Hi there, 

Alright, is hiring a PR firm worth it?

Here’s one view.

Lenny Rachitsky asked about the best PR firms for early-stage startups and Bastian Lehmann, the founder and CEO of Postmates, quickly said they’re not worth it.  

Lehmann went on to add that going direct to your audience — like Coinbase, a16z, and Stripe are doing — is the strategy of the future.

We talked about why SaaS and financial services companies are acquiring media/audience companies here. Everyone from HubSpot to JPMorgan Chase to Stripe to DraftKings is doing this and trying to go direct for different reasons.

For many, it’s just math, which we break down in the research brief.

But back to the original question. Is a PR firm for early-stage startups worth it? 

Where’s your wallet? 

Soon, you may be more likely to say your phone instead of your pocket.

The mobile wallet industry is currently worth around $1T and is expected to reach $7T by 2027. 

We dive into the evolution of mobile wallets and where the technology is going next here.

Crypto crime crackdown

An NFT phishing attack. $34M hacked from a leading crypto exchange. A conspiracy to launder $4.5B in stolen bitcoin.

As crypto becomes more ubiquitous, so do the associated cybersecurity risks. 

We dig into how the crypto security space will expand to address rising cyber crime — and 11 other tech trends — in this report.

Hotline bling

With $2.8B of revenue in 2021, Twilio is a leader in the communication platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) industry.

CPaaS solutions — which enable companies to incorporate messaging and other chat solutions into their websites and apps — have become essential to meeting customer needs.  

Blazing the trail

Healthcare AI companies raised a record $12B in funding last year. 

We analyzed hundreds of early-stage healthcare AI startups to see where proven founders and management teams are focusing their time.

From clinical trials tech to lab automation, here are 5 promising teams bringing innovative AI solutions to healthcare.

TechCrunch. Alex Wilhelm (@alex) discusses if it’s time to worry about fintech valuations using CB Insights data.

GeekWire. Charlotte Schubert (@schubertcm) reports on VC interest in biotech and cites CB Insights research.

Practical Ecommerce. Adel Boukarroum (@AdelBoukarroum) covers the CB Insights State of Retail Tech 2021 report.
 

P.S. What’s the future of shopping? We’ll dive into 100 companies transforming retail tech on March 15. Join the discussion and register here.

Client-Exclusive Research
 

[Healthcare]
AI market map. Here are 130+ startups applying AI to transform everything from surgery to radiology to clinical trials.

[Energy]
Green means go. The average deal size of renewable energy deals more than doubled year-over-year.

[Healthcare]
Unbundling Illumina. From precision medicine to genetic screening, startups are disrupting the gene sequencing giant.

[Enterprise]
Shut it down. The next generation of cybersecurity companies is rising to meet the cybercrime wave expected to cost $10T globally in 2025.