There's been "a rush of non-tech incumbents active in private tech markets as of late, like Walmart and Jet.com, Unilever and Dollar Shave Club, Under Armour and MyFitnessPal," said Vas Natarajan, a partner at Accel Partners.
For large companies, spending a few billion dollars to acquire a tech business is a small price to pay to mitigate the threats that these startups pose to their core business, according to Natarajan.
Check back in every Monday for a new weekly reading of the Bloomberg U.S. Startups Barometer. The index tracks the business conditions for venture capital-backed private technology companies that are based in the U.S.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.