CB Insights - a new unicorn milestone

Hola,
 

Welcome to The 700 Club.

No, not that one. The unicorn club of companies worth $1B or more in the private markets reached 700 (or DCC, as the Romans would have it). See This Week In Data below for more.

Cashing in

Challenger banks have raised hundreds of millions in funding to take on bank incumbents, attracting millions of customers in the process. 

We look at the playbooks of 6 digital-first banks and highlight trends to watch in 2021 in this report.

You don’t know you’re beautiful

Gender-neutral makeup. “Waterless” products. Omnichannel beauty. 

We dig into the trends and tech that will transform the beauty sector in 2021 for big beauty corporates and upstart brands alike. Read the report here. 

Putting the ‘embedded’ in lending

Embedded lending — which lets non-financial businesses offer lending products to consumers — is positioned to have a profound impact on the future of borrowing.

Learn what embedded lending is, who the key players are, what financial services cos need to consider for adoption, and more in this analysis. 

No weak links

The pharmaceutical industry loses nearly $35B a year from temperature control system failures alone. 

From cold chain packaging to digital pharmacies, we highlight 90+ cos securing the pharma supply chain in this client-only market map.

700+ unicorns: The total number of unicorns (private companies valued at $1B+) surpassed 700 for the first time. The 701 unicorns have a combined valuation of $2.25T. Explore all the data in our real-time unicorn tracker.

+466%: Circle Financial raised $440M from investors including Fidelity Investments, Digital Currency Group, and Breyer Capital. In partnership with Coinbase, Circle maintains USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin backed by the US Dollar. USDC’s market cap has grown to $22.8B, an increase of 466% year-to-date. For more on stablecoins and the rise of USDC, dig into our explainer.

2K robots: DHL will expand its partnership with Locus Robotics, a provider of assisted picking robots, to deploy 2K robots in its facilities by 2022. Interest in robotic automation accelerated during the pandemic as a way to improve productivity and avoid supply chain disruption. We cover emerging trends in robotic fulfillment and other supply chain and logistics tech here.

147K patients: San Diego-based hospital system Scripps Health found that data for over 147K patients was stolen during a ransomware attack last month. In recent years, the healthcare industry has suffered disproportionately from ransomware attacks, owing to its valuable data, vulnerable legacy technology, and limited IT security budgets. To guide providers, we mapped out the cybersecurity in healthcare market here.

408K pets: Pet health insurer Bought By Many raised a $350M Series D at a $2.4B valuation. The UK-based company, which launched in the US earlier this year, claims to cover 408K pets worldwide and will use the funding to double its employee count. The uptick in pandemic-fueled pet adoption has coincided with a surge in pet insurance interest. Here are the top-line bullets you need to know on the pet care opportunity.

A truck crash in Cambridgeshire, England forced a 23-mile section of road to close after one of the trucks spilled its load of tomato puree and olive oil. 

As one social media user said, it was “a disaster, puree simple.” The road has since been reopened. 

Have a great rest of the week.

Marcelo

P.S. Apparently, the name “The 700 Club” was inspired by 700 viewers who gave the TV station $10 to keep it on the air back in the day. Wow, TIL Pat Robertson invented Kickstarter in 1963.