paging Dr. Amazon

Principles > everything

Hi there,

I’ll be in Japan later this month giving the keynote at the FIN/SUM conference in Tokyo. Hope to see some of you there.

And now, on with the show.

The Wire

Software is eating insider trading, it seems.

A very interesting look at Russian hackers that used press release sites (Business Wire, for example) to get inside information and make $100M.

Check out The Blurb for the article.

Say “Ahh-mazon”

Amazon is making serious moves in the healthcare space.

With its non-traditional business model, infrastructure in logistics & computing, and customer love, the tech giant could disrupt everything from the pharmaceutical supply chain to Medicare/Medicaid management.

Our new report breaks down the healthcare areas most suited for disruption by Amazon.

 Unicorn hunting

DST Global minted 2 new unicorns over the weekend: grocery delivery startup Rappi and SMB marketplace Udaan.

DST has already participated in rounds for 9 unicorns this year. Clients can see the full list in today’s client-only note.

Shazam for air strikes

Sometimes, you read about a company and think about the impact technology can have to really change the world.

Hala Systems’ business is actually saving lives using its sensor network, Sentry. It functions like a “Shazam for air strikes,” using sound to predict when and where bombs will hit in Syria.

Hala says the system identifies threatening aircrafts around 95% of the time, and thousands of Syrian civilians depend on it for survival:

Wired digs into how the startup was formed and how the technology works. You can find the article in The Blurb.

Vroom vroom

Personal car ownership isn’t dead yet, but it’s becoming less convenient, especially in dense urban areas. New transportation models are starting to take hold, and could eventually permeate even suburban areas.

From electric scooters to bike-sharing to ride-hailing, we explore how these new forms of transportation are disrupting the car.

Buy out the VCs

In July, we discussed Wistia, which bought out its investors.

Last week, Buffer did the same.

The article by Buffer CEO Joel Gascoigne is in The Blurb and is worth a read, especially his discussion about the tension between growth and profitability.

Buffer’s path is clearly not for every tech company. Neither is raising VC money. It’s good to see that these discussions are happening.

 Startup obituaries

A few notable startups, including New York-based luxury subscription company Eleven James, moved on to the Great Beyond this month. Clients can see the list of dead startups in today’s client-only note.

Not a client but still love failure? No problem — you can read more post-mortems here.

I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way

While there’s definite potential for misuse, companies can use psychographics without improperly gathering individuals’ data.

We take a look at how companies across the auto, healthcare, and food industries are leveraging psychographics to enhance audience engagement.

The Industry Standard

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

JLL. JLL’s new report on the state of construction tech features CB Insights data.

Retail Dive. Dan Alaimo reports that Instagram is developing a shopping app and refers to CB Insights research.

The Economist. This article discusses how Silicon Valley’s tech landscape is changing and cites CB Insights data.

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. Tomorrow we’ll be discussing how the CPG industry is being disrupted. If you haven’t already, sign up for the briefing here.