Hi there, 

What do Stripe, HubSpot, and JPMorgan all have in common?

They're all acquiring similar types of companies.

What?!

Yup — they're all acquiring media companies.

And that's just the start.

Media M&A is about to boom.

But the buyers are not going to be other media companies — they’re going to be tech and financial services companies that can play a lifetime value (LTV)/customer acquisition cost (CAC) arbitrage game that allows them to pay way more.

We've seen HubSpot pick up Sam Parr's The Hustle. And we just saw JPM pick up The Infatuation started by Chris Stang & Andrew Steinthal.

Dharmesh Shah, Balaji S., and Brian Armstrong have all talked about the need for companies to build their own media arms.

And it makes total sense.

We break down the transactions in the space, the LTV/CAC arbitrage potential, and we close with some M&A recommendations for companies from Coinbase to Robinhood to Nike here. 

King Midas of crypto

In April 2021, Coinbase became the first crypto company in the world to go public. 

While Coinbase is best known for its cryptoasset exchange, it has bigger aspirations than helping people buy and sell crypto.

Dig into Coinbase’s 3-pronged growth strategy, its business initiatives, and what it's doing to push forward blockchain technology in our strategy teardown here. 

The NFT market(place) is heating up

Ten NFT marketplaces account for over 90% of NFT trading volume. 

But with crypto giants like Coinbase, FTX, and Binance moving into the NFT space, the fight for market share has only just begun.

Our friends at Blockdata dive into the specifics of the leading marketplaces here. 

It’ll rock your socks off 

For the fifth straight quarter, the number of $100M+ mega-rounds reached an all-time high (400+).

Oh, and the unicorn club is not inching — it’s sprinting ever closer to 1,000. 

Find out who the latest unicorns are, who’s funding them, and the rest of the TL;DR of what’s happening in venture in our webinar next week (October 26).

A-list speakers
 

At Future of Health (Dec. 8-9, virtual) you'll learn from our A-list speakers, including:

• CEO and Founder, insitro (unicorn — $2.4B valuation)

• Chief Digital Officer, R&DS Technology Solutions at IQVIA (NYSE: IQV)

• Co-founder and Co-CEO, GoodRx (NASDAQ: GDRX)

• Global Chief Medical Officer and VP of Healthcare, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)

• Executive Chairman and CEO, Transcarent (Livongo founder remaking the health & care experience)

• Co-founder and Chief Health Officer, Cityblock Health (unicorn — $5.7B valuation)

• Global Chief Medical Officer of Image Guided Therapy (IGT), Philips (NYSE: PHG)

This is on top of our 35+ tech demos. And of course, we’ll have a platform to help you schedule unlimited 1:1 networking meetings with a global group of healthcare innovators. Get your ticket today and save $50 with code Alist.

Bringing the heat

Total funding in the renewables tech space more than doubled from 2018 to 2020, and it’s on pace this year to surpass last year’s record funding. 

Solar-focused companies are driving the bulk of the increase, at the expense of wind companies.

See where renewable tech funding is going and what’s next for the industry here.

Open for business

Want to educate our analysts about your technology and products?

If you’re a company in one of the markets below, please complete the analyst briefing surveys linked below for a chance to be featured in our research and get in front of our clients.

Automated Fraud Prevention

These companies provide platforms for the management of automated risk, anti-money laundering, fraud detection (card, application, merchant, etc.), data breaches, and fraudulent transactions among other things. 

Relevant companies include Shield, HYPR, Feature Space, Fraugster, Rippleshot, and Cybertonica among others.

Complete the analyst briefing survey here.

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants for Retail Banking

These companies automate the majority of customer queries, reducing the time and resources retail banks spend on customer support personnel. 

Relevant companies include Talk Bank, Avaamo, ThinkPower Information, Finn AI, and Serviceform among others.

Complete the analyst briefing survey here.

Forbes. Isabel Contreras (@ContrerasNews) uses the CB Insights State Of Venture Q3’21 Report to analyze fintech funding trends. 

TechCrunch. Alex Wilhelm (@alex) and Anna Heim (@abracarioca) cover India’s booming startup scene using CB Insights research.

Business Insider. Callum Burroughs (@CallumBurroughs) cites CB Insights data in his coverage of HR tech startup Deel’s funding raise. 
 

P.S. Our State of Venture webinar is next week, where we’ll break down the biggest quarter venture has ever had. Don’t miss out — sign up here to save your spot.