JPMorgan vs. Goldman vs. Citi

Last week we launched an interactive report showing big banks’ moves in fintech.

Among the insights revealed by the analysis:

• Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are the most active fintech investors, having participated in 21 and 11 fintech deals, respectively, since 2018.
• JPMorgan’s investment strategy is focused on capital markets tech and the payments space. It has backed 4 capital markets startups and 4 accounting startups since 2017.
• The most popular investment categories so far in 2019 have been real estate, capital markets, and wealth management.

Enjoy.

Amazon is expanding its smart home focus into the lucrative world of real estate.

It’s increasingly involved in smart buildings, serving as an intermediary between home buyers and sellers, and even making moves into home building.

We take a closer look at the tech giant’s real estate ambitions here.

Electric vehicles still account for a small percentage of cars on the road. But with technical capabilities improving, production costs decreasing, and a global demand for sustainable solutions, that could soon change.

The EV market is quickly becoming more competitive. We examine the race for the electric car, including the state of the industry, major players, challenges, and more. Check it out.

As 5G coverage expands, healthcare organizations are partnering up to leverage the next-gen wireless technology.

We dig into some promising partnerships between telcos and healthcare providers. Clients can check it out here.

Marcelo
@ballve

• • 511,000 subscribers: In-house exercise bike company Peloton filed an S-1 for its upcoming IPO. Our research has shown that hardware-focused companies fail a lot, but Peloton’s S-1 signals there is more going on than just hardware sales. The fitness company, last valued at $4B, reported that it received $181M in revenue last fiscal year from the 511,000 users who subscribe to its platform.

• $100M: Lord & Taylor, one of the oldest department stores in the US, is to be bought by fashion rental startup Le Tote for $100M. Le Tote, which is less than a decade old, was itself only valued at $67M during its most recent funding round at the end of 2015. The rise of clothing rental services is just one of the trends changing retail. Clients can check out our Store Of The Future report for more.

• 405: Amazon-owned video doorbell maker Ring says that it has entered into 405 partnerships with police departments across the US, including some large forces such as the LAPD. The police departments can use Ring’s platform to request video recordings from users. Law enforcement is just one industry that could be transformed by facial recognition. Check out 15 others here.

• • $4M: Founders Fund sold its remaining stake in Facebook for around $4M. Peter Thiel, a partner at Founders Fund, was one of the first investors in Facebook in 2004 and has gradually reduced his exposure to the company since it went public in 2012.

• • -10cm per year: Indonesia is set to move its government from Jakarta to the island of Borneo. Jakarta has a population of over 10M people and the city reportedly sinks in some places by 10cm per year as groundwater is removed.

• 1 month: The UK’s prime minister moved to suspend the country’s parliament for about a month in a move that would limit its ability to block a “no-deal Brexit” — increasing the chances that the UK could leave the EU without a transition agreement in place. A no-deal Brexit is widely expected to cause a massive economic shock, but are companies currently more concerned about the prospect of Brexit or the US-China trade war? We used our earnings call analysis tool to find out.

• • 19 hours: Australian airline Qantas will begin testing its 19 hour-long flights from Sydney to London and Sydney to New York. The company will monitor participants’ sleep and eating habits to assess the health effects of the marathon flights. Meanwhile, climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in New York by boat by after taking a two-week transatlantic journey to avoid air travel.

• 60 square miles: A giant raft made of volcanic rock was spotted in the Pacific. The floating pumice structure has a surface area measuring around 60 square miles, almost twice the size of Manhattan. Scientists say that the rock could be a habitat for new coral and may help boost the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

“The world’s blackest black” absorbs more than 99% of light.

To create a sprayable version of the color, Surrey NanoSystems teamed up with creative agency Levitation 29.

The BMW VBX6 is reportedly “the first and only vehicle in the world” to feature the Vantablack coating.