Hi there, 

First, a question.

How much of the US economy (GDP) runs through the internet? 

a. 10.1%

b. 19.7%

c. 26.9%

d. 37.3%

The answer is (a) — just 10.1%. This is per a 2018 study done by The Internet Association.

If we assume Covid-19 accelerated that by 2-3x, it still means 70-80% of the economy remains offline.

This spells massive opportunity for B2B marketplaces, where we are seeing a ton of activity of late.  

They're starting to attack more complex, highly variable products and higher-consideration B2B buying decisions.

But there is not a ton written about them.

So I’ve put together a summary of my favorite articles, podcasts, and principles on B2B marketplaces here. 

It includes insights from some great investors, including NFX, Bessemer, Thoma Bravo, Benchmark, and Bowery Capital, among others.

It also features the wisdom of several marketplace operators, including Lenny Rachitsky and Casey Winters. And then there are some operators turned investors, like Fabrice Grinda and Josh Breinlinger, whose insights are also worth studying.

Are there any resources on B2B marketplaces you really love? Please do share here or on the Twitter thread.

There’s something afoot

So far in 2021, SoftBank is investing in a record number of deals. 

This week, the fund led a $680M funding round to Paris-based Sorare, a fantasy soccer NFT platform, at a $4.3B valuation, among other deals. 

See where SoftBank is investing across fintech, retail, healthcare, and more here. 

Earning its stripes

Over the last two years, fintech unicorn Stripe ($95B valuation) has inked dozens of strategic business partnerships, acquisitions, and investments. 

We mined this relationship data from CB Insights to determine Stripe’s 5 most important strategic priorities in this client-only analysis.

Life insurance on lock 

Given the need to reduce operational costs to stay competitive, insurers from MetLife to AIG are looking to robotic process automation (RPA) solutions to streamline critical operations. 

We surveyed the RPA for life insurance players and mapped them using our ESP vendor assessment methodology. They include:

• Automation Anywhere
• Kofax
• Kryon
• Laiye
• Leapwork
• Robocorp
• Skan
• WorkFusion

If you are looking to understand the RPA landscape or initiate a vendor selection process, download our ESP Vendor Assessment report here.

A trillion-dollar DeFi injection

Could $1T be set to flood into DeFi from institutions over the next 5 years?

Blockdata took a deep dive into the world of institutional decentralized finance here.

Claws and effect

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 20% of US households have adopted a dog or cat. 

With the pet care market projected to reach $359B by 2026, we map out 65+ startups building connected devices and other pet services here.  

Retail Dive. Cara Salpini (@CaraSalpini) discusses the future of personalized beauty with CB Insights senior intelligence analyst Kenya Watson and cites CB Insights research. 

Wall Street Journal. The Pro VC newsletter reports on BYJU’s moves in the US with CB Insights data.

Bloomberg. Asli Kandemir (@aslikandemir) covers Turkey’s startup scene and references CB Insights’ report on buy now, pay later.
 

P.S. Don’t miss our webinar tomorrow (September 23) where you’ll get to ask our senior lead retail analyst your questions about what’s next for retail tech. Register here.

Client-Exclusive Research
 

[Venture & Tech]

Cybersecurity market map. We highlight 160+ cybersecurity companies addressing 15 tech priorities, from cloud security to fraud protection, that organizations face.

[Healthcare & Life Sciences]

DTx cos find partners. We map out and analyze the growing number of business relationships between digital therapeutics startups and payers, providers, and pharmaceutical companies.

[Industrials]

Heaven for batteries. Electric vehicles are unlocking a $20B second-life battery market — here’s how. 

[Auto & Mobility]

Autonomous driving tech map. From lidar to HD mapping, we map out 140+ autonomous driving companies.

[Healthcare & Life Sciences]

58-page telehealth ESP report. Healthcare providers are increasingly looking to technology vendors to help them move operations online — see the leading telehealth players here.