Wine & dine

Hi there,

Lots of wine news today.

First, in good news, we will soon be drinking liter-size glasses of wine.




A-ha! moments

Matt Mullenweg, CEO of Automattic and creator of WordPress, sat for a fireside chat with Reuters' Jonathan Weber at the CB Insights A-ha! Conference earlier this month. Here's some of what he had to say: 

• Are we at the peak of big platform dominance? Matt believes open source has a competitive advantage. 
   
• On two key policy issues: Distribution platforms have a responsibility similar to "whoever decides what goes on A1 of The New York Times." For most, the FCC net neutrality might not be a disaster. 

You can read more highlights from A-ha! here.




Crypto is everywhere

This is a very odd and very 2017 headline.




Strategy suite

In the era of Airbnb, Paris-based AccorHotels is implementing an ambitious digital transformation plan. 

Based on AccorHotel's comments and private market activity, we identified 3 strategic areas on which the company is building its future: creating and improving digital channels, growing its luxury business, and building a platform that offers services to both guests and non-guests. 




Cancer therapeutics

We mapped out where top healthcare VC firms — like F-Prime Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and SV Health Investors — are placing their bets in cancer therapeutics.

Notably, immunotherapy deals account for 62% of cancer therapeutics deals backed by our cohort of smart money VCs. 

Salut

In the spirit of the season, we compiled a list of the top wine tech startups to watch, from connected corks to an IoT device that can offer information about strength, acidity, etc. when place into a glass of wine. 




Our connected world

In this guest post, Paul Asel, Managing Partner at ngp capital, breaks down the confluence of mobile, cloud, and sensors that will connect people, things, and industries.




The Industry Standard

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

Fast Company. A look at German firm JAB's acquisitions in the US coffee space, based on CB Insights' analysis. 

CNN. Sherisse Pham (@Sherisse) on Didi Chuxing's latest $56B valuation, with a reference to CB insights data.

Live Trading News. Shayne Heffernan (@ShayneHeffernan) writes about the top financial terms of the year and cites CB Insights blockchain data. 

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. Don't forget to vote in the final round of our bracket, which asks: what is the best company to invest in and hold for 10 years? It's down to Amazon and Alibaba.

The Blurb