It’s clear that education in the U.S. is still in dire straits. We spend more than most other developed countries on education, yet our students have fallen behind in academic success. Educators lack …
Bringing the Benefits of Athletics to More Kids—Through Esports
Over 40 million players from 200 countries participated in the event–drawing 19,000 fans to a sold-out stadium in New York City over the course of three days. The gathering drew 2.3 million conc…
The Six Factors You Should Obsess Over When Building a Marketplace Business
Consumer marketplace companies are hot—just look at all the ink being spilled on the recent IPOs of Uber and Lyft and the expected, upcoming listing of Airbnb. But we see plenty of other types of mark…
The Magic Under the Hood: Niantic, Harry Potter and the “Real-World Platform”
There is plenty of magic in the much-anticipated Harry Potter: Wizards Unite augmented reality (AR) game, which was publicly released today by Niantic*, Inc. and co-developed with WB Games, the latest…
You Can’t Live Without Marketplaces—So We’re Introducing the Battery Marketplace Index
Can you imagine life today without online, consumer marketplaces? For most people, at least those living in cities and suburbs, the answer is probably no. Think about it: We order food through Doordas…
Gaming is Eating Media… and Pokemon is Just the Start
“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!” ― Benjamin Franklin The phrase “software eating the world” is a common refrain in the tech industry, and Battery has…
Getting from Seed to Series A: Insider Tips from Tech’s Top Early-Stage Funders
What are the secrets to raising a Series A round, if you’re a seed-stage company, in today’s fast-paced but still discerning market? In this podcast—taped at a dinner in San Francisco hosted by Batter…
EmBARKing on a new journey: Dog Walking and the Power of Online Marketplaces
A little less than a year ago, we published the Battery Network Effects Index, a market index including 36 current or previously publicly traded, consumer-Internet companies, each valued at $1 billion…
Uber and Airbnb: Not All Marketplaces are Created Equal
So far, 2017 has been a non-stop PR headache for Uber, and that’s putting it mildly. From the online #DeleteUber campaign to explosive sexual harassment claims against the ride hailing company to the …
Network Effects – The Keys to Ascending the Consumer-Internet Throne
“Category kings”, defined as market-share leaders in particular business sectors, often wind up creating the majority of the market value relative to their competition. This advantage is particularly …