Social Starts Buzz Room: August 4, 2017

What are our partners reading this week? News about our portfolio companies, macro industry trends, our investment focus areas, and general personal and business strategies.

News About Our Portfolio Companies

·         RentHop analyzes if convenient coffee predicts neighborhood rents in Manhattan

·         Newswhip announces innovative new plan to develop a Science of Content

·         Huffington Post features Viyet’s collection of crystals

·         Top blockchain (and our portfolio) company Alphapoint shows support for Exchange Union

·         Outbrain acquires our portfolio company Zemanta

Industry Trends

·         IPO market in 2017; underwhelming thus far

·         The next major platform

·         The top 10 cities for women-owned businesses

·         What energy sources power the world

·         The richest people in history + map of US unicorns

·         Everything is a marketing campaign now, even policy ideas

·         How millennials are changing the housing market

·         The story behind Stripe

·         The big and hairy problems in shipping and logistics

·         Apple supplied Foxconn opening US factory

Artificial Intelligences

·         China wants to be the global leader in AI in 30 years

·         The AI race to the top + here

·         Facebook shuts down AI system after bots create own language + here

Commerce

·         VCs betting on fashion startups with ecommerce investment $s down

·         Amazon launches the Hub for apartment buildings

·         How retail can thrive in a world without stores

·         From the 1950s-1980s, at least 1 shopping mall was built; now 25% of the existing 1000 malls are expected to close in 5 years

·         Ranking the world’s most valuable brands

·         One DNVB in the doghouse with customers

Security

·         A cybersecurity expert on why you should be very worried about the internet’s future

·         Corporate dealmaking dims in cybsecurity although VC investment is up

·         TSA’s behavioral detection processes aren’t working

IoT

·         APIs: the unsung hero of the connected world

·         IoT issues around cybersecurity

Work Platforms

·         Working from home rates and avg hours working from home fell in 2016

·         Top 1000 SaaS companies

Experiences

·         AR SDK for face filters

·         Amazon patents point to AR tech for home try-on

·         Google image search gets more like Pinterest

·         Will AR/VR replace tourism?

Blockchain

·         Segwit, explained

·         Tierion raises 25M ICO in less than 1 day

·         Filecoin launching next week

·         How to secure your token sale

·         How VCs position themselves in the world of blockchain

·         Token economy issue #7

·         Cryptoeconomics

·         SEC concludes DAO tokens are securities + good news? + report + Tim Draper’s response + Fred Wilson’s take

Health

·         Amazon’s secret health tech team 1492

·         Scientists successfully used CRISPR to fix a mutation that causes disease

·         Most active genomics investors

·         When our brains peak

·         First human embryos edited in US

·         How Americans get healthcare coverage

Business and Personal Strategy

·         Why corporate innovation is harder now

·         For startups, VC funding is always in season

·         Q&A with LPs in VC

·         How developed is the global VC market?

·         What you need to know before raising a micro VC fund today

·         How to tell the Truth