Welcome back in 2020!

The Marketplace Snippet from Speedinvest x team is back. On the first Monday of each month you can expect a good dose of content on ⭐network effects, platforms, and marketplaces⭐ in your inbox. 

This newsletter is curated by Magda from the Speedinvest x office in London (Linkedin, Twitter)
We hope you like it. If you have any suggestions, feedback or topics we should feature  👉hit reply 👈to let us know.

• 💻Great essay by Kevin Kwok on the advantage of building marketplaces based on underutilised fixed assets; from renting a spare bedroom, to putting your unused CPU to work. Because underutilised fixed assets are finite, the network effects are incredibly strong as it becomes hard for new competitors to replicate once the assets have been discovered and tapped into. 
• 🏨“Hurry up, 3bn other guests are viewing this property right now!”. Interesting read on one of the greatest acquisitions in Internet history and how Booking.com generated $88bn for its buyer Priceline.com. 
• 💡Thumbtack CEO Marco Zappacosta shares his experiences on solving early marketplace problems, getting two no’s from Sequoia (before getting a yes), and his views on optimizing for valuation from the founders perspective. 
• 🖼In this episode of "Invest Like The Best” Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger share insights on product development, jobs-to-be-done framework and their thinking about platform monetization.
• 📚The best reads on platforms from 2019 put together by Simone Cicero. A great overview of the topics that engaged the platform community last year. Good set of inspirations and resources.
• ✍Quick fix - how to write your investor updates by Daniel Gross. ”Writing an investor update is like having an offsite with yourself. You get a moment to climb to the 1,000th floor of the building and observe the city landscape unfold beneath you.”

• 🤞How to choose a seat at a table, city you live in or your better half. A must-read from James Currier from NFX who draws an interesting analogy between the influence of network effects on startups and our daily lives.
• 🌎USV shared their investment thesis in the green tech space. The green energy market still faces many problems: buying renewable power is still a high-confusion market, the processes of measuring and tracking carbon footprint both on B2C as well as B2B level are manual and inconsistent, and carbon offsetting solutions lack accountability and verification mechanisms. USV describes new potential opportunities that may also arise for marketplaces.
• 💳Credit card networks are perceived as one of the strongest examples of network effects. This year, Visa reportedly paid around 50x revenue to acquire Plaid, the financial services API provider. The premise behind this investment is the future potential of creating a new layer of financial infrastructure.
• 📦Nearly half of American workforce is employed by small businesses. Ashley Brasier from Lightspeed describes the opportunity of investing into ‘Business In A Box’ platforms, which have the potential to create powerful network effects by building a strong negotiating power for its customers. 
• ✨An insightful Venture Stories podcast episode with Sarah Tavel of Benchmark, and Nabeel Hyatt of Spark Capital discussing investing in consumer, future of social networks and what makes them successful.
• 🤯Speaking of social platforms… tired of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat? Aron Ping D’Souza and Peter Thiel are coming to rescue. The recently announced new platform called Column aims to “make us all smarter”. Deck available here.
• 👾Amazon is facing challenges that come from the scale of the marketplace - fake reviews, counterfeit products, fraudulent sellers, and more. Although none of these are new, this continues to open opportunities to new, vertical marketplaces that would offer stronger value propositions. An overview of marketplaces leaders’ state available here.
• 🔮A yearly must-read from Ben Evans, on the key macro and strategic trends in the tech industry. Ben discusses the future of ecommerce, the implications of the connected world, and makes predictions about the next platform shift. The presentation also takes on an important topic of platform regulations and what might come next.

• 🛒Getir, the rapid grocery delivery startup raises $38M led by Michael Moritz of Sequoia
• 👗Moda Operandi, the luxury fashion marketplace, raises $100M led by NEA and Apax Partners.
• 🦊WeFox, insurtech platform and Speedinvest portfolio company raises $110 million series B extension led by OMERS ventures at a $1.65 billion valuation.
• 🔧Moov, the marketplace for used manufacturing equipment, raises $2.4M from NFX.
• 🏰Loft, the São Paulo-based proptech, raises $175M led by existing investor Andreessen Horowitz
• 🛴Circ, an European e-scooter company, was acquired by Bird
• 🦄Classpass, the fitness marketplace, closes a $285 million Series E funding round led by L Catterton and Apax Digital finally achieving a unicorn status
• 🏬Matera, a French property management platform, raises $11.2M from Index Ventures

• Kodit, has been selected as one of Europe’s hottest scale-ups by Adyen & TNW 
• Tier recognised as one of the top European startups to follow by Sifted
• Philip from the x-Team summarized our thinking that led to our investment in Admix, a AR/VR platform
• Packhelp recognised as one of the top Polish startups to follow by Sifted

• Ashley Brasier (@AshleyBrasier), Partner at Lightspeed Ventures. Follow Ashley for thoughts on consumer, product and growth.
• Jeff Morris Jr. (@jmj), Director of product at Lambda School. Follow Jeff for tips on all things growth and thought-provoking snippets
• Simone Cicero (@meedabyte), Creator of Platform Design Toolkit. Follow Simone to learn more about network effects and platform dynamics

Last, but not least - we’ve published the speaker lineup of The Marketplace Conference on the 26th of March in San Francisco. Confirmed speakers include CEO of Zeus Living (recently raised $55M from Airbnb), Founder & CEO of Thumbtack, Founder & CEO of StockX, Chief Strategy Officer of Lyft and many more. Watch our highlights and the talks from The Marketplace 2019 in Berlin on YouTube! 

Want to join our Marketplace Conference on the 26th of March in San Francisco?
Use our family and friends discount "si_friends"
 

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