CB Insights - unbundling Harvard

Slow and steady does not win the race
 

Life insurance premiums have been lagging behind GDP growth since 2000, due to the lengthy and invasive underwriting process. 

We map out the automation and digitization technologies that life insurers can use to stay competitive in this NExTT report.

Colleges get schooled
 

Covid-19 is forcing in-person colleges to reinvent themselves.

From undergraduate admissions to alumni networking, here’s how startups and corporates are unbundling the traditional university.

SPAC jam

SPACs are booming, but these traditional IPO alternatives also have some significant downsides.  

We break down the pros and cons of SPACs here.

DLT > BLT
 

It's not just the startups — financial incumbents are also leveraging distributed ledger tech to enhance their capital markets infrastructure. 

From payments to primary & secondary markets, we map out 60+ corporates pioneering DLT in capital markets here in collaboration with Blockdata.

$180B: TikTok-owner ByteDance, the most valuable unicorn in the world, is reportedly looking to raise $2B at a valuation of $180B — a 29% increase compared to its last valuation. If the company achieves that valuation then it would be worth the same as the next 5 most-valuable unicorns combined. We dig into ByteDance’s sprawling business in this report.

1M Amazon shares: Jeff Bezos sold 1M Amazon shares, worth about $3B, this week. Bezos, the richest person in the world, has sold more than $10B in Amazon stock this year to support other ventures like rocket company Blue Origin and a fund for combating climate change. We highlight 23 lessons from Bezos’ letters to Amazon shareholders, including betting on ideas with an unlimited upside, here.
 

+10.6%: Nestle announced that it would start selling pet food made from insects under its Purina brand. The company, which has reported a 10.6% increase in pet care sales this year, says that it’s responding to rising demand for more sustainable protein from consumers. We look at activity across the alternative protein space — including plant-based protein, insects, and lab-grown meat — in this report.

186 miles: Volvo is planning to launch heavy-duty electric trucks next year. The vehicles, weighing almost 50 tons, are expected to have a range of up to 186 miles. The electric vehicle space is growing quickly. Expert Intelligence clients can see 70+ startups focusing on the sector in this market map.
 

$29M: Vouch Insurance, which provides business insurance for startups, raised $29M in fresh funding. The company is part of our latest Fintech 250 cohort. See all of our picks for promising, high-momentum fintech startups in this market map. 

300M habitable planets: More than half of the stars in our Milky Way galaxy with similar properties to the sun may host a habitable planet, according to a study in The Astronomical Journal. The new analysis puts the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy at about 300M, with some thought to be as close as 30 light-years away.

On Election Day, Americans turned to alcohol and fries to soothe their anxiety. 
 

The most ordered food was french fries, followed by chicken fingers and cheeseburgers, according to data from DoorDash. 

Have a great rest of the week.

Marcelo