Hi there, 

Alright, here’s the deal.  

I owe some real bad people money.

It’d help me if you buy a subscription to CB Insights.

I thank you. 

My children thank you.

Can you hear me now?

We crunched the numbers on a hot pandemic trend. 

“You’re on mute” was mentioned 3x more on exec earnings calls in 2021 than in 2019. 

Now you know.

Changing times

In the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, everything from fitness to schooling to doctor’s visits went online. 

Now, two years into the pandemic, we look at which of the pandemic-induced trends are here to stay in a post-Covid world.

Like clockwork

CB Insights’ financial year end is Jan 31st.

At the end of the year, our subscription prices go up.

So if your organization has been considering CBI, now is the time. 

Reply here and I’ll guide you accordingly.

Game time 

Microsoft is acquiring video game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7B. 

This would mark Microsoft’s largest acquisition ever, followed by its $26.2B purchase of LinkedIn in 2016 and $19.7B purchase of Nuance in 2021. 

It also marks a bet on the future of the internet, where gaming and 3D virtual environments are expected to play an important role. In a similar bid, Meta (fka Facebook) has been aggressively acquiring gaming companies. 

Take a look back at big tech’s billion-dollar acquisitions here.

Behind the curtain

Get an inside look at the State Of Venture 2021 in our live webinar on January 27.

CB Insights Senior Analyst Chris Bendtsen will share some data points and perspectives not in the report. Don’t miss out.

Sign up here to get answers to your questions about venture in 2021 and beyond. 

Muscle milk 

More than 50% of Americans suffer from musculoskeletal conditions. The resulting annual cost — including healthcare costs and lost work productivity — totals about $600B.

In response, digital therapeutics vendors are creating digital MSK programs that can scale to address the problem.

If you are looking to understand the musculoskeletal DTx landscape or initiate a vendor selection process, download our 40-page ESP Vendor Assessment report here.

TechCrunch. Alex Wilhelm (@alex) and Mary Ann Azevedo (@bayareawriter) report on the fintech investment boom using CB Insights research.

CNBC. Arjun Kharpal (@ArjunKharpal) and Evelyn Cheng (@chengevelyn) discuss ByteDance’s move to dissolve its investment arm and reference CB Insights data.

Adweek. Patrick Kulp (@PatrickKulp) covers buy now, pay later trends and mentions CB Insights research.
 

P.S. Want to work with the smartest journalists in the world? We’re hiring for a senior manager of media relations. Apply here.

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