CB Insights - plant dem seeds

Hi there,

To end 2020, I asked you, our very smart readership, the following question:

What is a seed/Series A-stage startup that you think is going to be a beast, and why?

And boy did you respond.

In that newsletter, I also added the following note:

Please don’t be that person who names their own company or an investment they've made.

Alas, many of you couldn’t resist. So I tried to remove all the glaringly obvious conflicts and people shilling their own stuff from the hundreds of submissions.  

Below are some of the companies that were mentioned with a shoutout to the reader/tweeter who brought them to our attention. BTW, and for 100% clarity — this is not investment advice. These just looked interesting. Where possible, I’ve also included the reason the reader shared this company.

We'll share more in coming newsletters.

• Decentriq (thx Ilya Filonau): “Bringing confidential computing with cryptography to the market”

• Lunchbox (thx Casey O’Malley): “Building really cool things in the online food ordering space”

• CopyAI (thx Kim Klafczynski): “Auto generated marketing copy for any use case, big fan of what Paul is doing mainly because I’ve used it firsthand and found it v. helpful”

• Hypernova Space Technologies (thx Osayi Igharo): “Cape Town, SA-based and building a novel electric thruster that is more efficient and easier for satellite manufactures to integrate. They’re doing for small sats what Tesla did for cars”

• Gloss Genius (thx Daniel Chesley): “Building the digital/physical Shopify for small business/salons”

• Yotta Savings (thx Anthony Franklin): “Encouraging people to save more money by entering them in a sweepstakes when they do save”

• Zogo (thx Adam Frederick): “Zogo is a gamification app with an aim in solving financial literacy, specifically for Gen Z” 

• Weavr (thx Amit Godbole): A way to grow your developer community

• PupPod (thx Sanjay Jhawar): “Digitally driven engagement for dogs, integrating pets into smart home"
• Justo (thx Arturo Herrera): “Disrupting food delivery giving back the control of the business to the restaurant owners”

Big dreams

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the ride-hailing and food delivery company will hit profitability in 2021.

We break down the mechanics of Uber’s business model in this report.

Thought leadership 101

I met a guy last night who's struggling to make ends meet cuz his restaurant closed due to Covid...

I told him about bitcoin and he thanked me profusely...

He now understands his restaurant closing wasn’t the problem...

The real problem is fiat currency...

A thread (1 of 853)...

Deal or no deal?

Despite the pandemic, VC firms are still seeking out investment opportunities across the US. 

Here’s our map of the most active VC firm in each state.

The best and the brightest

We're looking for star AI companies for our fifth annual AI 100. 

Previous winners include private companies providing hardware and data infrastructure for AI applications, as well as those optimizing machine learning workflows and applying AI across a variety of major industries — from agriculture to healthcare to finance to insurance.

Apply here before applications close on February 4.

Impact investing is big

A new generation of fintechs in Europe are building ways to access environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data and invest in ESG-focused companies or products.

From ESG investing to B2C robo-advisors, we take a look at 75+ tech companies reinventing wealth management across Europe in this Expert Intelligence market map.

Wall Street Journal. Brian Gormley uses CB Insights data and quotes CBI senior intelligence analyst Marissa Schlueter (@mschlueter13) in covering medical device investment trends. 

Business Insider. Alex Bitter (@abitterjourno) discusses potential food brand IPOs and quotes CB Insights senior intelligence analyst Jake Matthews. 

Healthcare Dive. Rebecca Pifer (@RebeccaMPifer) digs into the CB Insights State Of Healthcare report.

P.S. We're looking for account executives. Check out the job description here.

The Blurb

Zune squad. Fans of the Zune MP3 player — killed off by Microsoft nearly 10 years ago — have found community on a Reddit forum.

The Verge 

Hot toddy. From fondue pots to curling rinks, bars are getting creative to keep customers warm and entertained outdoors.

NYT

Trade in. Some Robinhood day traders are now turning to financial advisers for expert advice. 

Bloomberg

Bernie bro. The man behind a viral Bernie meme site is facing the costs of keeping it running.

WIRED

All the ‘flix. Consumers in the US now spend an average $47 per month on streaming services, up 24% from April 2020. 

Variety