Edit №56 — Virtually Forever — Weekly Newsletter on Corporate Innovation & Venture
by Stu Iverson and Clay Maxwell
The Recap
Nov 15, 2020
A lot has happened since we last published. The coronavirus count has boomed. On Friday, the US set the worst kind of world record with the highest ever national daily count with more than 177,000 new cases. Scarily, we are heading into the holidays with these runaway numbers and at a point of extreme fatigue — which can outweigh concern. The US Surgeon General urged folks to celebrate the holidays virtually and not give in to pandemic fatigue. Easier said than done.
Additionally, we were given reason to hope that the end may actually, and finally, be within sight, now that we’ve received promising results from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Understandably, this was met with a celebratory response. Even the markets shifted away from months-long favorite growth tech stocks and toward value stocks, as if saying, “finally, we can look past the pandemic.” (A game of tug of war that is likely to persist.)
There’s a conflicting message in these happenings. On the one hand we’re seeing genuine reason for hope and occasion to celebrate, yet on the other we have rampant spread and fatigue making us more susceptible. The fear is that this actually increases risk-taking behavior because there is land on the horizon, despite treacherous seas between here and there.
There are helping hands nearby however, albeit digital ones. Much more than just e-commerce, all things digital are not so subtly here for the holidays, having boomed to the fore over recent months. Many of these virtual experiences and offerings are here to help us serve our needs safely, even enjoyably.
In addition to the more obvious and omnipresent delivery and streaming services, other very analog spaces have shifted to digital, or semi-digital, too — and along the way it’s sweeping up even the non-believers. Car buying is more online than ever; workouts more digital and/or at home than ever; doctors visits, education and learning, collaboration and team building, have all gone online, and have done so quite effectively. A lot of virtual records are being set. There are even myriad options for fully or partially virtual “travel” experiences. Amazon, for example, has launched Explore to connect experience seekers with sellers from around the world, from the comfort of a home (or wherever your phone or laptop happens to be).
This is particularly noteworthy as we enter a typically packed travel period, and are in these dangerous “end stages” of the pandemic. Thanks to these creative solutions, one can indeed gain the benefits of travel without (most if not all of) the risks.
Actually, what we experience virtually or semi-virtually these next few months might be more indicative of what the next year and more will look like, rather than prolonged temporary solutions to pandemic problems. Behaviors are shifting more permanently to accommodate virtual pathways that are designed to address those familiar needs , especially emotional ones — for example to mentally transport to a different time and place — without being unnecessarily constrained to a physical reality. This wave of creation isn’t digital for analog’s sake — it’s digital unto its own. This new wave of virtual experience design won’t be shy to create new experiences that feel unfamiliar, as we are freed from orthodoxies that might have held for no good reason without a pandemic-shaped catalyst. This is an opportunity for innovation, and many are seizing it.
We hope these newly ingrained behaviors help us not only weather the next few months comfortably enough, but help us transition seamlessly into the new normal awaiting us once vaccines begin to circulate the globe. Whatever happens we won’t be returning to anything that looks like 2019. It’s only ahead we go…
Quick Links — Interesting reads from the rest of the market
🚄 Virgin’s Hyperloop just completed its first trip with real passengers.
💄 L’Oréal rolls out a line of ‘virtual makeup’.
🐶 Walmart goes all in for pets, complete with insurance.
🚁 Hyundai looks ahead to launch Urban Air Taxi’s by 2028.
🛍 VF acquires Supreme for $2.1bn.
⛱ Four Seasons encourages travelers to ‘work from hotel’ and enjoy a workcation.
👩💻 GM plans to hire 3,000 new workers to deepen tech expertise.
✈️ Sony prepares to enter the drone game with Airpeak.
🚗 GM’s Cruise and Walmart team up for driverless deliver.
The Water Cooler — Conversation starters for around the (virtual) office
This Japanese city is using robot wolves to scare bears. How one man turned his parent’s backyard into a Disney World roller coaster. The BMW backed electric Wingsuit can fly up to 185mph. Pepsi rolls out a recipe hub and cookbook to inspire kitchen creativity. Nordstrom is now offering virtual Santa chats. AMC will rent you a private theater for as little as $99. Just in time for the holidays, KFC offers up three ways to use its gravy in homemade cocktails.
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The Corporate Card — Corporate Venture Deals
American Express Ventures & Ally Financial joined the $200m Series D of home lending startup Better.com.
Humana & Cigna Ventures co-led the $162.5m Series C of digital health startup Buoy Health.
Salesforce Ventures joined the $125m Series B of virtual conference platform Hopin.
Grab led the $100m Series B of Indonesian payment platform LinkAja.
3M New Ventures joined the $65m Series C of Ai-enabled health and lung monitoring startup Eko.
Tencent Holdings co-led the $50m Series C of healthtech startup Congenica.
Tencent Holdings joined the €39m Series A of quantum computing startup IQM.
Qualcomm Ventures & Intel Capital co-led the $32m Series B of 5g mobile network optimization startup Cellwize with participation from VMware, Samsung NEXT, DTCP and other non-CVC’s.
Google co-led the $29m Series A of cloud networking and security startup Isovalent with participation from Cisco Investments and other non-CVC’s.
Capital One Growth Ventures joined the €10.6m Venture Round of customer interaction platform Lightico.
Nationwide Insurance joined the $10m Series A of enterprise wearables startup Kinetic.
Slack Fund joined the $1.6m Seed Round of collaborative remote selling platform Demoflow.
Qualcomm Ventures invested an undisclosed sum in cloud computing startup Pensando.
Qualcomm Ventures invested an undisclosed sum in modern application platform Azion.
The Bulletin Board — Job openings and opportunities
Access to Innovation Manager, VC at Silicon Valley Bank. SVB’s Access to Innovation program is on a mission to increase access to opportunities for underrepresented groups of people in the innovation economy. We have aggressive engagement and impact goals and are looking for an organized and strategic partner to join our team. For us, 2021 is all about scale and this Manager role will require an operational and relational master to help amplify our impact in the investment and venture capital ecosystem.
Director, Corporate Development at eBay. The Director will be involved in identifying prospective target opportunities, performing strategic and quantitative analysis, conducting due diligence, determining appropriate valuation and structure, developing a strategy for and conducting negotiations, driving activities to closure, and coordinating with our M&A Integration team. On a typical transaction, the Director will play the role of ‘Deal Captain’, responsible for all aspects of the transaction, including managing a cross-functional team.
