pls end VC procrastination

Say nice things or we’ll take your dog

Hi there,

Has a company that’s allowed expenses to get out of control the way Time, Inc did ever learned fiscal discipline and come back?

See The Blurb for a telling article by Karl Taro Greenfeld in the LA Times about what Time, Inc was best at — spending money.

This passage gives a small view into it.

Even if Time knew how to reinvent itself (big if), when a team is used to this kind of largesse, can it ever become scrappy again?

Any examples out there?

Cloudy with a chance of computing

The cloud computing industry is one of the more mature sectors in tech, but investors and entrepreneurs keep finding fresh opportunities in the space. Top smart money VCs have poured over $7B into cloud computing since 2012.

We mapped out 100+ notable companies and investors across 9 emerging areas of cloud computing, from networking tech to security solutions.

Procrastination kills VCs

This Friday February 16th is the deadline for editing / submitting data for The New York Times – CB Insights VC rankings.

Last year, we received 2000+ submissions on the deadline date. If you wait until then and have questions, it is unlikely that you will get a response as we’re pretty overwhelmed.

So please don’t delay, and get your board and portfolio data updated here — today.

The amazing grocery race

Last week, Amazon announced that it will start delivering Whole Foods groceries through its 2-hour Prime Now delivery service.

This is exactly the kind of thing that has traditional retailers like Albertsons, Walmart, and Target scrambling to acquire delivery-focused tech startups.

We’ll be talking about this and more in tomorrow’s e-commerce webinar. Make sure you sign up to save your spot.

Thanks Jeff

Private matters

In these (retail) apocalyptic times, struggling retailers plan to use their private-label brands to better compete.

Albertsons plans to add 500+ more products to its $1B O Organics brand this year. Target recently announced its first private fragrance, and the list goes on.

As stores that were formerly seen as clients turn into competitors, CPG brands will have to respond. We mapped out possible new channels for CPG distribution.

According to peers: most innovative

Recently, we partnered with Willis Towers Watson to produce a re-insurance innovation benchmarking survey, and asked nearly 600 re-insurance and investment professionals who the most innovative player in the re-insurance world is.

The “Most Innovative” incumbent? Munich Re.

Excited to announce that president & CEO of Munich Re America, Anthony Kuczinski, is joining us at The Future of Fintech conference June 19 – 21st at Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Looking forward to hearing more about how Munich Re has earned the admiration of its peers, and what’s next for the company.

Group tickets are now available.

The Industry Standard

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

Fortune. Fortune reports that Walmart is in discussions to pay several billion dollars for a stake of up to 20% of Flipkart and cites CB Insights data.

BuzzFeed. Venessa Wong (@venessawong) writes about complaints against Sun Basket that claim the company’s organic meals might include nonorganic ingredients and quotes CB Insights intelligence analyst Natan Reddy (@natan_reddy).

Nikkei Asian Review. Edward Tse (@edward_tse) discusses China’s corporate “mega ecosystems” and references CB Insights unicorn research.

Happy Monday.

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. Join us on February 15 as we look at the latest advancements in AI and how AI is reshaping industries. Register for the briefing here.