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A check on chatbot chatter
Hi there,
Signals from the CB Insights platform suggest
that the chatbot craze may be slowing.
(Note: all of these were pulled in a grand total
of < 2 minutes.)
News chatter about
chatbots is declining.
On earnings calls, execs have already
moved on from chatbots.
While news and transcript mentions have declined, patent activity about
chatbots has held steady. IBM leads the
pack in chatbot patents, followed by Microsoft and Kik Interactive.
Funding to chatbots has mostly been relegated to
early-stage companies (seed/angel & Series A), with few
breaking out despite many receiving initial funding.
If you want to see how any particular trend or
technology is doing in minutes across news, patents, funding,
M&A, and earnings calls, log in to your CB
Insights account or create an account here.
Are you well?
What's next for wellness? From private labels to smart refrigerators
to personalized, next-gen nutrition, we take a look at the top 18
wellness trends to watch in 2018. See them all here.
Rest now, sweet prince
After running a successful Indiegogo campaign and
raising over $60M in VC funding, the company behind Jibo the
social robot is shutting down.
A video was posted yesterday showing Jibo the
robot himself announcing his impending death.
Another innocent victim of hardware being hard.
New unicorn = new speaker 
Fresh off a $200M round of funding, Chime
CEO Chris Britt is our newest confirmed speaker for Future of Fintech (June
11-13, NYC).
Now valued at $1.5B, Chime is yet another unicorn
added to our killer speaker lineup. We
look forward to digging into the company’s plans for growth and
efforts to reach underbanked and frustrated consumers.
Save over $2K with our group ticket here (more
details coming soon on stages 2 and 3), or save $500 off a single
ticket with code newunicorn.
Around the world
Total annual global VC funding increased by 21% to $207B in 2018.
Deal activity rose 10% to 14,247.
We take a look at the most active global VCs from Q4'18. Check them out here.
Wag if
you love wellness
Wellness isn't just for humans anymore — it's seeping into the
world of pets with high-grade food, fitness trackers, and even
cannabis-based supplements.
Pet pampering is one of the Experimental trends we discuss in our
new What's Next In Wellness report, which you can download here.
Get that bread
What does perfect toast look like to you?
Marie Claire
Per the hundreds of responses we got on Instagram,
there are some clear favorites. It’s also unanimous that if you
say J9, you are a psychopath.
 Big
tech loves unicorns
Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Apple have invested
in unicorn companies across a wide range of industries, from
diagnostics to ride-hailing to VR.
We take a closer look at where the biggest US tech companies
are placing their bets. Clients can read
about it here.
The Industry Standard
CB Insights data is the most trusted by those in
the industry and the media. A few recent hits.
Reuters. Anshuman Daga (@anshumandaga)
and Aradhana Aravindan (@rdchatters)
report that Grab is considering
raising more funding after its record $4.5B round and
cite CB Insights data.
San Francisco Chronicle. Carolyn
Said (@csaid) writes
about meal delivery startup
Ritual and quotes CB Insights intelligence
analyst Natan Reddy (@natan_reddy).
Nikkei Asian Review. Coco
Liu (@cocojournalist)
discusses TikTok’s recent string
of scandals and references CB Insights data.
I love you.
Anand
@asanwal
P.S. We're hiring. If you like smart people,
quarterly Hack Days, and unlimited Babybel cheese, check out our open
positions here.
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