Hi there,

The Robinhood kerfuffle over the last week reminded me of these words by P.T. Barnum: "I don't care what the newspapers say about me as long as they spell my name right."

If you believe in the Barnum school of PR, did this controversy ultimately serve as a huge brand awareness builder for Robinhood?

It was an earned media bonanza.  

You had politicians, media folks, regulators, and a grab bag of pundits and grifters all talking about Robinhood. They weren’t saying nice things of course, but the reality is that the social media outrage machine moves on quickly. 

So here’s a poll for you. Just click on your response below.

With rumors of Robinhood’s IPO in Q2, do you think its IPO will be at a higher valuation than its last disclosed private financing valuation of $11.7B?

• Yes — its IPO valuation will be higher

• No — its IPO valuation will be lower

BTW, we dug deep into how Robinhood makes money here.

We’ll share results in next week’s newsletter.

Speaking of valuations

Valuing a private biz is notoriously hard. You’ve got to account for not just concrete data like financial records and tangible assets, but also market conditions, management experience, and competitive advantage.

There are a few major ways VCs, acquirers, and bankers calculate values of private cos, including discounted cash flows, multiples analysis, the VC method, the Berkus valuation, and more. 

We explore all of the methods of valuing a private company here.

A message of hope

The pandemic has shined a spotlight on the potential for mRNA therapies, with both of the FDA-approved Covid-19 vaccines leveraging mRNA. 

The potential for mRNA, however, spans many disease types, including rare genetic diseases and cancer. Read more about how mRNA therapies work here.

Got my driver's license last week

After months of missed timelines and growing skepticism, investors are once again pouring money into the autonomous driving startup ecosystem. Self-driving tech developers have raised a collective $3B in 2021 so far, with GM’s subsidiary Cruise raising $2B of that total. 

We mapped out 80+ companies working on making autonomous vehicles a reality in this client-only post.

Retail therapy boom

Big tech cos made some big moves in retail in H2’20. Facebook launched livestream shopping on Facebook and Instagram. Google added new visual search features for clothes shopping. Amazon launched Luxury Stores, expanded its brick-and-mortar footprint via Amazon Fresh stores, and introduced new checkout tech.

Clients can read more about where Amazon, Facebook, and Google are investing in retail in this post.

Business Insider. Bethany Biron (@bethanybiron) discusses potential fitness tech M&A deals and quotes CB Insights senior intelligence analyst Jake Matthews. 

Carrier Management. Susanne Sclafane (@SSCLAF) digs into the Insurance Tech Q4 2020 report from Willis Towers Watson and CB Insights.  

Emerging Tech Brew. Hayden Field (@haydenfield) quotes CB Insights intelligence analyst Adam Rawot in covering UiPath and robotic process automation.
 

P.S. We’re hiring engineering managers. See the job specs here.

The Blurb
 

Employ-bees. During lockdown, a colony of 20,000 bees took over an AI software company’s empty office in Santa Barbara, CA. 

Quartz

Bark-B-Q. Lab-grown meat may soon be available for pets. 

The Economist 

Spick and span. “Clean with Me” influencers — who create videos of themselves cleaning — have gained a loyal following on YouTube. 

NYT

Testing 1, 2, 3. Hotels are starting to offer Covid-19 testing to make it easier for US tourists abroad to comply with new travel requirements. 

WSJ

Home run. Over 30,000 people have signed up for a fake marathon — bib included, running optional — as part of an internet stunt. 

Washington Post