No one wants to own assets, and now the penetration of the marketplace model into physical retail is exploding.  Good time to be in the marketplace business.

Two big announcements today:

1. b8ta launched what I call a white-label version of its solution - ark marketplace - with a nifty 3 letter domain name (tough to come by!) where any retailer with extra floor space can launch an in-store marketplace concept powered by b8ta.  I think this will be super-popular.  Oh yeah, just raised $50M.

2. Faire just cracked the $1B valuation mark on top of a $150M raise today.  Local retailers can connect w/ the best makers to stock in-stores."

These are competitive in different ways.  b8ta is the closest approximation to an actual marketplace model IN A STORE.  Faire is more traditional merchandising with marketplace wholesale sourcing model.  So you still need to own it, though.