Winter is coming...
Hi,
Trying a new format today. Let me know what you think.
That escalated quickly. I got a lot of responses to my "VC is not an asset class" question in Sunday's newsletter. Some of the comments were awesome so instead of sitting in my inbox, I hope you'll leave a comment on the post as the topic definitely got a few folks riled up.
No sleep 'til Utah. Utah has quietly begun to rack up a lot of VC financing and unicorn companies. It's ahead of or nearing the activity of some other traditional venture hubs. I'm looking at you Colorado and Washington.
VCs weatherize their portfolios. With concerns that winter is coming, we're seeing more VCs actively working to prepare their portfolio companies for leaner times. Here is what they're doing.
Keepin' it on the DL. Magic Leap raised $542 million from Google, and it was all pretty secretive. We spent some time and identified the most well-funded stealth startups.
Square peg, round hole. Singapore's sovereign wealth fund investments have increased in a big way, and one of their recent high profile deals was Square which raised at a $6 billion valuation.
What's confusing about this financing is that Square doesn't seem to have really figured out its business model. Square has launched the following products:
- a payment processing solution
- merchant cash advances
- customer feedback product
- an invoicing service
- a food delivery startup (via Caviar acquisition)
- a payroll product (most recent product)
None of have taken off yet the valuation remains massive. Say what?
If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Corporate hacking has become almost daily news. Now, corporations are stepping up their investments into cybersecurity startups as well. Corporate investment deal making is up 5x and the corporations jumping into cybersecurity come from a variety of industries ranging from financial services to industrial & manufacturing to tech companies.
Frenemies? Fitbit is not taking part in Apple Healthkit. As Apple keys in on the wearables space, will investment to the wearable space decline?
Have a great rest of the week.
Best,
Anand
P.S. Love or hate the new format? Let me know. |
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Mobile app momentum update
Here's a cross-section of this week's list of mobile apps with momentum. Check out the CB Insights Mobile Alerts Newsletter for criteria and the rest of the apps.
Significant Rank Improvement
- Ibotta (Lifestyle)
- Pomelo (Photo & Video)
- Square Register (Business)
- Hook'd (Music)
- Hobby Lobby (Lifestyle)
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