CB Insights - where Berkshire is headed

Hi there, 

Berkshire Hathaway just posted an 87% year-over-year rebound in Q2 earnings and also bought back a record $5.1B in stock. 

We unpack how Buffett and his team think about everything from investment strategy to stock ownership to company culture and more in this report.

Poached

GM's chief financial officer just joined fintech unicorn Stripe in its latest high-profile hire. 

We break down how Stripe has vaulted its way to a $36B valuation in this report. 

Before you ask your kids for feedback...

...Please ensure they’re hitting their OKRs.

(Note: this is one of the most ludicrous things I’ve read in 2020.)

A quick walkthrough

Join us this Thursday, August 13, at 2pm EDT for our free briefing on the state of healthcare. We'll be covering our latest quarterly report and all the trends and data in it, including: 

• Q2's record global healthcare investment
• Funding trends for women's health, medical devices, and mental health
• New York vs. Silicon Valley in the digital health ecosystem
• The most active healthcare VCs of the quarter

Register for the webinar here.

Snip snip

Researchers hit a CRISPR milestone recently — for the first time, scientists successfully gene-edited squid and deleted a pigmentation gene.

We explain how the tech works in our CRISPR explainer here.

Be our VIP

The upcoming fully virtual Future of Health conference (September 23-25) will feature VIP analyst Q&A sessions covering digital therapeutics, telemedicine, AI in healthcare, and aging & wellness tech. We’ll take questions in advance, as well as during the sessions.
 

To be considered for these briefings, get your ticket for the Future of Health here. All attendees will get access to at least 2 analyst presentations on our main video content stream. 
 

You’ll also get to hear from speakers from the World Health Organization, Amwell (leading telehealth platform), Khosla Ventures, Humana, Novartis, the Mayo Clinic Platform, Ancestry, and many, many more.

Register here and save $300 with code vip300.

Mask on

Don’t pull your mask off to unlock your phone — there may be tech to resolve that problem. 

From masked face recognition to touch-free fingerprinting, clients can explore 6 emerging contactless biometrics solutions here. 

Business Insider. Victor Chatenay looks at fintech funding rounds and cites the CB Insights State Of Fintech Q2’20 report.

Wall Street Journal. The Pro VC newsletter reports on deals to data analytics startups and references the PwC and CB Insights Q2 2020 MoneyTree report.  

CNBC. Saheli Roy Choudhury (@sahelirc) uses the CB Insights State Of Fintech Q2’20 report to cover fintech funding trends.

P.S. We’ll be discussing the state of healthcare and how startups are adapting in our upcoming webinar. Check it out here.

The Blurb
 

My name is (what?). Scientists renamed 27 human genes because Excel misread them as dates. 

The Verge

Chipnapping. Chinese hackers have targeted Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, stealing source code and designs from at least 7 chip firms. 

WIRED

Dressed down. As consumers turn to more casual clothing — sweatpants sales rose 80% in April — the fashion industry is facing a crisis. 

NYT Magazine

Social shaming. In Kenya’s largely unregulated fintech sector, a lending app notifies borrowers’ contacts if they are late on payments.

Rest of World