AnalytixInsight

Last week, Dow Jones declined less than 0.1%, S&P 500 rose 0.6%, and Nasdaq composite gained 1.5%. Investors aggressively allocated funds into U.S. tech stocks at the fastest rate in 16 years, despite geopolitical tensions and market volatility. Nvidia became the first company to reach a valuation of US$4 trillion. Crypto asset manager Grayscale confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, following Circle’s successful public debut. Elon Musk suggested Tesla shareholders would vote on whether to invest in his AI initiative, xAI, after reports surfaced regarding SpaceX’s planned US$2 billion investment into the same entity. Uber unveiled plans for significant investments in Lucid Motors and Nuro, collaborating on the deployment of over 20,000 robotaxis by 2026. Apple committed a US$500 million investment toward rare earth magnet production, partnering with MP Materials. Meta Platforms announced expansive multi-gigawatt data center projects in Ohio and Louisiana. Robinhood reported that nearly half of its new coding is generated by AI tools, highlighting swift adoption in software engineering. The past few weeks saw a revival of financing announcements in the Canadian innovation sector totalling nearly $200 million following an extended period of low activity. Sophic Capital client Kraken Robotics successfully completed a $115 million bought deal. BTQ Technologies closed a $40 million brokered LIFE financing. Volatus Aerospace announced two separate fully subscribed LIFE offerings totaling $15 million. Gatekeeper Systems (GSI-TSXV) initiated a $10 million bought deal private placement. Sophic client Plurilock Security secured a major $2.54 million AI cybersecurity contract with a NASDAQ-listed enterprise and was named a Certified Services Partner by global cybersecurity leader Forcepoint. EMERGE Commerce’s newly acquired golf brand Tee 2 Green (T2G) exceeded expectations, achieving 34% revenue growth and rapidly surpassing its upfront acquisition cost, reflecting robust synergies and targeted marketing execution. The Company also issued a positive Q2 pre-announcement, and held an investor update call.

Last week, markets held up narrowly in the face of ongoing geopolitical tensions, Fed meeting and triple witching Friday. Dow Jones was up fractionally, S&P 500 lost 0.15%, Nasdaq composite was up 0.2%. Global IPO activity has remained sluggish, with volumes down about 9.3% year-on-year to US$44.3 billion, driven by uncertainty from tariffs, volatility, and rising interest rates. Despite this, Asian markets, particularly China and Japan, showed strength, with CATL’s US$4.6 billion IPO marking the largest globally this year. Goldman Sachs resumed SPAC underwriting, reflecting easing regulatory pressures in the U.S., while crypto billionaire Justin Sun’s Tron announced plans to go public via a reverse merger with SRM Entertainment. Coinbase and Circle surged following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the landmark GENIUS Act to regulate stablecoins, boosting investor confidence in digital assets. Coinbase rose 16%, and Circle jumped 30%, significantly outperforming payment giants Visa and Mastercard, whose stocks fell amid concerns over potential disruptions from stablecoins. JPMorgan will launch a Dollar token on Coinbase’s blockchain. Meanwhile, major tech developments included Apple’s internal discussions on acquiring AI search startup Perplexity, valued at US$14 billion, and Elon Musk’s xAI burning US$1 billion monthly as it aggressively builds its AI models. Meta expanded its smart-glasses collaboration to Prada and Oakley brands, underscoring its wearable tech ambitions. Microsoft prepared for thousands more layoffs primarily in its sales division, continuing a broader restructuring strategy. In Canada, Sophic Capital client, Kraken Robotics announced a substantial $100 million bought-deal financing to accelerate global expansion, acquisitions, and bolster its balance sheet, highlighting its transition into a prime global contractor. Boardwalktech raised ~$400K through a non-brokered private placement, strengthening its financial position. Cybeats highlighted a major market inflection point as the EU formally adopted mandatory SBOM data exchange requirements, positioning Cybeats to capitalize significantly across 27 EU countries.

Last week, as geopolitical tensions resurfaced once again, Dow Jones fell 1.3%, S&P 500 index lost 0.4%, and Nasdaq composite was down 0.6%. Voyager Technologies’ IPO surged 82%, reflecting strong investor appetite for space technology stocks. Crypto exchange Bullish confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO, continuing the trend set by Circle’s recent blockbuster debut. Meta finalized a substantial US$14.3 billion investment in Scale AI to accelerate superintelligence development. Databricks projected reaching US$3.7 billion annual revenue. Qualcomm announced it would acquire semiconductor firm Alphawave Semi for US$2.4 billion to bolster its data center capabilities, while DoorDash acquired Symbiosys for US$175 million to enhance its ad technology platform. OpenAI, despite competition, opted to rent chips from Google Cloud to expand its AI computing capabilities. OpenAI claims to have hit US$10 billion in annual revenue, and according to Sam Altman, AI will be able to have ‘novel insights’ next year. Nvidia’s CEO confidently predicted competitors’ AI chip projects would likely be canceled given Nvidia’s accelerating innovation. A more than two-fold gain in CoreWeave’s shares since the end of April has saddled short sellers with US$1.6 billion in paper losses. Snap plans to sell AR glasses in 2026. Walmart, Amazon, Expedia and other companies have explored whether to issue their own stablecoins in the US. Shopify announced it will be integrating stablecoin payments through partnerships with Coinbase and Stripe, marking a significant crypto expansion slated to roll out widely later this year. Thinkific announced a $13 million secondary share offering. In news pertaining to Sophic Capital clients, Boardwalktech renewed a key multi-year agreement with a major U.S. bank, expanding the use of its Velocity product, which has demonstrated strong ROI potential, further attracting other banks including entering proof-of-concept stages in Mexico.

Markets closed the week up, despite the social media drama between Musk and Trump. Dow Jones was up 1.2%, S&P 500 closed up 1.5%, Nasdaq composite gained 2.2%. IPO momentum strengthened, with Circle surging 180% in its debut, and Gemini filed confidentially for an IPO. Banking app Chime set a tentative IPO valuation around US$10.7 billion, while Voyager Technologies aims for a US$1.6 billion IPO valuation. Despite these bright spots, enterprise software IPO activity has remained muted, constrained by valuation challenges. Singapore’s sovereign fund Temasek notably reduced startup investments significantly, shifting toward lower-risk assets. Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s xAI prepared a US$300 million secondary share sale at a valuation of US$113 billion. SpaceX is on track for US$15.5 billion revenue. Samsung is close to a deal to invest in Perplexity and put the AI startups’s search tech onto its phones. Meta aims to fully automate Ad creation using AI. Meta signed a nuclear power deal with Constellation Energy. Shares of data center developer Applied Digital rose 50% after the company said it leased part of a large facility to CoreWeave, a firm that rents out Nvidia chips to artificial intelligence developers. Amazon will test robots for delivering packages. Walmart and Wing will expand drone delivery to five more US cities. In Canada, Sophic Capital client, Ionik reported strong Q1 2025 results, highlighted by 62% Adjusted EBITDA growth. Plurilock announced record quarterly revenue growth and secured new critical-services contracts totaling $1.3 million, underscoring its leadership in cybersecurity services. Legend Power Systems received a follow-on order for four additional SmartGATE units, reinforcing customer adoption and margin expansion opportunities. Cybeats Technologies expanded its SBOM Studio contract with a Fortune 500 water infrastructure firm by 34%. AMD will acquire the engineering team from Toronto-based Untether AI. Crypto startup Rails raised US$14 million, launching its hybrid exchange platform to blend decentralized control with centralized performance.