nobody is buying Uber

Let’s avenge the Snuggie

Hi there,

Well, that escalated quickly.

Last week, we asked if you would invest in Uber at a $50B valuation today (current valuation is $68B), and overwhelmingly, the ~3500 of you who responded said no (77%).

There definitely appears to be some recency bias here (as expected) but how dramatically sentiment has shifted on Uber is pretty amazing.

If we’d asked the same question in December 2016, I imagine the responses would be flipped.

You want AI. We got AI.

We just released our 92-page State of Artificial Intelligence report, covering all things AI including the startup landscape, recent advances, and where the space is headed.

Check out a few highlights scattered below.

But first.

This is the real March Madness

Round 2 of the best consumer product since the iPhone bracket kicked off yesterday, and we’ve got some interesting matchups and early results.

• DJI’s Phantom Drone is crushing the Apple Watch
• The Hoverboard is edging out the Peloton bike (people in San Francisco are clearly nuts)
• Ring’s smart doorbell is in a tie with the Tile bluetooth keychain

If I’m being honest, I’m still upset that the Snuggie lost in round 1.

Round 2 ends Sunday, April 9th.

Vote now and end the debate on whether Greek Yogurt is a bigger invention than the iPad.

Poop tech

BTW, the Squatty Potty which lost to Peloton in round 1 (also disappointed by this) announced they raised $16M of funding last month.

They were featured in our poop tech landscape a few days ago.

The funds per the press release were being used for shareholder liquidity.

The jokes just write themselves folks.

And yes, before emailing me about this, I agree with you. I’ve got the sense of humor of an 8 year old boy.

Unicorn exits

We identified which investors have backed the most companies that have gone on to unicorn exits, or exits valued at $1B+, since 2009.

All the unicorn exits are featured on CB Insights’ real-time global Unicorn Exits Tracker.

AI heats up

Health and wellness is the hottest area of investment in AI, with 270 deals going to the category since 2012. AI in fintech & insurance tech leads in 2017 thus far, with over 30 deals to the category before the close of Q1’17.

Read this while on the ground

Airlines with the most fatalities.

AI by quarter

Since 2012, Q1’17 has been the most active quarter for artificial intelligence startups. Nearly 48% of the deals in Q1’17 were in the seed/angel stage, indicating newer companies are continuing to enter the space.

The Industry Standard

CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in the industry and the media. A few recent hits.

VentureBeat. A look at Snowflake Computing’s latest $100M round with a reference to CB Insights’ Iconiq Capital Teardown.

South China Morning Post. Bien Perez (@bienperez) reports on robotics spending in China and cites CB Insights investment data.

Forbes India. An article on India’s famed unicorns and the startup ecosystem with a mention of CB Insights investment and exits data.

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. Prices keep going up. Use code NLFintech17 to get $1000 off your Future of Fintech ticket by the end of this week.