CB Insights - hunting unicorns

Hi there,
 

2020 was a dumpster fire in a lot of ways.

Beauty sales declined as much as 30% in the first half of the year, but certain beauty categories and trends took on a whole new importance. Skincare helped us feel good on Zoom, virtual try-on made shopping easier, at-home wellness services kept us sane, and so much more.

In our latest report, we dig into the next big beauty trends, including: 

• What brands need to know about the rise of sustainability in beauty, from “waterless” products to biodegradable packaging.

• The expansive inclusivity opportunity, like in male personal care and gender-neutral makeup.

• The technologies (e.g., AR-enabled virtual try-on) that are here to stay — and keeping cos competitive. 

Download the entire report here for free. 

Not just logo chasing

The best VCs don’t just invest in unicorns. They find them early.  

We rank the top 10 investors by their efficiency in placing early-stage bets on today’s unicorns (worth $1B+) here.

Under the microscope 

SPACs, which exploded in popularity last year, have seen growing scrutiny from the US Congress as concerns mount about their performance.  

TBH, we all knew this was coming. When we saw a bunch of cr^p EV companies with made-up forward-year projections SPACing, it was clear that many of these were just money grabs by the grifter class.

But now, we’ve got the highly functioning US Congress on it so rest assured, we’re safe.

Need a refresher on how the money flows in SPACs? Check out our explainer here.

Twilio in the crosshairs

Twilio’s rapid growth has caught the eye of investors and competitors.

Now the money is flowing in and M&A is heating up as folks try to eat into Twilio’s $56B market cap.

Perhaps unexpectedly, the serious competition is not coming from Silicon Valley but from Europe.

Companies there are raising massive amounts of capital and acquiring rapidly:  

• MessageBird ($3.8B valuation; backed by Accel, Spark Capital, Atomico, and others) has done 4 M&A transactions in the last 6 months.  

• Not to be outdone, Sinch ($11B market cap; recently backed by SoftBank and Temasek) has also upped its M&A game, making its largest acquisition ever ($1.14B) this year.

Watch for a lot more consolidation and funding into the communications API space over the remainder of this year. It’s still early days.

On the up and up

Since 2016, investors have poured over $1.4B into vertical farming cos. 

Find out how vertical farms operate and what the tech means for grocery retailers in our explainer.

Getting up to speed

Manufacturers are looking to technology to optimize operations and upskill workers. 

From 3D printing software to industrial robots, we highlight 190+ digitization & automation cos in this client-only market map.

Bank Automation News. Myra Thomas (@MyraWrites) chats with CB Insights analyst Oliver Yu (@yuo526) about a new fintech unicorn. 
 

Adweek. Paul Hiebert (@hiebertpaul) looks at the future of grocery shopping and cites the CB Insights State Of Retail Tech Q1’21 report.

P.S. Passionate about transportation? We’re hiring an auto & mobility analyst. Apply here.

The Blurb
 

Budding industry. Pet owners are increasingly using CBD to treat their pets’ anxiety, but the research so far is inconclusive on its efficacy.

Vox 

Ready to mingle. According to dating site OkCupid, people who indicate their Covid-19 vaccination status on their profiles are 14% more likely to get a match.

NYT

Talk to the hand. Some entrepreneurs are turning down offers from SPACs as they’ve seen their peers’ stock drop.

WSJ 

Ranting and raving. Fake review networks are targeting Google’s star-rating system, creating headaches for some business owners.

CBC

Visionary. Using gene therapy, scientists were able to partially restore “useful sight” to a 58-year-old man.

CNET