In the motherland

Hi there,

Just landed in India. Not sure if we've been elevated to ishthole status by Donnie T yet, but anywho.

We got some good stuff today (as usual), so let's get to it. 


Fifty nifty startups 

Using the CB Insights database, we mapped out the top tech startups in every US state based on equity funding. Featured companies include Uber (California), Domo (Utah), Avant (Illinois), and Magic Leap (Florida).




Don't be evil

If you regularly intro people via email and don't use the double opt-in introduction, you might be an evil person.

But it's never too late to change. This post has full instructions on how to make good introductions, so read it and become non-evil.




Blockchain to make you smarter

If you glaze over at terms like cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and decentralized ledger, here's a reminder to check out our blockchain explainer. 

We dive into the fundamentals of blockchain tech and some of the most popular cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum) in plain, jargon-free English. Read on. 



Chamath: 99% of ICOs fraudulent

Chamath Palihapitiya chatted with Bloomberg’s Mark Milian at our A-ha! Conference in December. As always, the conversation was entertaining and substantive.

They covered a lot of ground, from Chamath's views on social media to the role of venture investing. Watch the video of the whole fireside chat here. 



Backstage, after the session, Chamath answered some additional questions submitted by CB Insights clients. You can hear what he had to say about ICOs here.


Om nom nom 

New investors are flocking to food tech, with the number of investors backing food & beverage startups more than tripling since 2013. This includes a wide range of players, from VC funds and PE firms to corporates and celebrities. 




Softbank's investment in Theranos

Fortress Investment Group (FIG) recently invested $100M of debt into Theranos for 4% of the company. FIG is owned by Softbank.



In our recent Winners & Losers brief for clients-only, we dig into one potential motivation for the Theranos deal which we've not seen discussion of.

This brief also covered:

• Celgene
• Intel
• Waze
• Canva
• drugs discard by big pharma
• future Nvidias
• SaaS multiples
• Medixci Ventures
• the Australian tech ecosystem
• Axovant Sciences
• cancer startups
• Roivant
• chatbots (Sensay, Avaamo, Mode.ai, AnswerDash)
• no more peace & quiet

If you're a paying client, log in and read this Winners & Losers brief here.

Or click the Winners & Losers tag to see the few we've already published.

It need not be lonely at the top

One of our breakaway new offerings of 2017 was our senior executive Councils, where we assemble senior leaders (C-level, EVP, SVP) of strategy, innovation, and technology at large companies ($1B+ revenue).

Council sessions allow for folks who may have no peers within their org to talk to like-minded execs grappling with similar problems at their companies. It's networking and knowledge-sharing at its best.

Participating companies include:

The next Councils session is March 6-7 in NYC at the Council on Foreign Relations HQ.

We’ll focus on competition in the digital age. Apply now.


The Industry Standard

CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in the industry and the media. A few recent hits.

Bloomberg. Lynn Doan (@lynnmdoan) writes about the $1.7B of funding that the cybersecurity industry has gained since 2010 and cites CB Insights financing data.

Boston Globe. Scott Kirsner (@scottkirsner) examines two Massachusetts wine tech startups and references CB Insights wine tech research.

Jerusalem Post. Max Schindler (@schindlermax) reports that Israeli high-tech companies raised a record $5.24B in 2017 and cites PwC and CB Insights’ MoneyTree Report.

The Blurb