September 17, 2026

A spoon in the road

Hey there,

We’re unpacking this year's Insurtech 50 list at ITC Vegas, in a discussion with by four founders:

Dakotah Rice — Co-founder and CEO of Harper
Grace Hanson — Co-founder and CEO of Elysian
Jon Qian — Co-founder and President of Valgo
Robin Diligent — Co-founder and CEO of WaniWani

Want to join? Register here and use code CBINSIGHTSITC200 to save $200 on your pass.

And now, here’s what we’re watching this week:

Bending Spoons’ acquisition spree
Mental health care gains momentum
The future of insurance brokerages

Bending Spoons bought two decacorns at a discount. Who’s up next?

Miro, the workplace collaboration platform, sold for $1.4B last week (2.3x revenue multiple), down from its $17.5B valuation in 2022.

Airtable, the spreadsheet-database platform, went for $1.3B in August (2.7x revenue multiple), down from its $11.7B valuation in 2021.

Neither was dying. Both had revenue and a sticky user base, but a cap table stuck at a 2021 price nobody would fund again.

We count 150+ unicorns stuck in that same spot. Here are three that could be Bending Spoons' next pickups:

Automattic: runs WordPress.com, WooCommerce, Tumblr, and Jetpack; last valued at $7.5B in February 2021, and cut 46% of staff in the last year.
Lattice: HR performance software; last raised at a $3B valuation in January 2022, and cut roughly 14% of staff since last year.
Culture Amp: employee engagement platform; was last valued at $1.5B in 2021. Its own investor Blackbird already marked the stake down 23.5% this year.

Browse the full list of prospects on CB Insights.

New partnerships are driving mental health into mainstream care.

We’ve partnered with HLTH USA to track the biggest shifts in healthcare.

One emerging trend is embedded behavioral health, where mental health clinicians join a traditional practice.

Cancer care is the newest specialty to take it up. In January, the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) added collaborative care to its distress management guidelines. Our data reveals a slew of partnerships followed: three in one quarter after zero throughout 2025.

Talkiatry and New York Cancer & Blood Specialists connect psychiatric referrals and follow-up information through the medical record.
Colla Health and American Oncology Network are adding therapy and psychiatric oversight alongside cancer treatment.
Protocol and Affiliated Oncologists connect patients with cancer-trained behavioral health clinicians.

Explore the trends yourself in the Insights Hub we built with HLTH.

Register with CBI’s code H26PAR_CBI250 to save $750 before prices increase on September 25th.

Insurance brokerages bet on talent over tech.

ACORD, the insurance industry’s global standard-setting body, and CB Insights partnered on a report looking at the future of insurance agencies and brokerages.

Yesterday, CB Insights Lead Analyst Chris Sekerak unveiled the findings at ACORD Connect, the organization’s annual conference.

What did we find?

Among the largest insurance brokerages, just four acquisitions over the past two and a half years involve AI companies.

The reality is that the industry is not eyeing a fundamental business model change. Talent is, and will continue to be, the key strategic differentiator for insurance agencies and brokerages going forward.

Read the full report here.

We love you.

The CB Insights Team

P.S. We partnered with Silicon Valley Bank.

Select SVB clients now have access to our tasty private company ratings and intelligence through the SVB Offers program.

Together we’re giving founders the tools to target partners and customers, build investor relationships, find exit opportunities, spot top talent, and anticipate new competitors.

Read our announcement here.

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