Hi there, 

In December 2017, I did a presentation entitled “Gradually, Then Suddenly” about how industry change comes quick.  

Right now, we’re seeing that change on steroids.

The graph below of US e-commerce penetration is a great view into what "suddenly" looks like.

Catching up

While the US still represents the majority of the digital health market, Europe saw record deals and dollars in 2019.

We mapped out the top-funded digital health startups in Europe here.

What’s next?

We’ll be spending a ton of time talking about the "gradually, then suddenly" phenomenon next month at the CB Insights Technology Conference.
 

We already have 875 registrants just 6 days after launching, and the first 25 of 60+ speakers are now on the site.  

Here are some of the newest additions we’ll talk to about the future of shopping, entertainment, education, and finance:

• Kirsten Green, Founding Partner of Forerunner Ventures (early investor in Glossier, Warby Parker, Dollar Shave Club)

• Alex Chang, CMO of the San Francisco 49ers

• Dan Rosensweig, CEO and President of Chegg (NYSE: CHGG)

• Vlad Tenev, Co-CEO and Co-founder, Robinhood ($8.3B valuation)

Prices go up every Friday.

If you sign up today, use the code ChubbyBrain here to get $100 off a regular or startup ticket.

If you’re a paying client of CB Insights, your admission is complimentary. Please reach out to your client success team or me, and we’ll get you sorted.

If you want to nominate an amazing speaker, you can do that here (scroll down below the pics).

It’s OK to not be OK

As Covid-19 swept through the globe, mental health startups saw record funding in Q1'20. 

From VR tech to employer programs, take a look at mental health funding trends here.

Hackers gonna hack

Last Friday, we held our 13th Hack Day — a long-standing CB Insights tradition — all online. It’s 24 hours to work on any project that is loosely tied to CB Insights. Some of the things that the team worked on include:

• Natural language search

• Programmatic market maps based on keywords/topics

• A new way to visualize business and competitor relationships

If you are smart, driven, and a touch (or a lot) nerdy, we are hiring.

Lunch and learn

Join CB Insights senior fintech analyst Arieh Levi on May 28 at 1 pm EDT for a look at global fintech investment trends in key financial verticals, partnership activity, and overall global deal funding. 
 

The webinar will look at:

• How fintech companies are responding to Covid-19
• Bright spots to watch, even as a recession looms
• How fintech unicorns are faring in this new environment

Financial Times. Brooke Masters (@brookeamasters) reports on how AI is being used to advance healthcare and mentions CB Insights research.

Business Insider. Megan Hernbroth (@Megan_Hernbroth) looks at Brex’s latest funding round and references the CB Insights State of Fintech Q1’20 report. 

Glossy. Liz Flora (@Liz__Flora) covers the growing link between wellness and beauty categories and quotes CB Insights analyst Kenya Watson.

P.S. Are you an Oxford comma advocate, em dash enthusiast, and detail-oriented editor? We're looking for an associate editor to join our team — apply here.

P.P.S. Join us Thursday for our CPG webinar where we'll dig into how Covid-19 is impacting retail. You can sign up here. 

The new normal. AI systems that were trained on “normal” behavior are struggling to adjust to the abnormal patterns of the pandemic.

MIT Technology Review

Casual, 24/7. The head of Wrangler and Lee predicts office workers will be hard-pressed to put on dress pants after the pandemic.

Bloomberg

Free lunch. A pizza shop made a profit by buying its own pizzas through DoorDash.

The Verge

Bring back cubicles. Employers are considering how to redesign offices to maintain distancing and hygiene guidelines.

Wall Street Journal

Twofer. A magazine’s sales boomed after it began packaging its print edition with free seeds for gardeners stuck at home.

WNIP