Hi there, 

So I got called a isht-head on this podcast.

Putting that aside, Sam Parr and Shaan Puri also broke down our new business Yardstiq on the “My First Million” podcast, including:

1. Our website copy and whether it sucks or not

2. Whether we should have spun this out of CB Insights as a separate company

3. How much revenue Yardstiq might bring in

4. Whether the business model makes sense

Watch it here on YouTube or listen in on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Debits and credits (or something like that)

Palantir found an interesting way to juice revenue.  

Invest in companies merging with SPACs (remember that grift?) and then have those same companies do multi-year deals with Palantir for its services.

We dug into the business relationship and financing data on CB Insights to see how it worked.

Starting in 2021, the data analysis company poured over $400M into 20 startups merging with SPACs.

You can see all of these deals and more on Palantir’s CB Insights profile:

Looks kosher, no?  

Then those companies also signed multi-year contracts to buy Palantir’s services & software. 

Pretty crafty, eh?

For example, electric air taxi company Lilium agreed to a 5-year, $50M contract alongside Palantir’s $41M investment. 

Palantir reportedly entered similar arrangements with companies including: 

• Electric vehicle data startup Wejo ($35M investment)

• Micromobility company Bird Global ($20M investment)

• Manufacturing co Fast Radius ($20M investment)

You can see these deals in the Business Relationships section on Palantir’s profile.

The roundtrip results? 

On average, Palantir’s SPAC investments are down 80%+ (as of early January). 

Fast Radius filed for bankruptcy in November, just 9 months after its SPAC deal. More are likely to go under. Meanwhile, Palantir’s stock is down 60% over the past year.

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together?

The WSJ and Newcomer have some good reporting on what is going on with Palantir’s round-tripping revenue as well for those who want to learn more.

What happened to the SPAC boom? Find out with our explainer here. 

2022 in review

The full-year 2022 numbers are in: global venture funding fell by 35% year-over-year.

While startups raised a record-high $638.4B in 2021, they drew $415.1B in 2022. 

Dive into our State of Venture 2022 Report preview to get a sneak peek at 2022 funding data and discover:

• The sector that saw annual funding drop below 2020 levels

• How $100M+ mega-rounds fared in 2022

• The region that saw a record-high amount of annual funding

• And more

Year of the customer 

Instacart has been busy inking strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

Its goal? To make grocery shopping more personalized and engaging for the modern-day consumer.

From digital advertising to in-store tech, dive into Instacart’s activity in this strategy map.

Let’s give a warm welcome to…

Here are 4 healthcare software companies that recently completed a CBI Analyst Briefing. 

• CitiusTech is currently valued at $2.5B and is featured as a Leader in our population health analytics ESP ranking.
  [Connect here.]

• insitro leverages machine learning for drug discovery and development. [Connect here.]

• Shukun Technology offers intelligent diagnostic solutions and counts Goldman Sachs Asset Management among its investors. [Connect here.]

• 4G Clinical develops a Randomization and Trial Supply Management (RTSM) system and is featured in our clinical trials market map. [Connect here.]

Customers can click “Connect here” above if they want to speak directly to these companies, or hit the Connect button in platform to get in touch with any company with a CB Insights profile.

Want to get your startup in front of customers, investors, acquirers, and 900,000+ newsletter subscribers? Request a 100% free Analyst Briefing here.

CNBC. Riley de León (@RileyCNBC) covers the IPO market and cites CB Insights data.

Bloomberg. Brendan Murray (@b_muzz) dives into digital transformation in logistics using CB Insights data.

MarketWatch. Jon Swartz (@jswartz) discusses tech hiring and mentions CB Insights research.

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal

P.S. We recently published our 2023 Tech Trends Report. Give it a read and bring your questions to our roundtable discussion next week. Save your spot here.