This week in data, we've got news that TikTok is expecting $500M in US revenue, a $16B food delivery valuation, and a Facebook acquisition. Check it out below.
THIS WEEK IN DATA
$500M: TikTok is reportedly expecting to bring in $500M in revenue from the US this year — a big jump from the $200M - $300M it brought in worldwide in 2019. We look at how ByteDance, the world’s most valuable unicorn and the company behind TikTok, is working towards earning itself a place among the tech giants here.
$25M: Map data startup Mapillary was acquired by Facebook. The Sweden-based company, which had raised $25M in disclosed funding from backers including Sequoia Capital, was featured in this year’s AI 100 — a list of the most promising AI startups in the world. See the rest of the featured companies here.
$16B: DoorDash raised $400M at a valuation of $16B — an increase of 27% compared to its last valuation given a year ago. The food delivery company has now raised almost $2.5B in disclosed funding. We discuss food delivery’s future in our report on 24 Industries & Technologies That Will Shape The Post-Virus World.
-500,000 births: The Covid-19 pandemic and the associated economic fallout could lead to up to 500,000 fewer births next year, according to researchers at the Brookings Institution. The study’s prediction was based on an analysis of birth rates during past recessions and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
$500M: Proteus Digital Health filed for bankruptcy. The unicorn, which offers ingestible sensors to monitor medication usage, was last valued at $1.3B and had raised about $500M in disclosed funding. The 16-year-old company had reportedly been unable to secure new financing prior to declaring bankruptcy. We dig into digital health trends and map out the other unicorns in the space in our State Of Healthcare Q1’20 Report.
696 miles: Researchers transferred data over 696 miles using satellite-based quantum key distribution (QKD) — a cryptography tech that proponents say could enable ultra-secure communication. The results signal that QKD is becoming more practical for real-world applications. We discuss quantum tech’s quickening rate of commercialization in our 2020 Tech Trends To Watch report.
4 legs: Boston Dynamics released its 4-legged, dog-like robot for general sale. The programmable robot, which costs $74,500, is being marketed for industrial uses like inspecting unsafe environments, transporting payloads, and automated data collection. Investment in robotics companies set a new record in 2018, but waned last year. Clients can dig into more investment trends in the space in our Robotics In Numbers report.
-38%: UK-based challenger bank Monzo raised about $76M in a downround that saw the unicorn’s valuation cut by 38% to $1.6B. See the rest of the fintech unicorns in our quarterly funding report.
140 seconds: Twitter began allowing users to post 140-second-long audio clips in place of text. We discuss the factors that helped Twitter’s platform to gradually become more complex in our report on 8 Laws Driving Success In Tech.
36 alien civilizations: Researchers estimated that there are at least 36 advanced alien civilizations within our galaxy, according to a paper published in Astrophysical Journal. The study used assumptions based upon life’s evolution on Earth, predicting that the closest alien civilization is about 17,000 light years away and that our species would likely need to survive another 6,120 years to communicate with them.
Choice roasts include: using the words "adulting" or “doggo,” basing their personality off of a Harry Potter house, or being obsessed with coffee or “rosé all day.”
While some are furious over the jokes, others are taking it in stride, with one person tweeting: “Joke's on them, no one hates millennials more than millennials themselves.”
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