CB Insights - announcing our first Retail Tech 100

Hola, 

“When everyone is looking for gold, it’s a good time to be in the pick and shovel business.” Like many brilliant gems, this quote is attributed to Mark Twain. 

And with Covid-19, one gold rush is in e-commerce. This year's holidays are projected to be the biggest yet for e-commerce, so it's no coincidence that 42 names in our first annual Retail Tech 100 are in e-commerce enablement.

These companies are championing everything from one-click checkout to text-messaging and video-streaming sales channels.  

Culture eats strategy for breakfast

Not all companies build strong competitive advantages based on structural factors like cost or network effects.

Some are leveraging brand and culture to build durable moats, with key examples being Patagonia, Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Marmite. Read more about them here.

Detail-oriented

We just labeled more than 6K companies for our Artificial Intelligence Collection. For each company listed, clients can see the primary focus, company descriptions, latest funding, investors, and more. 

Check out the Collection here.

It's all about the data, data, data

Digital biomarkers — or data like heart rate collected through wearables or other digital devices — could help providers better predict patient outcomes and develop more customized health plans.

Clients can read more about how digital biomarkers can help advance precision medicine here.

0.1 nm: Google-owned DeepMind used an AI program to predict the structure of proteins with an average error of just 0.1 nanometers — comparable to the width of an atom. Predicting the shape of proteins has vexed researchers for decades. Now AI-driven advancements in the field could help usher in new approaches to drug discovery and medical research. We dig into how AI is impacting drug discovery in this report. 

$19,850: The price of Bitcoin reached an all-time high of $19,850, a level not seen since late 2017. The surge in enthusiasm for the cryptocurrency has reportedly been partly driven by US-based institutional investors treating it as an alternative asset. Learn how Bitcoin works and why the underlying blockchain technology is gaining momentum in our explainer. 
 

1,200 liters: Eat Just received regulatory approval to sell its lab-grown chicken meat in Singapore, a world first. The company grows chicken cells — obtained without killing the animal — in 1,200-liter bioreactors. Lab-grown meat is just one part of the alternative protein space quickly gaining traction. See how the world’s food supply is set to be transformed in our Meatless Future report. 

$27.7B: Salesforce announced that it will acquire workplace chat platform Slack for $27.7B. The move adds another front to Salesforce’s competition with rivals like Microsoft for enterprise customers. Clients can see how big tech is going after the enterprise communication market here. 
 

$800M: Credit card rewards platform CRED raised $80M at an $800M valuation. The company was included in our 2020 Fintech 250 cohort of high-momentum startups. See all the featured companies and the markets they’re targeting in this report.

+1 unicorn: At-home medical testing company EverlyWell became a unicorn after raising $175M in fresh funding at a $1.3B valuation — a 7x increase since its last disclosed valuation given in 2019. See all of the world’s 504 unicorns on our tracker. 

Laundromats in Japan are adding high-end services, ranging from cafes serving organic elderflower cordials and German wheat beer, art exhibits, and gift shops. 

Over the past 20 years, the number of laundromats has reportedly doubled to 21,500 in the country, more than twice as many laundromats per capita as the US. 

Japan also offers a national certification for the nation's most ambitious cleaners, requiring them to be able to distinguish types of stains and their respective chemical treatments.

Have a great rest of the week.

Marcelo