Hi there,

Uber initially anticipated profitability by the end of 2020, but this year has put Uber — and the rest of the world — through the wringer.

In March alone, Uber was forced to cut around a quarter of its staff as its gross bookings and net revenue plunged. Now, it’s reportedly in talks with competitor Aurora to sell its autonomous vehicle unit, ATG, which “has simply failed to evolve and produce meaningful progress,” per an internal email.

On the other hand, its delivery business has seen explosive growth, overtaking the mobility segment to become the largest driver of net revenue for the company — though it remains unprofitable.

We take a look at where Uber makes money, where it spends it, and where it's looking next to move closer to profitability in this report.

A blessing
 

Did you know a group or herd of unicorns is called a blessing? (I’ll wait while you google it.)

Well, now that you have that useless piece of info, you’ll be happy to know that the blessing is now 500 strong.

Yup, there are now 501 unicorns worth $1.59T.  

Want the full list of unicorns? They’re all here for you on our unicorn tracker, which is always updated as companies get added or removed.

Fun fact: Amazon’s market cap is about the same as all 501 of these companies.

BTW, our 50 future unicorn predictions from earlier this summer has already had a ton of success. So expect the 502nd, 503rd, etc. unicorns on this list to come from those predictions.

A sneak peek
 

Global healthcare & digital health funding could see a decline from the previous quarter’s record highs. 

Take a look at what’s to come for healthcare in this preview.

Super rich kids

The tech boom isn't limited to SF. 

Here are the top-funded tech cos in the US across every state. 

So close, yet so far

Last-mile delivery can comprise up to 28% of a good’s total cost, much of which is passed onto the consumer. 

From drones to on-road delivery robots, we look at the current autonomous last-mile delivery landscape and outline a range of last-mile vendors and solutions in this report. 

Insurance Journal. Carrier Management interviews CB Insights principal analyst Mike Fitzgerald (@mikefitz01) about insurtechs and insurance innovation. 

Banking Dive. Anna Hrushka (@annahrushka) covers Google’s new partner banks and cites Citi US consumer banking CEO Anand Selva’s comments at the CBI Future of Fintech conference.

CNBC. Hugh Son (@Hugh_Son) digs into startup lender Brex and cites CB Insights data.

P.S. You have ~5 hours left to get your application in for the Blockchain 50. Apply here if you’re building killer enterprise blockchain solutions. And do it ASAP.

P.P.S. We're searching for a director of sales. Send in your resume here.

Get a whiff of this. Researchers in an EU-funded project will use AI to catalog scents to recreate what Europe once smelled like. 

NYT

Scoot over. Some companies are testing e-scooters enabled with computer vision to improve pedestrian safety.

Washington Post

Forget the dress. A new study aims to decode human perception of color by tracking the brain’s neural activity in response to different hues.

WIRED

On the record. A database that tracks AI failures aims to hold the tech (and its creators) accountable. 

VICE

Take a pass. The pandemic and election results have stoked interest in second passports among wealthy US citizens. 

Bloomberg