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Not-so-outlandish IPO. A peek into Palantir. Dockless bike-sharing.

Work, work, work, work

Hi there,

Because you come to us for hard-hitting fact-based analysis, we thought you should know that Rihanna is mentioned more than Beyoncé on earnings calls.



As you'll see in the analysis, we also compare Rihanna to the Kardashians.

Why did we do this?

Cuz facts matter.


Limited visibility

Palantir is one of the most influential and least transparent data companies.

Before harvesting Facebook data from millions of users in 2014, Cambridge Analytica received help from at least one Palantir Technologies employee — whom Palantir said was not working on its behalf. 

We take a look at three recent patent applications that are shedding a little light on Palantir's methods and goals. Check them out here.




Brand agency jargon creator

Who doesn't love transforming transformations?

In your experience, is it better than synergizing synergies or digitizing digitization?



Thanks to reader Srinivas Seshadri for sending this. He is the world's best at strategizing strategies.


Not so far-fetched

The luxury fashion site FarFetch is rumored to be targeting a $5B valuation as it moves forward with its US listing — but is this a stretch?

Looking at FarFetch's multiples against four comparable public companies, it's valued at 14x price/sales — but adding sales growth rate into the mix makes the $5B valuation seem not so far-fetched. Read more here





I want to ride my bicycle

Dockless bike-sharing systems have gained prominence in the last few years.

China-based startups Ofo and Mobike have each received $2B+ in funding, and have begun to expand overseas. In the US, Limebike and JUMP Bikes are implementing the dockless model in big cities and universities.

From replacing short-distance commute methods to expanding the mobility market, we discuss the dockless model's impacts here.


April Fool’s heads-up

Sunday is April 1. People will try to be comedians for a day with various pranks, jokes, and shenanigans. Be warned — our April ticket price increase for Future of Fintech is for real.

Registration is already 20% ahead of this date last year. It’s no surprise — this year's lineup is insane. Some recent confirms include:

  • Catherine Bessant, chief operations and technology officer of Bank of America

  • Brad Garlinghouse, CEO & board member of Ripple

  • Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and co-founder of Ellevest

  • David Velez, founder and CEO of Nubank

Register before prices go up. You can even save $500 using code BESTYET.




The Industry Standard

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

American Banker. The article reports that online lender Upstart is hoping to raise $100M from investors and refers to CB Insights research.
 
Entrepreneur. Nidhi Singh (@nidhi_march) lists key areas or services that entrepreneurs should outsource when launching a startup and cites CB Insights research.
 
MedCityNews. Lisa Suennen (@venturevalkyrie) compares the value of genetic sequencing in healthcare to its misuse in consumer applications and refers to CB Insights’ Digital Health Newsletter.

 

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. Tomorrow we'll be discussing technologies changing the agriculture industry. Save your spot at the briefing here.

P.P.S. Tomorrow is the last day to submit your guess for what Amazon's closing price will be on March 30. Enter here for a chance to win CBI swag.

The Blurb

A curated mix of articles worth sharing.

You don’t get it. Sam Weston (@samweston) says that the outrage about the Cambridge Analytica scandal comes from Facebook not explaining its business to users.
FastCo Design
 
More control. A new male birth control pill is showing promise.
Endocrine Society
 
Act natural. Google researchers are finding ways to make machine-generated speech sound more human.
VentureBeat
 
Shut it down. Uber is planning to indefinitely stop all autonomous car testing in California after its permit expires at the end of the month.
San Francisco Chronicle


Spider brooch chic. Sono Motoyama (@sonomotoyama) profiles Cédric Villani, the “Lady Gaga of Mathematics” leading France’s AI task force.
The Verge

Tortoises against bot abuse. Researchers from Naver Labs, KAIST, and Seoul National University have created a robot tortoise designed to teach children that they shouldn’t abuse robots.
IEEE Spectrum
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