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ChubbyBrain Ventures
A couple of years ago, we did an April Fool's joke announcing our venture fund, ChubbyBrain Ventures.
The joke worked.
- We had partners at VC funds applying for jobs
- Had other investors trying to syndicate deals with us
- And also had some startups reach out to pitch us
When we announced plans for a CB Insights Demo Day 2 days ago, I got some questions about whether we are actually raising a fund or starting an accelerator.
The answer is no.
We have had 1000+ startups apply in < 2 days though so yeah, we would have plenty of dealflow :)
If you're a startup who wants to pitch hundreds of VCs and corporations for free and give up zero equity, sign up here.
If you think you're the next Steve Jobs, don't apply.
Uber strategy teardown
We dug into Uber's strategy, from the company's background & new CEO, to its job listing trends, to its financials & valuation, and beyond.
Notably, Uber is hiring aggressively in its division that includes autonomous driving efforts (Advanced Technologies Group or ATG). The unit comprises 6% of Uber’s total job listings, with the company seeking talent in the white-hot field of autonomous vehicle engineering.
Outrage part II
Yesterday, a vending machine startup got folks riled up. It was covered by Elizabeth Segran of Fast Company (see The Blurb below).
The PR launch was clumsy and the name equally so. But somehow, this launch became everything wrong about tech, and the outrage machine did its thing.
Amidst all the tweets, this point by Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital was quite good IMO.
Fridge tech
Amazon’s and Walmart’s patents show the retail giants are seeking ways to infiltrate shoppers’ homes and kitchens in order potentially replenish products automatically. A newly published patent application from Amazon highlights a fridge that can "smell" spoiling food to alert shoppers that it's time to restock.
Beyond banking
Banking and payments aren't the only industries affected by blockchain tech. We highlighted 30 industries that blockchain could transform, from voting, to sports management, to music rights, and more.
Outrage part III
Andrew Ng, a co-founder of Coursera and former head of Baidu AI, posted a job on Twitter yesterday. In the culture section, it had the following:
The 70 – 90 hours per week got people upset.
Whether you believe working 70 – 90 hours per week is smart or dumb, a company should be able to say that this is an expectation, no?
AI strategy
Rita Waite (@ritacwaite) of Juniper Networks writes about how AI works, the importance of machine learning, top AI innovators, and the need for companies to have an AI strategy today.
The Industry Standard
CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in the industry and the media. A few recent hits.
Reuters. Heather Somerville (@heathersomervil) writes about the failure of valet parking startup Luxe and cites CB Insights data on investment into the on-demand space.
CNN Tech. Sara Ashley O'Brien (@sarahashleyo) reports on 23andMe's latest investment and quotes CB Insights analyst Nikhil Krishnan (@nikillinit) on the subject.
MUSE. A look at the mobile ecosystem in Latin America with a reference to CB Insights funding data.
I love you.
Anand
@asanwal
P.S. Join us for a discussion on the state of regtech next Tuesday. Sign up for the briefing, where we'll dive into startups, investors, and trends in the space.
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