Hi there,

Alright, so last week, kind of late on the evening of April 1st, I announced CB Insights' Series B financing on LinkedIn and Twitter.  

At the time, I promised more details in the newsletter, so I'll do that below.  

But first — it was a ginormous (with a capital G) quarter for venture capital.  

Smashing records 

Investments to US-based companies surged to a record $62B in Q1’21.

Check out the details in our PwC and CB Insights Q1 2021 MoneyTree Headline report. 

That series B

As you can see from the LI post screenshot above, after I posted about the Series B, the congrats started flowing in.  

900+ likes, 100+ comments.  

Friends and investors started texting.  

It was all pretty exciting. I was refreshing my phone way too frequently just to drink it all in.  

It was pretty awesome.

We’ve been running a fast-growing, revenue- and cash flow-generating company for a while, but that’s kind of old-fashioned and not exciting.

I was feeling great, and then I got a text from a friend. At this point, the story of our Series B comes undone, as the text below illustrates.

So yup — we didn’t raise a Series B. It was an April Fools' post. I really thought the "congrats are welcome" in my message coupled with it being posted on April 1st would clue people in but oops.

I am super appreciative for all the kind notes, texts, and comments. It certainly was intoxicating.  

Also, I want to say sorry to all the real estate brokers and recruiters whose drip email cadences CBI got added to based on our "fundraise."

Finally, if you’re interested in working at a fast-growing, cash flow-generating technology company that hasn’t raised a Series B, we are hiring.    

AI 100

After surveying 6K companies, we picked out 100 of the most promising AI startups in the world for our fifth annual AI 100 list. 

This year’s cohort includes AI startups from 12 different countries spanning 18 industries. See the winners here.  

VIP access 

API. Data feeds. Need I say more?

You can now integrate CB Insights private company data into your software and systems. Get access to it all here.

Look ma, no hands 

Gesture recognition is helping turn touch-operated devices like elevators into contactless ones, but its potential goes beyond limiting surface contact.

From enhancing AR/VR gaming to augmenting remote physical therapy, clients can read about 4 industries that could be impacted by the tech here.

New York Times. The DealBook newsletter covers US venture capital funding activity using the PwC and CB Insights Q1 2021 MoneyTree Headline report.

Business Insider. Sanchita Dash (@SanchDash) covers Groww’s unicorn-minting raise and references CB Insights research.

FreightWaves. Brian Straight (@truckingtalk) reports on Grab’s potential $35B SPAC deal and cites CB Insights valuation data.
 

P.S. We’re looking for a solutions consultant to join our product specialist team. Sound like you? We’d love to chat.

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