Big Week for Tech

Thanks to Crunchbase  Tech had a big week, with some of its largest players reporting earnings. (Hint: They all did well.) Shifting to startups, we dug into the self-driving space, working to understand the money pouring into the market category. Along the same lines, we explored the AR/VR space, looking into how often startups in the niche are acquired. On the subject of acquisitions, Snap reportedly got to work with its checkbook this week, snagging another company for a sub-$100 million price tag. (How the late-stage market will fare in a few years is an open question.) And, of course, ICOs came up. How could they not. For more stories, make sure to swipe down. Otherwise, take a moment to follow us on Twitter for a daily drip of Crunchbase News.

Quantifying The Driverless Startup Boom In an effort to put the deal-making in autonomous cars in perspective, Crunchbase News has aggregated some of the metrics for startup investment in the space. Who Will Win The Self-Driving Race? →

Giant Steps: How Big Tech Just Keeps Getting Bigger: After the bell on Thursday, a trio of major tech companies released their earnings reports en masse. And the results were strong, with each firm beating both revenue and profit expectations set by Wall Street. How Big Can Big Get? Top Heavy US VC Market May Lose Footing As Early-Stage Deals Slip Away There appears to be a slow but consistent hollowing-out of the domestic seed and early-stage end of the deal pipeline. How Far Can Seed Fall? Cryptos Hit All Time Highs As Bitcoin Shines, Alts Hover Today, the aggregate value of cryptocurrencies set new records, spiking to nearly $185 billion as of the time of writing. The amount crests prior records set when August concluded, and the summer hit its midpoint. To The Moon → ICOs Race Ahead As Seed Capital Falters Two trends are combining to create an interesting market moment: As seed-stage capital in the United States slips, ICOs are forging ahead. The trends divergence is notable, but not as clear as we might have hoped.  ICOs Raise Billions → AR/VR Acquisition Pace Picks Up Despite Industry Setbacks Nearly every major tech company has a stake in augmented or virtual reality. Or both. But even though some of the world’s largest companies are diving headfirst into both AR and VR, the categories remain nascent. How Many AR/VR Deals? → Snap Snags Adtech Startup To Assuage Advertisers Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, reportedly bought adtech play Metamarkets. TechCrunch reports that the deal will settle for less than $100 million. What’s Snap doing? Snap Goes Shopping →

Tweet of the Week:  "What's the difference between AI and ML?" "It's AI when you're raising money, it's ML when you're trying to hire people." @WAWilsinIV