We trying to share interesting articles in our newsletter in addition to our own data-driven content in a section we call the blurb. It’s one of several experiments we’re going to try to increase our reach. We call the section with these articles The Blurb. Here is The Blurb from today’s CB Insights newsletter. It’s fun to “force” myself to read interesting new content regularly. Yup – I have a great job 
The Blurb
A curated mix of articles on tech, media, what’s next and recent news.
NEA goes big – very big. Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the largest VC of them all? Congrats to our amigos at NEA who are setting out to raise a $2.5B fund.
Sequoia’s Zomato targets US. Indian company buys their way into the US as Zomato buys Urbanspoon from IAC for a rumored $50 million. Zomato is valued at $660 million and has been on an acquisition tear of late.
Zomato, YourStory.in, Zamato profile
Facebook explored Xiaomi investment. The private company worth more than Uber but which gets a lot less chatter got some interest from Zuck and team for an investment.
Reuters
Xiaomi’s ambition. Want to understand the most valuable private tech company in the world. They’re sort of the Apple meets Google meets Amazon of China. Got that?
Stratechery
A Keurig for juice. Juicero is reportedly raising $100 million from Kleiner, Campbells Soup, Google Ventures, Thrive Capital and Vast Ventures. They’re supposedly creating the freshest juice in the world.
Mercedes’ self-driving car. If you’ve seen Google’s self-driving car which is sort of a mix of a Smart car and a Fisher Price toy car and thought, I’d never sit in one of those, maybe Mercedes’ prototype is more your style.
Saving democracy with the blockchain. Online voting remains a dream in the US but could the blockchain be the solution?
Cereal killer. High fructose corn syrup has been getting a bit of a blackeye for a while. A look at how big food is renaming the ingredient on packaging to make it disappear.
You got to know when to fold ‘em. Game scientists have built an unbeatable algorithm for hold ‘em poker. Now computers are solving problems without having complete information.
Want bread? Need to see your text messages. A Danish bakery started demanding to see your last 5 text message or phone numbers of your friends before selling you a loaf of bread. A Danish video that highlights the ridiculous permissions we give to app publishers.
The responsibility of software developers. The profession of software engineering has built the Orwellian future we now inhabit, and it’s time to examine its priorities.
Don’t talk to corporate M&A. Paul Graham of Y Combinator breaks down when you should chat with corporate development. The short answer is you shouldn’t. “It’s as if a chunk of genetic material from the old-fashioned robber baron business world got incorporate into the startup world.”
But if you are ready to sell. Here is the founder’s guide to selling your company.
Online advertising gift card. Daily Mail takes out full page ad to advertise programmatic ad purchases. Will give one dollar for each dollar spent.
Ethical questions about investing in pot. Andrew Ross Sorkin of the NYT talks about the conundrum that public pension funds and endowments may be in surrounding their GPs investing in the industry. Bonus: features data from the best data company in the biz.
Seeing your innards. A new machine can provide insanely detailed images of your bones and organs. For this article, you don’t have to read. Just look at the pictures.
A town with no wi-fi but lots of weirdos. In this West Virginia town, residents can’t use cell phones, wi-fi or other kinds of modern technology. This has made it a hub for technophobes, and the locals ain’t all that happy about it.
Nielsen Ratings are breaking TV. Technology, busier work schedules and original programming are changing consumer viewing habits, but Nielsen remains hopelessly antiquated.
Listen to Taylor Swift in peace. Harman has reportedly found a way to create different audio zones in a single vehicle without spillover of sound between spaces.
Lettuce bonanza. A Japanese indoor farm generates 100 times more lettuce per square foot than traditional methods. Big hyper-efficient indoor farms are on their way to Hong Kong, Mongolia, Russia and mainland China.
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