Hi there,

Fraternity brothers of the world, rejoice! Cornhole is now a professional sport — and one devoted player wants to take it to the Olympics.

Yup.

The tailgate favorite has its own league, the American Cornhole League, and has established a standardized set of rules. But to make a bid for the Olympics, the number of international leagues will need a pretty big boost.

Making a note in my calendar to revisit this in 2028.

O say can you see
 

California boasts the top-funded fintech startup with SoFi ($2.5B), but states like North Carolina and Ohio are also homes to well-financed fintech unicorns.
 

We mapped out the most bankrolled fintech startups in the US. Check it out.

Pro tips

Growth strategies evolve so quickly that the most useful playbook is a collection of current “how-to” stories from growth-focused executives.

That’s exactly what we’ve got at The Collective (Dec 10-11, NYC). Join us to hear:  

• How to achieve international growth via M&A and partnerships (Match Group)

• How to pursue long-term bets via strategic investing (Koch Disruptive Technologies)

• How to align M&A efforts with internal innovation (Goldman Sachs)

Reality check
 

90% of startups fail. But why?

From burnout to founder disharmony to lack of product-market fit, we examine 101 startup deaths to discover the top 20 reasons startups die.

Loyalty test
 

9 out of 10 American adults are part of at least one loyalty program, but simple rewards systems may not cut it anymore. 

Mo’s for bros

It's November, aka Movember, the month when men can grow mustaches to raise awareness about prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and other men's health issues.

While you're grooming your 'stache, you can use the CBI platform to discover who the top patent players are in prostate and testicular cancer.

If you want to dive deeper into the data, sign up for a free trial.

Re-bundling the bank

78% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Fintech startups are trying to solve that along with a host of other personal finance issues.

From offering high-yield savings to enabling stock trading, clients can see how fintech cos are challenging big banks here.

Nikkei Asian Review. Kentaro Iwamoto (@kentaro_iwamoto) reports on SoftBank applying more pressure on Grab and cites CB Insights data.

Business Insider. Clarrie Feinstein (@Clara_Feinstein) writes about the top-funded remote-monitoring startups and quotes CB Insights healthcare analyst Joshua Mark (@joshmark2). 

CNBC. Christopher Butler (@chrismb15) covers Visa's investment in a mobile authentication startup and quotes CB Insights senior fintech analyst Arieh Levi (@arieh313).


I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. We're hiring sales development representatives. Read about the role here. 

Outside Online
 

A hill to die on. Society’s opinion may be influenced more by older generations passing on than by people changing their minds.

The Economist

Imagine all the people. Taiwan's government built a virtual social network to help bridge political divides. Is it working?

BBC

What would the influencers do? Speculations on what would happen in an internet outage.

Popular Mechanics

Seems fishy. The fish that you’re eating might actually be shark meat.
Quartz