CB Insights - going public is back in vogue

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This week in data, we've got an early cancer detection co's mega-round, a VR acquisition, giant bats, and more. Check it out below.

6 S-1s: The rate of tech startups going public ticked up this week, with 6 tech startups reportedly filing to go public — Asana, Snowflake, Unity, Palantir, JFrog, and Sumo Logic. Five of these companies were included in our 2020 Tech IPO Pipeline. Read more about our predictions here.

$100M: Google said that it would invest $100M in telehealth company Amwell as part of the company’s upcoming IPO. We dig into how telehealth is transforming healthcare in this report and look at big tech’s healthcare activity here.

8 acquisitions: Apple reportedly bought VR startup Spaces, the tech giant’s eighth disclosed acquisition of the year. We discuss Apple’s moves in the VR space — including a patent for reducing motion sickness while working virtually in a vehicle — in our 2020 Tech Trends report.

+1 unicorn: Lyra Health became a unicorn after raising $110M at a valuation of $1.1B. The company, which provides a platform for accessing mental health services, was one of our 2020 Future Unicorns. See all 50 predictions, made in collaboration with Fast Company, in this analysis.

+242%: Best Buy reported that its US online sales increased by 242% in Q2 year-over-year as the pandemic caused a spike in e-commerce activity. We dig into emerging trends in e-commerce — including startup funding, resale platforms, social commerce, and more — in our latest State Of Retail Tech report.  

$270M: Cancer detection startup Freenome closed a $270M mega-round. The company — a Digital Health 150 startup — said that the fresh funding will help run a 14,000-person clinical trial of a blood test for detecting early signs of colon cancer. One of Freenome’s early backers was Founders Fund, one of CB Insights’ Healthcare Smart Money VCs. We analyze the recent activity of these top-performing healthcare investors to identify where they see emerging opportunities here.

-19,000 jobs: American Airlines said that it would cut 19,000 jobs in response to an ongoing collapse in demand for air travel amid the pandemic. Despite challenges facing the industry, funding is still flowing to travel tech startups. Clients can see the latest travel tech funding trends, notable deals, and key takeaways in this analysis. 

$625M: The US Department of Energy said that it would invest $625M in quantum computing, including funding for research collaborations between universities, government labs, and companies like IBM, Microsoft, and Rigetti. Quantum computers could have applications in areas like AI, healthcare, finance, and more. Get a refresher on how the tech works in our explainer and see some of the steps being taken toward commercialization in our 2020 Tech Trends report.

3,774 miles: Some giant bats found in Australia can travel up to 3,774 miles in a single year, according to a paper published in BMC Biology. The research upends assumptions that these bats — some of which have a wing-span of more than 3 feet — stay close to a single roost, which the study authors say could affect conservation strategies.

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The chances of it actually hitting Earth are slim — just 1 in 240 — but even if it does, it's too small to do much damage.

The news comes after a slew of ominous-sounding nature stories in 2020, including murder hornets, firenados, and armies of starving, cannibalistic rats.