the anti-social network

Get a parasite, become an entrepreneur

Hi there,

From the “fake it til you make it” files, here’s a story about a zoo that painted a donkey with black stripes to pass it off as a zebra.

In startup land, these are called “AI” startups.

I never forget a face

Google is creeping on your social media. Its new patent outlines a system to identify unknown faces in images using information from sites like Twitter, Facebook, Gmail, online blogs, and more.

Check out our full analysis here.

Is Pinterest the anti-social network?

In yesterday’s client-only note, we looked at Pinterest’s price/revenue multiple and whether the more aspirational Pinterest might be immune from the bots and fake news plaguing Facebook and Twitter.

We also dug into Slack alternatives (now that HipChat is out of the picture), as well as Samsung’s 5G IP dominance. Read it here.

It’s personal

Millennials command $1.3T in annual spending, and they don’t have a lot of love for traditional financial institutions.

Personal finance apps are positioning themselves to capitalize on this.

From Stash to Acorns to Mint, we take a look at 7 of the fastest-growing personal finance apps and their strategies.

The secret to Zuckerberg’s success?

Researchers say that the mind-controlling Toxoplasma gondii parasite — which can be found in cat feces — may give people infected by it just the courage boost they need to make all their entrepreneurial dreams come true.

Yes. You read that right.

Cat isht might make you an entrepreneur.  

Of course, some folks are skeptical.

Never a company to ignore perks, CB Insights now has unlimited cat isht on tap for our team.

Interested? Hungry? Want to be part of the future CB Insights cat isht mafia?

We’re hiring a ton.

Writing is soooo easy

Last week, we talked about AI painters. Looks like bots aren’t limiting their creativity to visual art.

These first sentences of a novel were written by a neural network.

What do you think?

The start of next summer’s best beach reads?

Have a bite

Apple’s earnings call is today, which means it’s a great time to revisit our Apple strategy teardown and timeline of the company’s top acquisitions.

For everything you need to know about earnings transcripts, sign up here.

Satellites are kind of a big deal

In one of last week’s client notes, we talked about the next big thing — satellite imagery. The note includes some of the players and the top patent holders in the satellite imagery space.

We also talked about a potential M&A deal between Walmart and Sony, restaurant management platforms like newly-minted unicorn Toast, and Kroger’s odd efforts to show it doesn’t care about Amazon. Clients can read the note here.

Looking outside for answers

At the CB Insights Councils meeting in June, Bose’s Fuat Koro offered an inside look at the creation of Bose’s $50M AR Ecosystem Fund.

Want to join us at our September meeting in NYC? If you’re a senior executive (SVP & up) at a $1B+ revenue company, apply to attend. There’s no cost for the first meeting.

Head in the clouds

Microsoft has gotten more aggressive about its pursuit of intellectual property related to cloud computing. Amazon has historically applied for the most cloud-related patents, but Microsoft is recently all-in on pursuing cloud IP.

We discuss how cloud services are becoming more commoditized and how IP might be the new arms race. Clients can check it out here.

The Industry Standard

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

Forbes. Yue Wang (@yueyueyuewang) reports that VC in China is drying up and references CB Insights unicorn data.

Entrepreneur. Mark Daoust (@markdaoust) discusses how companies can build their value through acquisitions and cites CB Insights research.

TechCrunch. Jonathan Shieber (@jshieber) profiles The Not Company, a tech company working to dominate the Latin American food market, and cites CB Insights research.

I love you.

Anand
@asanwal

P.S. On August 2, we’ll be discussing the rise of active cyber defense. Register here to join us at the briefing.