AnalytixInsight

H1 2022 was a brutal start to the year — the Nasdaq was down almost 30%, for its worst first half on record, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 15%, for its worst first-half performance since 1962, and the S&P 500 closed down over 20%, for its worst first half since 1970. US markets climbed a bit on Friday, but the major indices were still down for last week, after having posted weekly losses in four out of the last five weeks. At a time when U.S. venture dollars are slowing down, CIBC Innovation Banking is announcing $1.5 billion in growth capital commitments, dubbed “Unicorn Fuel,” to focus on later-stage companies across software, life sciences, healthcare and clean tech industries. Sophic Client UGE (UGE-TSXV, UGEIF-OTC) secured $25 million to deploy six community solar projects in Maine. Sophic Client Clear Blue Technologies (CBLU-TSXV, CBUTF-OTC, 0YA-FRA) announced a $4-million non-dilutive Government of Canada financing. Draftkings was fined $100,000 in Ontario for advertising violations. EToro seems likely to abandon its deal to go public via SPAC merger. Short video app Triller confidentially filed for a U.S. IPO. Klarna will raise cash at a US$6.5 billion valuation, in dramatic 85% down round. Nio shares slid Wednesday after a short seller accused the Chinese electric vehicle maker of artificially inflating its financial figures. Chinese electric vehicle maker Li Auto will raise US$2 billion from U.S. investors in a new stock offering. Tesla lays off nearly 200 Autopilot workers, and shutters its San Mateo office. Facebook warns of engineer job cuts, and a sharp downturn ahead. The FCC Commissioner writes to Apple and Google about removing TikTok. FTX says it is not in active talks to buy Robinhood. Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital plunges into liquidation. Crypto broker Voyager Digital (VOYG-TSX) suspends withdrawals.

Last week was a welcome relief for markets, as the Nasdaq ended the week up 7.5%, and the S&P 500 was up 6.6% for the week. BlockFi signed a term sheet with crypto exchange FTX to access a US$250 million revolving credit line. Polestar goes public amid uncertainty around EV stocks, via a SPAC. Elon Musk says Tesla’s new factories are ‘gigantic money furnaces’ that are losing billions of dollars from EV-battery shortages and supply-chain snags. Shares of Zendesk Inc. soared 29.5% in premarket trading Friday, after the customer experience platform company confirmed a deal to be acquired by an investor group in an all-cash deal valued at about US$10.2 billion. DocuSign’s CEO Dan Springer is stepping down, the virtual signature company announced Tuesday. DocuSign did not specify why Springer was leaving, but the company’s share price has fallen more than 75% over the past year. Apple’s mixed reality headset will “likely release in January 2023,” according to reliable supply chain analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo. Meta revealed VR headset prototypes designed to make VR ‘indistinguishable from reality’. A Congressional report said Robinhood understated liquidity problems during meme stock craze. Intel delays groundbreaking ceremony for Ohio plant amid uncertainty over chips legislation. Tesla and California utility PG&E launched a new program that will pay eligible Powerwall owners to send extra electricity to the grid when it’s vulnerable to blackouts. An electric Mercedes-Benz drove 747 miles without recharging, nearly twice the range of Tesla’s Model S. In Canada, Toronto-based startup, Ataccama secured $194 million in growth capital from American private investment firm Bain Capital. Twitter partnered with Shopify to bring merchants’ products to Twitter Shopping. Shopify launched around a 100 new features last week, including in social commerce, local shopping offers with Google, cryptocurrency, B2B selling. Sophic Client, Reklaim (MYID-TSXV, MYIDF-OTC) closed $1.3 million non-brokered private placement and streamlined operations to cash neutral.

Major indices reverted back to their pre COVID peaks, and the S&P posted its worst week since March 2020 despite a slight rise yesterday, according to Morning Brew. M&A is likely to pick up, and is likely to be a significant driver of value for Canadian tech firms in 2022, according to PwC. Telus Corp. (T-TSX) said Thursday it agreed to pay $2.3 billion (US$1.8 billion) plus assume $600 million in debt to buy LifeWorks Inc (LWRK-TSX), a Toronto-based human resource consulting and technology services company in the health and wellness sector. Thirty-five privately-held Canadian tech startups are on their way towards reaching $1 billion in annual revenue, according to a new data-based initiative from Kitchener-Waterloo tech hub Communitech. Voyager Digital (VOYG-TSX) signed a term sheet for US$200 million and 15,000 BTC revolving line of credit with Alameda Research. Klarna Bank AB is considering raising fresh funds at a significantly lower valuation than it achieved a year ago, according to people familiar with the situation, a sign of the punishing environment for tech companies. Roku stock jumped after unveiling Walmart e-commerce partnership. Shares of e-commerce companies Jumia and MercadoLibre plummet following Insider’s report about Amazon’s expansion plan in Africa and South America. Alibaba, NIO stocks soar after report Ant Group OK’d to set up financial holding company. The U.S.-listed shares of China-based companies were seeing big and broad gains in premarket trading Friday, after Reuters reported that China’s central bank accepted Ant Group’s application to set up a financial holding company. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor says there’s no margin call on its bitcoin loan and it has plenty of collateral. Coinbase stock falls 15% as cryptocurrencies lose billions.