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Hi there,
Probably one of the best infographics we've ever done on "Unbundling the Automobile" below.
But first...
"Companies today are focusing on maximizing short-term shareholder value at the expense of investing in the future."
This was the conclusion of Blackrock's Chief Investment Officer Rick Rieder in a recent essay on the explosion of corporate share buybacks. The graph below highlights their climb.
Amidst all the bubble chatter, this is one data point that highlights why startups exist and why they'll thrive for a while. There are market and customer needs that big companies will not be able to serve because of their current short-termism and lack of investment into what Rieder calls "productive capacity".
Of course, the one potential negative for startups of these financially motivated buybacks is the lack of M&A which was articulated well by Andreessen Horowitz's Scott Kupor who writes that corporations "worship at the altar of near-term EPS growth, ignoring the long-term profit potential from any R&D or future growth-oriented acquisitions management would otherwise pursue."
Perhaps this cartoon by Tom Fishburne sums up the stance of most corporations pretty well.
Who is attacking insurance?
One old-school industry that startups and investors are targeting is insurance. Since 2010, $2.12B has been invested in insurance tech startups. Most significantly, $1.39B of that came since the start of 2014 as the # of investors targeting insurance tech has jumped 9x.
U.S. VCs take a liking to Asia
The number of U.S. VCs investing in Asia is set to hit a record in 2015. In fact, it's greater than the # who've invested in Europe.
Unbundling the Automobile
We take a look at the startups disrupting the auto industry.
Here are all of our older unbundling graphics for the likes of Wells Fargo, FedEx, P&G and Honeywell among others in case you missed them.
Have a great week. Excited to see many of you in SF this week.
Love,
Anand
@asanwal
P.S. I recently learned that ending emails with "Best," is terribly wrong. Who knew?
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