AnalytixInsight

Last week, S&P 500 lost 3.05% – its biggest weekly decline in a year. Nasdaq composite fell 5.5% – its worst week since November 2022. However, the first-day stock price of Ibotta, traded up 17% Thursday from its US$88 IPO price, which already was at the top of the range bankers expected. French AI start-up Mistral, is in talks to raise €500 million in a deal that would more than double its valuation to at least €5 billion. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz has completed a US$7.2 billion fundraise, exceeding an earlier target of US$6.9 billion. Italy’s Prysmian announced a deal to buy US firm Encore Wire for an enterprise value of about 3.9 billion euros (US$4.15 billion). Bentley Systems is exploring options that include a sale after attracting acquisition interest. Google could spend more than US$100 billion over time developing its artificial intelligence technology. Microsoft is looking to double new data center capacity. Meta Platforms on Thursday launched a new version of Meta AI, available in its apps and Ray-Ban smart glasses. Baidu’s Ernie AI chatbot now has 200 million users. Shares of critical chip firm ASML dropped 5% as sales missed expectations. TSMC cut its chip market outlook as consumer weakness persisted. TSMC’s stock slid more than 6% in Taipei, the biggest intraday decline in about 18 months. In Canada, Sophic Client, Kraken Robotics reported record 2023 financial results, and sees its strong momentum continuing. For 2024, Kraken reiterated guidance, expecting revenue between $90.0 million and $100.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA in the $18.0 million to $24.0 million range. Sophic Client, UGE International achieved notice to proceed milestone for a 847kw rooftop community solar project in Queens, New York. UGE had the project appraised by a third party for a fair market value of US$2.7 million or USD$3.14/watt.

NASDAQ hit a record close Thursday, then fell 1.6% Friday, ending the week down 0.45%. During the week, S&P 500 lost 1.55%, Dow Jones was down 2.4%. the CBOE Volatility index rose to 17.31 Friday, with a its 19.20 session peak, the highest since last fall. Ibotta Inc., a digital marketing software firm that counts Walmart Inc. as a backer, and shareholders are seeking to raise as much as US$472.5 million in an initial public offering. Tech stocks saw inflows of US$18.6 billion in Q1, the third largest quarterly inflow on record, Bank of America said. OpenAI has told some former employees they can sell shares in an extension of a recent tender offer that valued it at US$86 billion. Investors are seeking US$3 billion for Musk’s xAI at US$18 billion valuation. Intel, Meta and Google are releasing new chips. Adobe is buying videos for US$3 per minute to build AI models. Traders piled into shares of Rent the Runway on Thursday, sending the shares up by more than 220% after the apparel rental firm said it was betting on artificial intelligence tools to power its growth in the current year. Salesforce is in advanced talks to buy Informatica, according to the WSJ. Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company rose as much as 3.2% on Monday as President Joe Biden’s administration approved nearly US$12 billion in grants and loans. In Canada, Galaxy closed its upsized US$125 million bought deal financing. Sophic Client OneSoft announced the expansion of its operations to EMEA. The Company also presented at the AI & Technology Hybrid Investor Conference. Sophic Client, UGE International energized the largest rooftop community solar project in Maine. An independent third party valued the project at USD2.5 million, or US$2.62/Watt. The Canadian federal government committed $2.4 billion to AI compute, startups, and safety through Budget 2024.

Markets closed the week rebounding from intra week loses. For the week, Dow Jones lost 2.3%, S&P 500 fell 0.95%, Nasdaq composite declined 0.8%. Rubrik files to go public as tech companies see a thawing of IPO market. Chipmaker Cerebras Systems is targeting a listing in the second half of the year at the earliest, and may seek a valuation in the IPO that would value it above the US$4 billion figure achieved in its 2021 funding round. Tiger Global closed a US$2.2 billion fund, 63% lower than target. Tesla delivered fewer cars in the first quarter than it has in any quarter in more than a year, marking the end of an era of growth at the electric vehicle maker. Elon Musk said Tesla will present its new Robotaxi in August. Google is considering charging a fee for artificial intelligence features in its search results. Microsoft is working on an Xbox AI chatbot. The Company will also separate Office, Teams products globally as regulatory pressures mount. Apple exploring a ‘mobile robot’ that ‘follows users around their homes’. AT&T confirmed a data breach and reset millions of customer passcodes. Retail giant, Walmart, is investing tens of millions of dollars into community solar projects as part of its broader push to purchase clean electricity. In Canada, Sophic Capital client Legend Power Systems Inc. (LPS-TSXV, LPSIF-OTC) reported record purchase orders of over $2.5 million, sending the stock up over 45% for the week. Sophic Capital Xcyte Digital (XCYT-TSXV) purchased assets of A+ Conferencing. This first transaction from Xcyte’s deep M&A funnel, nearly doubles the Company’s revenue run-rate. Sophic Client OneSoft Solutions Inc. (OSS-TSXV, OSSIF-OTC) reported results for fiscal 2023 and reiterated fiscal 2024 guidance of ~44-54% y/y revenue growth. Dye & Durham (DND-TSX) announced pricing of its refinancing transactions. Toronto-based FinTech startup Brim Financial has secured $85 million in its Series C financing.

Thursday was the last trading day in Q1, which saw S&P 500 up 10.2%, its best Q1 since 2019. Dow Jones gained 5.7%, its strongest Q1 since 2021. Nasdaq was up 9.2%. For the week, S&P 500 was up 0.4%, setting an intraday all-time high Thursday. Dow Jones Industrial rose 0.8%, and set a record close Thursday. Nasdaq composite lost 0.3%, just below its peak. WSJ notes when S&P 500 gains over 8% in Q1, it has finished higher for the rest of the year 94% of the time, with an average gain of 9.7% for the final three quarters. Amazon on Wednesday said it would commit US$4 billion to Anthropic, capping the second-biggest fundraising by an AI startup in recent memory. Reddit stock’s stellar market debut has drawn significant bearish bets, data from analytics company Ortex on Wednesday showed. The most popular DWAC options eye a 95% plunge over next month. DraftKings shares slumped on news NCAA wants to ban college prop bets. Robinhood stock surged as much as 7% on Wednesday after the company launched a solid gold credit card that offers its users 3% cashback rewards. Elon Musk said Tesla Optimus robot should cost ‘less than half of a car’. Sophic Capital Client, ADM Endeavors, received final building permits for its new Texas facility. Once completed, the facility could increase production capacity by up to five times, significantly increasing current maximum in-house revenue capacity of US$7 million. Quisitive announced an agreement to sell BankCard USA, which could unlock shareholder value. Canadian pension fund PSP will co-lead a funding round in Toronto based Cohere at a US$5 billion valuation. Four school boards in Canada Wednesday filed lawsuits against Meta Platforms, Snap and TikTok parent ByteDance, claiming the social media platforms have harmed children’s mental health and disrupted the education systems.