Hi there, 

When we published our report on disinformation, we titled it Memes That Kill: The Future Of Information Warfare. In it, we cover everything from deepfakes to bot armies. 

As dystopian as it might sound, that “future” is now. 

Nearly half of the people talking about Covid-19 on Twitter may be bots, according to Carnegie Mellon research. Conspiracy theories regarding cures are rife in Facebook groups. These forms of online discourse have fueled real-life action, often with destructive consequences, ranging from vandalism of 5G towers to hate crimes against Asian Americans to deaths from self-medication. 

Take a look at our report on how social media has become weaponized and how we might be able to tackle computational propaganda here. Clients can also take a look at  the companies, startups, and governments battling disinformation here.

Significant digits

AI startups saw a decline across deals, exits, and unicorn births in Q1'20. 
 

Check out  AI investment trends, VC bets in the space, and emerging research in our interactive report here.

In these unprecedented times

It’s time for new financial metrics.

Beyond Silicon Valley

While startup funding in the US was highest in Silicon Valley, startups in emerging metropolitan areas also attracted substantial VC dollars in Q1’20.

Take a look at how startup funding in major tech hubs was impacted by Covid-19 here.

Brands? In my home? 

Will trivia happy hours over Zoom outlast Covid-19?

We break down how brands are engaging with consumers online — and which strategies are here to stay — here.

Business Insider. Shannen Balogh (@shannen_balogh) looks at “buy now pay later” startup Affirm’s plans for expansion and references CB Insights research.

VentureBeat. Chris O'Brien (@obrien) reports on the CB Insights AI in Numbers Q1’20 story.

Banking Dive. Kate Patrick (@katepatrick_) covers challenger bank Moven’s shift toward B2B and quotes CB Insights fintech analyst Alex Kern (@AlexKernA).

P.S. We’re hiring a principal data warehouse engineer. See the job here.

Just get a Tile. After fleeing to his doomsday shelter in New Zealand, a tech exec realized he didn’t know how to unlock it.

Bloomberg

Houston, we have a cat problem. Could a cat stepping on a keyboard inadvertently send commands to a spacecraft?

The Atlantic

Crisis management. Jeff Bezos has become much more involved in Amazon’s day-to-day operations since the pandemic started.

New York Times

Interpreting chicken scratch. Machine learning and NLP could help draw vital conclusions from doctors’ hand-written notes.

Wall Street Journal

Single-ply solutions. The kind of giant toilet paper roll found in offices and stadiums could help combat shortages of personal-size TP.

Fast Company