really, really good unicorn picks

Predicting unicorns

Hi there,

In 2015, we worked with The New York Times to predict 50 future unicorns using CB Insights’ Mosaic algorithm.

48% went on to become unicorns.

At the risk of sounding immodest, that’s pretty darn good.

See our predictions, which ones made it, and how we did it here.

Yes — an algorithm to find unicorns is here.

Some of our 2015 picks are below and the rest are detailed in the PDF.

CB Insights’ valuation at our last and only financing round is also in the PDF for those curious.

It’s on

President Trump signed an executive order on Monday to promote the development and regulation of AI technology in the US.

The US still dominates globally in terms of the number of AI startups and total equity deals, but it’s slowly losing its global deal share to new hubs — particularly China.

We take a closer look at China’s competitive edge in AI and how the US stacks up. You can also check out the top AI trends to watch in 2019 here.

You get a meeting

At Future of Fintech (June 11-13 in NYC), you’ll be able to request and schedule 1:1 meetings with all of your fellow attendees. In fact, we’re dedicating a whole floor to these meetings.

Curious about innovations coming to financial services from around the world? Here’s a sneak peak of global startups whose founders, CEOs, and execs you’ll be able to meet:

You can now get group tickets and save up to $2100, or save $500 on an individual ticket, with code meetyouthere. Prices go up this Friday. Get your tickets here.

Love me, love me

This Thursday is Valentine’s Day, and you can feel the love — and the cash — flowing. Americans are expected to spend around $30B on gifts and activities.

If you still need ideas, we’ve got you covered. From restaurant recommendations to luxury jewelry rentals to connected pillows, here are 50+ startups to help you spread the love.

China — trade war on the brain

According to CB Insights’ earnings call search engine, execs are talking about China a whole lot on calls.

In fact, this past quarter saw the second-highest mentions of China in 11 years.

The trade war/fracas between the US and China is clearly on public company exec brains.

Companies mentioning China the most are a diverse bunch, including:

• Yum Brands
• A.O. Smith
• Starbucks
• Cummins
• Metler Toledo

 The next 50 unicorns

Our 2015 unicorn predictions were good.

So we did it again and partnered with The New York Times. Check out the article by Erin Griffith in The Industry Standard below to see the 50 latest picks.

 Get like me

Companies launching loyalty programs as a safeguard against the retail apocalypse are looking to Amazon for inspiration.

We take a look at how Amazon Prime is inspiring other membership-based loyalty programs. Expert Intelligence clients can read about it here.

Kind of a big deal

A few years ago, it looked like the $100M round was going out of style — but Q4’18 proved the mega-round is not only back, it’s bigger than ever.

Companies in the US raised a record 184 mega-rounds in 2018, up from 120 in 2017 and only 66 in 2016. We take a closer look at the mega-rounds trend here.

My milkshake brings all the bulls to the yard

A farming startup in the UK has created a new, Tinder-like app called Tudder for matching cows and bulls.

Tudder shows pictures of cattle along with their age, owner, location, and character descriptions, which include these gems:

• “quiet well grown young bull ready to work”

• “nice big strong sorts make nice suckler cows”

 On the edge of glory (and data)

The global edge computing market is estimated to reach $34B by 2023, and startups want in.

From data centers to decentralization to security, we’ve mapped out 50+ companies offering edge computing solutions for our data-heavy future. Expert Intelligence clients can see them all here.

The Industry Standard

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

New York Times. Erin Griffith (@eringriffith) writes about the next class of billion-dollar startups and references CB Insights and the New York Times’ 50 Future Unicorns.

VentureBeat. Kyle Wiggers (@kyle_l_wiggers) highlights CB Insights’ third-annual AI 100.

NBC. David Ingram (@david_ingram) discusses Trump’s new AI-focused executive order and references CB Insights data.

NPR. Laura Sydell (@sydell) writes about Tim Cook’s optimistic outlook on trade talks between the US and China and refers to CB Insights research.

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal 

P.S. On February 21, we’ll dig into AI trends to watch in 2019. Sign up here to join us at the briefing.