Ozone 500 N26 Bike
Hi fellow futurists - our top 3 thoughts for this week are:. INSURTECH: Rage Against the Machine and $500MM telematics Softbank investment.
ONLINE BANK: Here's why N26 can be valued at $2.7 Billion. OPEN BANKING: Newly-horned unicorn Plaid acquires data aggregator Quovo for up to $200 million.Analysis of these items is below, and this week’s artist is.INSURTECH: Rage Against the Machine and $500MM telematics Softbank investmentLet's start off with the ridiculous, and get more ridiculous. SoftBank has a lot of money to invest in category killing fintech businesses, and one of the latest such players is Cambridge Mobile Telematics, which just received $500 million from the investor.
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A widget attached to a car windshield, and then used to collect data about the quality of a particular driver - from speeding to breaking. This data is then tied to the purchasing of insurance, where 'good' drivers have access to lower cost financial products. This is an interesting, and pioneeing, example of how edge computing will create orders of magnitudes more digital data that then feeds the manufacturing of finance.A sneaking suspicion in the back of our minds is that driving data is really good for training robots how to drive. Meaning, Google and the rest of the big tech companies are all running experiments with self-driving cars on the road to collect driving data. Something simple from a telematics device certainly is not equivalent to major machine vision and radar data.
But it does paint a straight line towards how self-driving car insurance should be priced. Let's repeat that. If a widget in a car tells you insurance prices based on driving performance and you combine that with an AI car, you could compare humans and machines on an apples to apples basis.The ridiculous part is the human response to tech-first transportation companies.
In London, Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo is pulling out of the city because people steal and destroy their untethered bikes. In California, aspiring freedom fighters keep throwing scooters from Bird and Lime into oceans, lakes and rivers. Public service employees are straining to fish out these venture capital funded wonders out of the water. In Phoenix, self-driving Waymo cars are getting their tires slashed and assaulted by gun-wielding road-ragers (Mad Max style, we assume).
All that to say that the human element in this story is allergic to being entirely prodded, measured, and automated away. Can politics catch up with SoftBank's Vision Fund, which could build Trump's wall 20 times over? Source: DigIn ( ), Gizmodo ( ), Slate ( ), Business Insider ( )ONLINE BANK: Here's why N26 can be valued at $2.7 BillionOne key prediction for 2019 - digital, mobile-first Fintech bundles - is already coming true. N26, a German neo-bank, has raised a new $300 million to fund international expansion at a ridiculous, eye-popping, anxiety-inducing $2.7 billion valuation. After just a few years of operation and some European Millennials downloading the app. Can this thing really be worth it? Our initial bearish take was that this is not about how much the company is worth, but how much it needs. Venture investors are happy to burn money in order to grow B2C consumer brands, which have now gotten large enough to need (rather than earn through revenue or income) their unicorn valuations.
Anecdotally, there's a 5x difference between the public and private markets - so if you divide the billions by 5 and are no longer outraged, then this price is fair.But on further thought, there is some defensible industrial logic here. Let's assume - for the sake of argument - that all the tech and financial product is trivial, and that all of the venture funding is being used to acquire customers. Further, let's assume that each round is responsible for client acquisition in the prior period.
This translates into a simple fact: venture money is a marketing budget, so traction acquiring customers isn't an accomplishment. It's just paying for Facebook ads. On N26's 2.3 million users, customer acquisition costs are between $20-100 per user.Let's assume that deposits are at $1.5 billion, which is about $650 per customer. That looks a lot like Acorns and Robinhood to us. Depending on assumptions, N26 could make somewhere between $3 and $10 per user per year, which is roughly a 5-10 year payback period. Looking at Revolut, who raised $344 million and probably spent about $150 million of that, venture capital per user looks like $40-110, slightly more expensive.
500 Nations
Revolut's revenue is somewhere in the $20 to $30 million range, with a per user revenue of $5-10 as well. There are 600+ banks in the US with assets over $1 billion, so this looks ridiculous (i.e., not special) on its face. Until you realize that customer acquisition cost for financial products is $300, regardless of business line, that customer turn-churn is low, and that acquisitions in the market recently happened at $60 per lead. So we think that the customer acquisition machine is fairly reasonable. Deriving enterprise value on that by multiplying money raised by 10x does seem a meaningful stretch.Another interesting angle is the fact that the last two rounds involved Asian money - Tencent and GIC respectively. Those are not particularly price sensitive investors, and N26 is - from that frame - a cheap experiment to run in order to see what a foreign banking entrant can do in the United States. If I were Tencent, I would be taking detailed, copious notes.
Ozone 500 N26 Bike Review
Source: Autonomous NEXT analysis, Bloomberg ( ), Company websiteOPEN BANKING: Newly-horned unicorn Plaid acquires data aggregator Quovo for up to $200 millionIn another unicorn story, let's take a look at Plaid, which we discussed just a few weeks back when they raised $250 million at a $2.7 billion valuation. Plaid solved the problem of financial authentication.
Some of you may remember that when you connected a third party service to your bank account in the Dinosaur Age, that service would send you a few pennies into the account as a secret pass-phrase. It would be a random number, which you would then tell to the provider as proof you control the account. A few billion dollars later, Plaid has replaced this for tech companies with a simple API call. They do other stuff too - which, broadly speaking, can be said to encompass all of the 'Open Banking' PSD2 regulation in Europe. They just do it in the US, regardless of the wishes of the banks.So we were delighted to see that Plaid used some of its new money to buy Quovo, a strong player in the digital wealth data space for up to $200 million. Unlike Plaid's banking focus, Quovo is strong at understanding investment management data. Take for example the following - credit card transaction data categorization (Starbucks is a coffee shop), and tax basis reporting for stock purchases (bought at $100).
These are different problems and require different teams. Quovo had built a strong stack on the investments side, powered a meaningful amount of the account aggregation for folks like Betterment and AdvisorEngine. Still, the acquisition likely has (1) much of the consideration in the form of Plaid stock, since venture investors don't love funding acquisitions, and (2) revenue-based valuation earn-outs. The cash outlay in that $200 million, we suspect, is more modest.But also, let's look back and compare.
Quovo's closest analog would be ByAllAccounts, which Morningstar bought for $28 million. Someone wasn't good at selling! Plaid's closest analog would be Yodlee, which used to power Mint and was purchased by wealth platform Envestnet for $590 million.
In turn, BlackRock has bought into over $100 million of Envestnet stock. These more traditional versions of the same business were way, way cheaper than the Silicon Valley equivalents, and were prescient moves by the incumbents. Yet these are early days for financial data - we are rooting for the whole industry to open up and digitize. Futurist, Fintech Entrepreneur, Artist - LinkedIn Top VoiceHi fellow futurists - top 3 #fintech thoughts for this week are:(1) #INSURTECH: Rage Against the Machine and $500MM telematics Softbank investment. Why are people throwing Bird scooters into rivers and running down self-driving Waymo cars?(2) ONLINE #BANK: Here's why N26 can be valued at $2.7 Billion. Sure, that valuation is bonkers. But we did the math on customer acquisition costs, and things snap into better view.(3) OPEN BANKING: Newly-horned unicorn Plaid acquires data aggregator Quovo for up to $200 million.
This entry highlights the history of data aggregation in the States, and what the acquisition means. Lex Sokolin's post: Hi fellow futurists - top 3 #fintech thoughts for this week are:(1) #INSURTECH: Rage Against the Machine and $500MM telematics Softbank investment. Why are people throwing Bird scooters into rivers and running down self-driving Waymo cars?(2) ONLINE #BANK: Here's why N26 can be valued at $2.7 Billion.
Sure, that valuation is bonkers. But we did the math on customer acquisition costs, and things snap into better view.(3) OPEN BANKING: Newly-horned unicorn Plaid acquires data aggregator Quovo for up to $200 million.
This entry highlights the history of data aggregation in the States, and what the acquisition means.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! For a quill stem-the type shown in photo. You do not want to unscrew the the headset nut-the large nut at the top of the headtube where the stem comes out. That large nut holds the headset bearings in place and has nothing to do with stem height.
What you want to do its loosen the singel allen bolt at the top of the stem 2 turns then gently tap it downward with a hammer. This will loosen the wedge at the bottom of the stem that holds it to the forks steerer tube. Then you can raise or lower it, and then retighten the allen bolt. Three.very important details to remember: 1. Do not overtighten that allen bolt-it can damage the steerer tube. Check that it is tight enough by standing in front of bike holding front wheel between your legs and giving the bars a good strong turn. The wheel and bars should move together-if it slips, tighten bolt up a bit more.
2.Do not raise your stem past the minimum insertion line. This line is on the stem where it inserts into the fork steerer tube. If you see it, you are to high. This is a quill stem, but many stems now are the aheadset type and are installed and adjusted completely differently.
You must be clear about which type is which and what you are doing, or else your stem could pop of while riding-which could could cause serious injury or even be fatal. Take it to a shop if you are not absolutely clear about what you are doing-I've seen too many people muck about with these thing and no idea they were doing it completely wrong. Excellent and clear set of well written instructions with clear sharp photos that really make it obvious exactly what you are supposed to do and what tools you need even if you have limited technical and/or English reading skills. A big thank you to The Bike Guy for putting it all together and offering it to everyone free and readily assessible.
It may sound just sooo nooby and obvious, but I totally missed that there was a stem bolt and wondered why no amount of loosening and huffing and puffing with the nuts further down was making no difference. And of course like Bike Guy said, having worked through this guide I've not only been able to fix my bike, but also have been able to address the neck and back aches I was feeling, so there it is, turns out this was a medical and physio guide as well as a bike fixing one! Steps 3, 4, and parts of 1 and 6 are irrelevant. The nuts control the bearings, and the bolt (usually a 6mm head) controls the stem. Loosen the bolt a couple of turns, tap it with a hammer lightly, pull (paying attention to the minimum insertion line), then re-tighten. If you tighten everything back 'good and tight,' the bearing will be tight and you won't be able to turn.
Only a good bike mechanic knows how tight everything needs to be, so it's best to take it to a bike shop, not risk messing something up. The handlebars are an integral part of the safety of the bicycle, and by doing this, you risk compromising the entire steering assembly.
This instructable is wrong, yaman.cool63 is correct. There is no need to loosen the headset locknut or the adjustable race. If you do loosen, them, do not make it 'good and tight' this is a good way to ruin a headset. The adjustable race should be just tight enough to remove any play.
The tricky part is to get this after the locknut is tightened down, it will often make the preload higher putting the headset under too much preload. To raise or lower the stem, you just need to loosen the bolt on the quill stem.
This is attached to either a wedge or an expander nut. Don't take it completely out, just loosen it, otherwise the wedge or nut will come off. They sometimes stick, so a tap will help to loosen the wedge or nut. As mentioned by plasticbiker, don't go above the minimum insertion mark, seriously bad things can happen. Also, don't lower it too far, steerer tubes are butted and if you go too far down, you will be tightening the stem in the butted area and it can come loose, again bad things will happen. This is more of a problem on smaller bikes, with short head tubes. If you cannot raise the stem enough to relieve back or neck pain & finger numbness, you can replace the handlebars.
This is more complicated than just raising the stem, but cheaper than replacing the whole bike with another style. Three years ago I replaced a straight bar on my Trek with a deep V-bar to alleviate back & hand pain, raising the handle position by 6-7 inches. This required also replacing the brake & shift cable with longer cables. I actually had the bike shop do this for me, but could have done it myself if I had the tools & free time. The down side is that the bike is no longer good for lumpy, sandy off-road bike trails. The upside is that it is comfortable for 99% of the riding I do on streets & bike paths towing a 50-lb trailer. An added bonus was that my then-15 yr old bike-thrashing son declared it too uncool to swipe when his bike was broken.