot, including:

• our newsletters getting to 1M subscribers

• our revenue 

• when and how we’ll exit

You can read the article here.

We also have a couple of other newsletters in case you’re not on those:

• Healthcare Insights 

• CPG & Retail Insights

We’ve taken a somewhat atypical path to get here, which I hope highlights that there is no single right way to build a technology company:

• We bootstrapped to mid-7 figures in revenue and 67 people

• We then raised $10M

• We’ve touched none of that investment, i.e., we have maintained a revenue-funded ethos

• Our team will end the year at ~425. Headcount is a vanity metric IMO, but we’ve grown to this level with no burn, which is why I mention it.

We are still growing like a weed and have 40+ open roles here.  

And finally, thanks to all of you for coming along for the ride. We’re still just getting going. 

Retail therapy

Amid the pandemic, artificial intelligence became central to how retailers adapted to supply chain disruptions and changing consumer behavior. 

Retail AI funding has already hit record levels in 2021 as AI solutions continue to gain traction.
 

From e-commerce fraud prevention to hyper-local inventory planning, we examine 7 retail AI trends that accelerated in 2020 and what’s next for the space here.

Crypto cousins

With central banks getting serious about CBDCs (central bank digital currencies), our friends at Blockdata wrote this primer on what you need to know about the future of payments and the regulation around it. 

CBDCs’ intersection with stablecoins is going to be a political debate for years to come — learn about the landscape and what we can expect for 2021 here.

The best digital health cos

We're excited to open up applications for the 2021 Digital Health 150, CB Insights' third annual round-up of the 150 most promising private digital health companies in the world.

The companies that land on the Digital Health 150 go on to do big things.

Here's a look at what last year's cohort has done since being selected to the list:

• The winners raised $13.4B in equity funding across nearly 100 deals

• They acquired 24 companies, including, in one case, another Digital Health 150 winner

• 10 of them went public or announced plans to go public

• 6 were acquired and 2 merged

To be considered for the 2021 Digital Health 150, you need to get on the radar of our analysts.

How do you do that?

It's easy.

Fill out this < 3-minute initial application for the 2021 Digital Health 150 before August 3.

We look forward to learning more about how you're transforming healthcare.

One big happy family

Embedded insurance, in which non-insurers integrate insurance solutions into existing digital products, is gaining traction across industries. 

Find out how the tech works, why it matters, and who benefits in this explainer.

The future is bright

ICYMI: The Future of Health conference is back, returning virtually this December 8-9.

The conference features 2 packed days of insights and will highlight the companies, technologies, and trends shaping healthcare. We’ll be featuring more than 50 C-level speakers, presentations from Digital Health 150 companies and other startups, and content focused on healthcare IT, telehealth, medtech, AI in pharma, pharma supply chain, and digital therapeutics.

Following last year’s top-rated event, this year’s conference will virtually bring together over 1000 executives from major healthcare organizations, disruptive startups, and the venture capital community.

This year's event also features a tech market demo stage connecting buyers and sellers in healthcare and 40+ demos from a curated collection of the hottest technologies.

Axios. Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) speaks with CB Insights CEO Anand Sanwal (@asanwal) about the CBI newsletter and future of the company. 

Wall Street Journal. Frances Yoon (@frances_jisun) and Jing Yang (@jingyanghk) discuss big tech startups in South Korea and cite CB Insights unicorn data. 

Bloomberg. Gillian Tan (@GillianTan) covers new fundraising efforts targeted at startups and references CB Insights research. 

I love you.
 

P.S. Today is the last day to apply for the Fintech 250. Fill out the initial application form here.

P.P.S. Several folks were upset by my comments about SPACs in yesterday’s newsletter. I spent some time looking at other SPAC investor presentations yesterday evening to see if my conclusions were a mistake. After careful review, I still maintain that most are dumpster fires. Sorry.

Matchmaking. Y Combinator has launched a new service to help founders find co-founders.

Protocol

Long weekend. Iceland’s trial of a 4-day work week didn’t hurt productivity, according to researchers.

BBC 

Home sweet home. Elon Musk’s primary residence is a roughly 400-square-foot rental home in Texas.

Forbes 

Time out. Tencent said it will use face recognition tech to keep minors from playing video games late at night. 

Gizmodo

Gutter balls. Each year, roughly 1,200 bowling balls end up at NYC’s main recycling facility, though they can’t be recycled. 

Curbed