AnalytixInsight

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.

The market had another strong week, especially the Nasdaq, even after some modest losses Friday. With the Nasdaq now appearing stretched from its moving averages, some caution may be warranted, especially with the handful names driving most year-to-date gains. Last week, Dow Jones was up 1.25%, S&P 500 was up 2.6% (best weekly performance since March), Nasdaq was up 3.25% for its 8th consecutive weekly advance. Arm in talks with big clients about investing in IPO, which include, Intel, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, TSMC, and Samsung. Salesforce pledges to invest US$500 million in generative AI startups. Microsoft CFO says OpenAI and other AI products will add US$10 billion in revenue. Nvidia GPUs are so hard to get that rich venture capitalists are buying them for the startups they invest in. AMD reveals new A.I. chip to challenge Nvidia’s dominance. Nasdaq announced a US$10.5 billion deal to scoop up a behind-the-scenes tech provider. Bloomberg reported Apple is aiming to release a more affordable AR/VR spatial computer product by the end of 2025. Netflix subscriptions rise as password-sharing crackdown takes effect. US cyber insurance premiums surged 50% in 2022 as increased ransomware attacks and online commerce drove demand for coverage. In Canada, Executives at Shopify began discussing a sale of the e-commerce giant’s logistics business in late 2022, even as they publicly committed to investing more money to build out its fulfillment network, The Information reported on Tuesday. Québec City-based automotive software provider LeddarTech has inked a SPAC deal to go public on Nasdaq. US-made wind and solar components are now cheaper than imports, according to researchers. New guidance from the US Treasury could unleash billions in renewable energy investment. Previously, to make the most of the tax credits available to them, renewable energy project developers had to create complex and expensive tax equity deals. Sophic Client Clear Blue received a $375K order. This contract increases Clear Blue’s 2023 Year-To-Date bookings to $4,975,000, of which $4,325,000 is expected to be recognized in 2023. Dapper Labs made an investment in Web3 gaming company GameOn.

Last week, Dow Jones rose 0.3%, S&P 500 was up 0.4%, and Nasdaq composite was up 0.1%, the small-cap Russell 2000 rose 1.65%. As the S&P was just above the 20% rise threshold, it’s technically a new “bull market”. According to market watchers, it’s taken longer to get here than any other Bull market since the 1950s. While market leadership has remained very narrow and AI focused, the move up in the Russell 2000 is encouraging. Apple on Monday unveiled a headset that blends virtual reality with augmented reality—digital content and apps overlaid on the real world. Shares of Unity Software popped more than 11% Monday after Apple announced that it was working with the company on its new headset. The SEC is cracking down on crypto and sued Coinbase, Binance and its CEO, Changpeng Zhao. Elon Musk’s Neuralink saw its valuation soar to US$5 billion after private stock trades. Intel will raise about US$1.5 billion from Mobileye stake sale. GitLab shares surged 18% on 2Q, FY24 outlook. Shares of Stitch Fix surged more than 25% on Wednesday, after company laid out plans to further cut costs and focus on the U.S. Billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller plans to hold on to Nvidia stock for at least the near future as the chipmaker is exposed to an artificial intelligence trend could be as “transformative as the internet.” General Motors will make its electric vehicles compatible with Tesla’s supercharger network, the series of 12,000 chargers across the country for recharging the batteries of EVs, the company said Thursday. In Canada, Toronto based OpenAI rival, Cohere was in the news last week, as it raised US$270 million from Oracle, and Nvidia, bringing its total funding to US$435 million, and the Company is also preparing to work closely with Oracle. Sophic Clients UGE International and Clear Blue presented at the inaugural Canadian Climate Investor Conference in Toronto last week.