June 25, 2023: A Healthy Pause In Market Indices, So Far

The markets last week took a breather from multi week rallies, as we pointed out the NASDAQ looked a bit stretched last week. Dow Jones fell 1.7%, and S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell 1.4%. Tiger Global raised US$2.7 billion for its latest private tech fund, 55% less than the US$6 billion goal set last fall and 79% lower than its prior, US$12.7 billion fund. SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday that his tech investing conglomerate plans to shift its stance to “offence mode” amid excitement over advances in artificial intelligence. Virgin Galactic raises US$300 million, seeks another US$400 million to expand spacecraft fleet. Cloud banking vendor nCino explores sale. Amazon’s iRobot deal faces EU antitrust investigation, sources say. Shares of UK online supermarket Ocado soared on talk of Amazon bid interest. Nvidia board member cashes out on the chipmaker’s surging stock, selling over 100,000 shares for US$51 million. Cisco launches new AI networking chips to compete with Broadcom, Marvell. Google and OpenAI talk to publishers about licensing content for AI. Rivian to adopt Tesla’s North American charging standard. In Canada, Quisitive announced $6 million bought deal financing, in sign that could potentially positive investor deal appetite in H2 2023. Railtown Technologies announced an increase to its LIFE non-brokered private placement to $2 million. Calgary-based startup Eavor, which offers geothermal technologies for producing energy, has raised approximately $80 million in what it called the first close of its Series B round. Québec City-based Poka, is set to be acquired by Swedish enterprise software giant IFS, in a reported $200 million deal.

Sophic Client, OneSoft Solutions, is a compelling opportunity for investors who want to invest in an AI company currently monetizing its solution with globally known brands. OneSoft has commercialized machine learning for years with major industry customers, and is forecasting 151,000 miles of pipeline miles on SaaS subscription in 2023, or ~25% of the U.S. addressable pipeline market.

Quisitive (QUIS-TSXV) announces $6 million bought deal financing.

Quisitive Technology Solutions entered into an agreement pursuant to which Scotiabank and Eight Capital have agreed to purchase, on a “bought deal” basis, 17,200,000 common shares in the capital of the Company at a price of $0.35 per Offered Share for aggregate gross proceeds to Quisitive of approximately $6 million. The Company has granted the Underwriters an option, exercisable, in whole or in part, at any time not later than the 30th day following the closing of the Offering, to purchase up to an additional 2,580,000 Offered Shares at the Issue Price for market stabilization purposes and to cover over-allotments. If the Over-Allotment Option is exercised in full, the total gross proceeds of the Offering will be approximately $6.9 million. Ewing Morris & Co. Investment Partners Ltd., on behalf of certain funds managed by it, has agreed to participate in the Offering with an investment amount of approximately $5 million. https://bit.ly/3XsXftp

Railtown Technologies (RAIL-CSE) announces increase to LIFE non-brokered private placement.

Railtown AI is increasing the maximum number of units of the Company (each, a “Unit”) issuable in connection with its previously-disclosed non-brokered private placement from 10,000,000 to 13,333,333, for aggregate gross proceeds of up to $2,000,000 (the “Offering”). The $0.15 issue price of the Units and the $1,200,000 minimum size of the Offering are unchanged. https://bit.ly/3Czf6W5

Martello (MTLO-TSXV) announces closing of second tranche of private placement totalling $0.6 million.

The Company announced the closing of the second tranche totaling $600,000 (the “Second Tranche”) of a non-brokered private placement of common shares in the capital of the Company (“Common Shares”) for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately CAD$1,200,000 (the “Private Placement”). Pursuant to the Private Placement, Martello has issued 24,000,000 Common Shares at a price of $0.05 per Common Share, in two tranches for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,200,000, subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange (the “TSXV”). The sole subscriber in the Private Placement is Wesley Clover International Corporation (“Wesley Clover”), a corporation controlled by Terence Matthews, Chairman of Martello, and a Control Person of the Company (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSXV). https://tinyurl.com/mrr9ptkv

Eavor secures $80 million to support Austrian oil and gas firm OMV’s transition to green energy.

Calgary-based startup Eavor, which offers geothermal technologies for producing energy, has raised approximately $80 million in what it called the first close of its Series B round. A spokesperson for Eavor told BetaKit that of the $80 million, $50 million came from Austrian oil and gas company OMV as the lead investor. The remaining $30 million came from existing investors in Eavor, which included BP Ventures, Eversource Energy, and Vickers Venture Partners. Eavor previously said in March that it was pursuing a Series B funding round with a goal of raising $145 million this year. The company’s spokesperson added that it expects to have $500 million in total funding raised to date after the anticipated completion of its Series B round. Eavor previously secured a $132.1 million (€91,6 million) grant in March from the European Union’s European Innovation Fund for its upcoming geothermal project in Bavaria. The company also raised $50.7 million in 2017 and received a $6.7 million grant from the Government of Canada in 2019. https://bit.ly/3PpB4SU

Poka to be acquired by Swedish enterprise software giant IFS in reported $200 million deal.

Québec City-based Poka, which offers communication and skills development tools for manufacturing workers, is set to be acquired by Swedish enterprise software giant IFS. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. However, IFS CEO Darren Roos said the deal was “not far off” $200 million in an interview with The Globe and Mail. IFS expects to complete the transaction in the third quarter of this year. Per Crunchbase data, Poka has raised over $52 million in total funding to date. This includes a $30 million Series B financing in 2021, a $6.4 million round in 2020, as well as a $10 million raise in 2018. https://bit.ly/3CJ8K6v

Rose Rocket raises $50.2 million Series B. Rose Rocket, a maker of transportation management software (TMS), said it has raised a $50.2 million (US$38 million) Series B round.

The latest round brings the startup’s total funding to $91.3 million (US$69 million). The Toronto-based startup, which works on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, said it plans to use the funds to expand into larger fleets of trucking companies in the enterprise space. Scale Venture Partners led the equity round with continued participation from current investors Addition Capital, Shine Capital, Scale-Up Ventures, Funders Club and Y-Combinator. The round closed at the end of March. Rose Rocket’s customer base now numbers between 1,000 and 1,500. Since its founding in 2015, the startup has grown to over 150 employees. It previously raised $31 million (US$25 million) in its Series A funding round in 2021. Before that, Rose Rocket moved to Silicon Valley for Y Combinator’s summer 2016 cohort, securing an undisclosed amount of funding in the process from the incubator. Typically, Y Combinator invests $158,700 (US$120,000) in startups twice a year. https://bit.ly/3NkSXj1

Building-design startup Augmenta raises $15.57 million.

Augmenta announced a $15.57 million (US$11.75 million ) seed extension round of funding on June 21. Augmenta plans to use the money not only to double its staff from 24, but also to run several commercial pilot programs with electrical engineering firms already taking part in the startup’s feedback program. Eclipse led the round with participation from Hazelview Ventures, BDC Capital’s Deep Tech Venture Fund, and Suffolk Technologies. The investment brings Augmenta’s total funds raised to date to $21.01 million (US$15.85 million). Augmenta did not disclose when the round closed. https://bit.ly/3pkEbRr

Altis Labs closes $7.9 million to evaluate cancer treatments using AI.

Toronto-based Altis Labs, which helps biopharmaceutical companies analyze medical imaging and expedite clinical trials using artificial intelligence (AI), has secured $7.9 million CAD ($6 million USD) in seed funding. The round was co-led by New York-based Benchstrength, a spinout from General Catalyst, and the Debiopharm Innovation Fund, the strategic investment arm of Swiss biopharma firm Debiopharm. https://bit.ly/3Nmkm47

Train Fitness closes US$2.5 million to expand automatic workout-tracking app for strength training.

Train Fitness has secured US$2.5 million in seed funding led by Relay Ventures to make recording your workouts at the gym less of an exercise in data entry using artificial intelligence (AI) and smartwatches. The Toronto fitness-tech startup claims its app can help users log strength-training workouts automatically by leveraging proprietary machine learning (ML) models and the existing motion recognition capabilities integrated into the Apple Watch. Train Fitness’s all-equity seed round, which closed at the end of May, also saw participation from BAM Ventures, Anorak Ventures, Boost VC, Alumni Ventures, Spacecadet Ventures, Mana Ventures, Republic Capital, Gambit Partners, undisclosed family offices and angels, and ex-NFL player Coby Fleener. It came at a post-money valuation of $11 million. This capital brings Train Fitness’s total funding to $3.5 million. https://bit.ly/3r34Mmr

Meta to pull news from Facebook and Instagram in Canada.

Meta plans to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada in response to legislation that would require internet giants to pay news publishers. The legislation, known as the Online News Act, was approved by the country’s Senate on Thursday. The law will force internet giants to negotiate compensation deals with news publishers for posting or linking to their content. “We are confirming that news availability will be ended on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada prior to the Online News Act (Bill C-18) taking effect,” Meta said in a blog post. “We have repeatedly shared that in order to comply with Bill C-18, content from news outlets, including news publishers and broadcasters, will no longer be available to people accessing our platforms in Canada.” Meta has made its position on the matter evidently clear ever since the legislation was first proposed in 2021. Last year, the company threatened to block the sharing of Canadian news content unless the government amended the legislation. The company began blocking news on Facebook and Instagram for some users in Canada earlier this month. Now that the bill has been approved by the country’s Senate and will become law after receiving royal assent from the governor general, which is a step that is seen as a formality, Meta is ready to fulfill its threats. https://tinyurl.com/2w2a8ec7

Tiger Global fundraising 55% short of goal.

Tiger Global Management has raised US$2.7 billion for its latest private tech fund, according to securities filings. That was 55% less than the US$6 billion goal it set last fall and 79% lower than its prior, US$12.7 billion fund. The shortfall follows news that other firms that raised huge funds during the pandemic-fueled bull market, including Insight Partners and TCV, have been scaling back their expectations after valuations for private tech startups dropped steeply. Tiger has has been looking to sell stakes it took in other venture capital firms to get more exposure to very young startups, The Information previous reported. It has also been trying to sell stakes in individual startups through a strip sale, or a curated portfolio of mid- and late-stage startups, according to PitchBook News. But it’s had trouble finding a buyer, according to the report. https://tinyurl.com/24rsmkvf

SoftBank to shift to ‘offence mode’ as AI booms.

SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday that his tech investing conglomerate plans to shift its stance to “offence mode” amid excitement over advances in artificial intelligence. The group had retreated into a defensive stance, curbing investment activity as it booked heavy investment losses at its Vision Fund investing arm. “The time has come to shift to offence mode,” Son told shareholders at the group’s annual general meeting. Son, who has stepped back from public pronouncements in recent months, spent much of his presentation to a loyal retail investor base on Wednesday speaking about his enthusiasm for AI. The billionaire said he has spent the last eight months creating inventions that he believes can be realised through the conglomerate’s chip designer Arm. “We want to bring these inventions to fruition step by step. Arm is the key,” he said. SoftBank aims to list Arm on Nasdaq later this year and is seeking to raise between US$8 billion and US$10 billion, Reuters has reported. Arm is in talks with companies including Intel about potential participation in the IPO. SoftBank shares closed up 3.7% and have gained 22.9% year to date. https://tinyurl.com/2wa467vb

Virgin Galactic raises US$300 million, seeks another US$400 million to expand spacecraft fleet.

Virgin Galactic has successfully raised US$300 million via an “at the market” offering of common stock, the company disclosed in a securities filing Thursday. Now, the space tourism company aims to raise an additional US$400 million through a subsequent stock offering, as it looks to fund the development and expansion of its spacecraft fleet. Shares of Virgin Galactic have rallied since the company announced plans to launch its first commercial spaceflight by the end of this month. The company opened the first fundraiser August 4, saying at the time that the funds “would be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital, general and administrative matters, development of its spaceship fleet and other infrastructure to scale its commercial operations.” Virgin Galactic had cash and securities totaling US$874 million at the end of the first quarter, it reported in May. https://tinyurl.com/2s4dv66f

KKR to buy up to €40 billion of PayPal’s European Buy Now, Pay Later loans.

Private equity firm KKR will buy as much as €40 Billion of PayPal’s buy now, pay later loans originated in Europe, PayPal said Tuesday. The deal will cover “substantially all” of PayPal’s existing buy now, pay later loans in Europe, as well as future eligible loans. PayPal will remain responsible for the customer-facing facets, such as underwriting and servicing, of those European BNPL products. The deal is expected to generate US$1.8 billion in gross proceeds for the payments giant, and after it closes, PayPal plans to slate an additional US$1 billion toward stock buybacks this year. PayPal launched its buy now pay later offering in 2020, and it has made more than 200 million such loans since then. Shares of PayPal rose 3.8% in afternoon trading. https://tinyurl.com/udbue59a

Fortress to acquire digital media brand Vice out of bankruptcy.

Fortress Investment Group confirmed its intention to acquire the bankrupt Vice Media Group, whose portfolio includes Vice News, Refinery29 and i-D magazine, after other firms failed to top its offer of US$225 million. The acquisition is expected to close Friday, pending approval from a bankruptcy judge. The amount is a far cry from the US$5.7 billion valuation put on Vice in 2017, the heyday for new media firms including BuzzFeed and Vox Media that have since struggled to grow and suffered big drops in their valuations. Vice struggled worse than others. Its bankruptcy filing painted a picture of a company that used repeated fundraisings to build an expensive infrastructure that only increased its losses. Fortress, which was Vice’s biggest creditor, is likely to cut costs at Vice until it can find buyers for any of the units. Fortress previously managed newspaper chains GateHouse and Gannett, where it slashed jobs on both the business and editorial sides, centralized printing and streamlined content management and payroll systems. https://tinyurl.com/var56sch

Cloud banking vendor nCino explores sale.

nCino, which offers cloud-based software to banks, is exploring its options, including a potential sale, after attracting takeover interest from private equity firms, people familiar with the matter said last Friday. nCino’s board of directors has been in talks about forming a special committee to review the expressions of interest in a deal and decide on its next steps, the sources said. Insight Partners, a private equity firm that owns about 35% of nCino, has not yet decided whether it will participate in any potential deal or simply cash out, the sources added. The sources cautioned that no deal is certain and asked not to be identified because the matter is confidential. Spokespeople for nCino did not immediately respond to requests for comment, while Insight Partners declined to comment. Shares of nCino ended trading in New York last Friday up 24% at US$31.69 on the news, giving the company a market value of about US$3.6 billion. https://tinyurl.com/yeskszb6

Amazon’s iRobot deal faces EU antitrust investigation, sources say.

Amazon’s US$1.7 billion acquisition of robot vacuum cleaner maker iRobot faces a full-scale EU antitrust investigation, people familiar with the matter said, weeks after the U.S. online retail giant won UK approval for the deal. IRobot shares fell about 10%, their largest percentage drop since February last year, while Amazon shares trimmed gains after the Reuters story was published. The European Commission is scheduled to launch a four-month investigation following the end of its preliminary review of the deal on July 6, the people said. Amazon is unlikely to offer remedies during this initial phase, one of the people said. It has a final shot in the next few days at convincing the EU competition watchdog that the deal is pro-competitive, although the odds against it are high. https://tinyurl.com/2actv4f4

Shares of UK online supermarket Ocado soar on talk of Amazon bid interest.

Ocado shares surged by over 40% on Thursday after The Times newspaper reported speculation of possible bid interest in the online supermarket and technology group, recently squeezed by a cost of living crisis in the UK. The Times noted there was talk of bid interest from more than one U.S. suitor including tech heavyweight Amazon, pondering the merits of an offer worth 800 pence (US$10.21) per share – an 86% premium to Ocado’s closing price on Wednesday of 430 pence. Given the share price move, under UK takeover rules if Ocado had received an approach that could result in a firm offer it would normally be obliged to notify the market. If a possible suitor is planning to make an approach but hasn’t yet done so and Ocado doesn’t know about it, the obligation to consult the Takeover Panel sits with the possible bidder and it may be required to make a statement. https://tinyurl.com/m7rexfhk

Nvidia board member cashes out on the chipmaker’s surging stock, selling over 100,000 shares for US$51 million.

Nvidia board member Mark Stevens netted a hefty profit after selling US$51 million worth of the chipmaker’s stock. Per MarketWatch, Stevens sold 118,602 Nvidia shares at a price between US$429.90 and US$434.20 apiece. Stevens joins fellow Nvidia board member Tench Coxe who also recently sold US$21 million worth of stock this month. Nvidia’s stock has rocketed almost 200% this year, riding the AI boom triggered by the successful launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT – boosting the company’s market value by more than US$700 billion to US$1.06 trillion. At close on Wednesday, Nvidia shares stood at US$430.15. https://bit.ly/3pipgHp

Cisco launches new AI networking chips to compete with Broadcom, Marvell.

Cisco Systems on Tuesday launched networking chips for AI supercomputers that would compete with offerings from Broadcom and Marvell Technology. Chips from its SiliconOne series are being tested by five of the six major cloud providers, Cisco said, without naming the firms. Key cloud players include Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, which together dominate the market for cloud computing, according to Bofa Global Research. The rising popularity of AI applications such as ChatGPT, which is powered by a network of specialized chips called graphics processing units (GPUs), has made the speed at which these individual chips communicate extremely important. Cisco is a major supplier of networking equipment including ethernet switches, which connect devices such as computers, laptops, routers, servers and printers to a local area network. It said the latest generation of its ethernet switches, called G200 and G202, have double the performance, compared with the previous generation, and can connect up to 32,000 GPUs together. “G200 & G202 are going to be the most powerful networking chips in the market fueling AI/ML workloads enabling the most power-efficient network,” Cisco fellow and formerly principal engineer Rakesh Chopra said. https://tinyurl.com/5yth9kt9

Google and OpenAI talk to publishers about licensing content for AI.

Some of the world’s largest media publishers are joining the chorus of businesses that want AI companies to pay them to use their content to develop artificial intelligence chatbots. News Corp, Axel Springer, The New York Times and The Guardian are among the media companies that have had talks with at least one major AI company about a potential licensing deal, the Financial Times reported. Such a deal might involve tech companies such as Google agreeing to pay publishers a subscription fee to use their content. One executive at a newspaper group told the Financial Times that Google, which is leading negotiations with U.K. news outlets, “has put a licensing deal on the table.” Google said the executive’s comment was “not accurate.” The report said that Google acknowledged it trained its AI on paywalled content. Discussions between AI companies and media businesses echo an earlier phase of the internet in which some publishers, which took a financial hit by offering their content for free online, later extracted financial concessions from Google as part of a broad partnership. https://tinyurl.com/5n75esnh

Roblox invites its community to build mature experiences for 17+ users.

Roblox is well aware that its young users are getting older, and the company is making every effort to grow up along with them. The platform, once synonymous with younger kids, announced Tuesday that it would allow creators to build mature content designed for users age 17 and up. To create or enjoy those experiences, Roblox users will need to pass an age verification process that requires a government ID and a live selfie. Roblox’s above-17 age group is its fastest growing, and that group comprised nearly 40% of its daily active users last year. Along with Fortnite-maker Epic Games, Roblox is a frontrunner in the race to build the metaverse — an interconnected web of online social hubs packed full of games, pop-up events, live shows and digital goods that can all be navigated with a customizable avatar. https://bit.ly/3NImOTT

Warner Bros. Discovery in talks for program deal with Netflix.

Warner Bros. Discovery is in talks to license parts of its HBO television library to Netflix, making it the first time in almost a decade that original HBO titles would be available on a rival service, according to Deadline. The shift reflects an effort by WBD’s management to boost revenue, even at the expense of hurting its Max streaming service’s competitiveness. WBD is discussing a deal that would allow the HBO shows to still be available on Max, whose name was recently changed from HBO Max. While this would ensure the shows would reach a bigger audience, it could prompt subscribers currently paying for both Netflix and Max to choose one over the other. The potential shift follows a period in which streaming services competed intensely for subscribers by spending heavily on programming. Companies like WBD have lately pulled back in an effort to cut costs. Netflix, meanwhile, has been trying to boost revenue by clamping down on subscribers sharing their passwords with friends and family. https://tinyurl.com/2fp5hzte

Twitter tells investors it will focus on video, payments.

Twitter plans to focus on video, payments and creator partnerships as it attempts to turn around its struggling digital ad business, the company’s new chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, has told investors, according to Reuters. Advertisers including Warner Bros, Mondelez, McDonald’s and Walmart have resumed spending on Twitter, according to an investor presentation viewed by the news outlet. Several major investors paused advertising following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company in late October. Yaccarino also told investors that spending in categories including health, consumer packaged goods and financial services was up 40% year-over-year, according to Reuters, although it’s unclear whether she meant on Twitter or more broadly in the ad industry. Twitter’s second-quarter ad revenue fell around 40% year-over-year, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this month. Twitter’s investor presentation also touted its plans to apply for money transmitter licenses in all 50 states, Reuters reported. One challenge to those plans: he has laid off nearly every employee working on Twitter Payments, its planned in-app payments product, except its chief compliance officer, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. https://tinyurl.com/y5f8d65w

Amazon will hold its Prime Day shopping event on July 11-12.

Amazon announced today that it will host the annual Prime Day shopping event on July 11-12. The company typically offers a lot of discounts to customers to boost sales numbers during this event. The company said the event will start on July 3 a.m. EDT and run through July 12. The Prime Day sales will simultaneously take place in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the U.S., and the UK. However, the company will hold a Prime Day event in India later this summer. Notably, the company omitted any mention of the country in its Q1 2023 earnings — a first since 2014. A report from Insider Intelligence suggests the U.S. ecommerce market will clock US$1.1 trillion this year. While sales grew last year, analysts estimated that growth to be in the single digits. https://bit.ly/43SCutG

TikTok begins selling its own products in the U.K.

TikTok’s parent company ByteDance has started selling its own products, using knowledge of what’s going viral on the app, through a new shopping feature on the TikTok app, according to a Wednesday report by the Financial Times. The shopping feature, called “Trendy Beat,” has appeared for some U.K. users in recent weeks, offering items for sale that have been featured in popular videos. The advertised items are manufactured by a network of suppliers, shipped from China and sold by a Singapore-based company that is owned by ByteDance, the report said. ByteDance has recruited employees from Shein to work on the feature, and ByteDance e-commerce chief Bob Kang thinks that TikTok can replicate the success of apps like Temu, the report said. https://tinyurl.com/mr3ufhws

YouTube to launch first official shopping channel in S. Korea.

YouTube will launch its official shopping channel in South Korea for live commerce later this month for the first time in the world, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. The new channel, set to open June 30, will provide a live commerce platform to companies and plans to livestream shopping content with about 30 brands at launch, according to the people. This is the first time YouTube is opening an official shopping channel in any country in the world. “YouTube is committed to building an engaging, informative and entertaining shopping experience for all users, including in Korea. To do this, we may experiment with a variety of YouTube Shopping features from time to time as we continue to work hard to optimize and deliver the best experience for our users,” a YouTube official told Yonhap News Agency, without providing details. Last year, YouTube rolled out a new shopping tab in its Explore section, allowing eligible creators to tag products in their livestreams or list products under their videos, and viewers to purchase those products. https://bit.ly/3PtUR3F

Global chip race touches off spending spree, led by Intel’s US$50 billion campaign.

Governments compete for new plants to shore up supply chains Subsidies act as a hedge against rising costs for chipmakers. The global race to build domestic factories and sever dependency on overseas suppliers for these critical components is spurring a spending boom, and the biggest beneficiaries so far are arguably the chipmakers. Just in the last week, Intel Corp. has made announcements about more than US$50 billion in new plants in Poland, Germany and Israel, spurred on by government incentives. https://bit.ly/3JrZLdH

Rivian to adopt Tesla’s North American charging standard.

Rivian is the latest automaker to jump on Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS). This comes just weeks after Ford and General Motors announced that their upcoming electric vehicles would have the proper equipment to recharge using Tesla Superchargers. Current Rivian vehicles will get a NACS adapter. Future Rivian vehicles, including current R1T and R1S models, will ship with the NACS charge port as standard equipment. Rivian CEO and founder RJ Scaringe said in a statement that his company is excited to work with Tesla, adding, “The adoption of the North American Charging Standard will enable our existing and future customers to leverage Tesla’s expansive Supercharger network while we continue to build out our Rivian Adventure Network.” According to the press release, Rivian will continue to build its own charging network called the Rivian Adventure Network. It’s unclear (though likely) at this time if these charging stations will also feature NACS chargers. The Rivian Adventure Network features DC fast chargers, with stations located along popular routes and highways. https://tinyurl.com/5n6hvnh5

Fisker to enter China’s hotly contested EV market with local production plans.

Fisker, the electric carmaker founded by the Danish auto designer Henrik Fisker, is gearing up to enter the Chinese market where competition is increasingly cut-throat, following in the footsteps of another brave American player Lucid. Fisker plans to open a delivery center in China this year and commence deliveries of the Fisker Ocean SUV, its first all-electric model, in Q1 2024, according to a recent company announcement. It also aims to start manufacturing in China as early as next year with the potential to add 75,000 Ocean SUVs to its production capacity. Having a China facility should help Fisker address some of the “strong demand” it received from Europe and the U.S., which prompted it to bump its production target to 42,400 by the end of 2023 https://bit.ly/3Xltf2A

Sophic Client OneSoft Solutions Inc. (OSS-TSXV, OSSIF-OTC): Flowing with authenticity – AI pipeline generating recurring revenue from major brands.

Like most investors, we at Sophic Capital see artificial intelligence (AI) making headlines, with many companies have repositioning themselves as AI investments, hoping to ride the AI wave. However, not all AI is really AI; Sophic Capital client OneSoft Solutions Inc, is an exception, with its proven machine learning (ML) solution called Cognitive Integrity Management (or CIM) that is generating recurring revenue from global brands in the midstream pipeline industry. Ever since we first met OneSoft in 2017, management has branded its solution as ML (an AI subset). And unlike many companies rebranding themselves as AI, OneSoft has commercialized its ML for years with major industry customers. OneSoft is forecasting 151,000 miles of pipeline miles on SaaS subscription for its fiscal 2023. To put this in perspective, there are about 660,000 total piggable pipeline miles in the U.S. This means that OneSoft has already converted almost 25% of the U.S. piggable pipeline market from legacy systems to the Company’s cloud and ML solutions The Company is a technology leader, having developed its born-in-the cloud CIM solution that leverages advanced data science and machine learning. OneSoft’s management is strategic and grounded and intends to add new AI features if and as they make sense, largely driven by customer feedback and input. OneSoft’s balance sheet is sound; there are no known competitors commercializing similar AI/ML solutions; and management owns 30% of outstanding shares. Investors who want to invest in an AI company currently monetizing its solution with globally known brands should consider OneSoft Solutions. https://bit.ly/3qUzNJm