November 24, 2024: Rally Back On! IPOs On The Horizon

Last week, Dow Jones gained almost 2%, and set a record close Friday, S&P 500 and the Nasdaq composite were up around 1.7%.ServiceTitan, which sells software to help tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians and landscapers run their businesses, filed paperwork for its IPO. Klarna’s planned IPO is fueling hopes that a long drought of fintech listings may be coming to an end. AI cloud platform CoreWeave, is aiming for a valuation of over US$35 billion in its expected 2025 IPO. Anthropic raises another US$4 billion from Amazon, and makes AWS its ‘primary’ training partner. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he doesn’t expect the rate of improvement of large language models to slow down, despite recent reports that upcoming LLMs from his company as well as from Google and OpenAI didn’t show as many performance gains compared to earlier models. OpenAI has discussed powering AI in Samsung devices, similar to Apple. Elon Musk’s xAI startup was valued at US$50 billion in a new funding round. Nvidia forecasts 70% quarterly growth as the AI boom continues. Shares of database provider Snowflake jumped more than 19% after it reported that sales grew 28%. Trump’s social media group is reportedly in talks to buy crypto platform Bakkt. Nasdaq poised to list spot-Bitcoin ETF options as crypto assets rally. In Canada, Sophic Client Ionik acquired Rise4 for a total aggregate purchase price of almost US$20 million, in cash, debt and stock, and an earn-out consideration. Sophic Client Kraken Robotics reported Q3 2024 results. Revenue declined 4% y/y to $19.5 million, owing to lower KATFISH and Remote Mine Disposal System (RMDS) revenue. The Companyh’s 2024 revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance remains unchanged (revenue of $90.0 million to $100.0 million, and Adjusted EBITDA of $18.0 million to $24.0 million), implying strong q/q growth in Q4. Sophic Client Intermap was awarded an initial U.S. Department of Defense subcontract. Sophic Client American Aires showcased its technology at the UFC Performance Institute. The first Neuralink clinical trials outside the US will take place in Canada.

Sophic Client Ionik (INIK-TSXV, INIKF-OTCQX) acquires Rise4.

PopReach Corporation (dba Ionik) (“Ionik” or the “Company”) announces that it has acquired Rise4 Inc. (“Rise4”), a performance marketing company headquartered in Guelph, Ontario (the “Transaction”) for a total aggregate purchase price of approximately US$19.9 million, consisting of a combination of cash, debt and stock, plus the earn-out consideration. Founded in 2022, Rise4 is a team of 15, led by several 15-year plus veterans of the performance marketing space, focused on omnichannel user acquisition, content creation and search monetization. Rise4 contributes meaningful revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted Free Cash Flow1 today and is experiencing a high growth rate given its early stage, which will improve Ionik’s organic growth rate going forward; Synergistic Performance Marketing Technology: Performance marketing involves acquiring high quality, high intent users, providing those users with the information and outcome they are searching for and connecting those users to the advertisers seeking to reach them. Pursuant to the definitive transaction agreement (the “Transaction Agreement”) entered into on November 18, 2024 among Ionik, Rise4 Inc. and the shareholders of Rise4 (the “Sellers”), Ionik acquired all of the issued and outstanding shares of Rise4 from the Sellers in exchange for aggregate consideration of approximately US$19.9 million, being comprised of US$8.5 million in cash (the “Cash Consideration”), US$9.5 million in non-interest bearing vendor take-back debt (the “VTB Debt”) and the issuance of 23.0 million common shares of Ionik (the “Consideration Shares”), with an approximate value of US$1.9 million based on the November 15, 2024 closing price per share of C$0.115 (the “Closing Price”) and a C$:US$ exchange rate of 1.4079. The net current liabilities assumed by Ionik on Rise4’s balance sheet as at Closing is $NIL. Additionally, as earn-out consideration, the Sellers shall be entitled to 25% of Rise4’s Adjusted EBITDA for the five-year period following closing of the Transaction (the “Closing”), up to a maximum of US$25.0 million (the “Earn-Out”). https://t.co/r8MTCfCQJ8

Sophic Client Kraken Robotics (PNG-TSXV, KRKNF-OTC) Robotics reports Q3 2024 financial results.

Kraken Robotics Inc. announced it has filed financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2024 (“Q3 2024”). Consolidated revenue for Q3 2024 declined 4% to $19.5 million compared to $20.3 million for the quarter ending September 30, 2023. The year-over-year decline occurred as a significant increase in SeaPower™ subsea batteries and Services revenue (Sub-Bottom Imager™ and Acoustic Corer™) did not offset lower KATFISH™ and Remote Mine Disposal System (RMDS) revenue. Gross profit in Q3 2024 increased 3% to $10.3 million implying a 52.5% gross profit margin percentage compared to 49.1% in Q3 2023. The year-over-year improvement relates to a change in revenue mix over the prior year. Sequentially, gross margin improved from 51.0% in Q2 2024. Adjusted EBITDA declined 6% in the quarter to $4.1 million compared to $4.4 million in the prior year due to slightly lower revenue in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA margin in the quarter stood at 21.2% compared to 21.7% in the comparable quarter. Financial Guidance: Our annual revenue and adjusted EBITDA financial guidance remains unchanged. Kraken expects revenue between $90.0 million to $100.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA1 in the $18.0 million to $24.0 million range. Capital and intangible asset expenditures in 2024 are now expected to be in the $4.0 million to $5.0 million (versus $6.0 million to $7.0 million previously). Total assets were $101.2 million on September 30, 2024, compared to $76.4 million on September 30, 2023. Cash at the end of the quarter totaled $14.9 million. Subsequent to the quarter end, Kraken completed an equity financing for gross proceeds of $51.7 million. https://t.co/7nm5dm9Q9R

Sophic Client Intermap (IMP-TSX, ITMSF-OTC) awarded initial U.S. Department of Defense subcontract for Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate.

Intermap Technologies announced a subcontract award with Endurance Group, a NC Defense Contracting company, and the prime contractor to provide the Pentagon’s Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD) with an augmented reality platform for subterranean use by military and law enforcement agencies. This contract was awarded by IWTSD under the CY 2024 Defense Budget, with Intermap’s initial work commencing during Q3 2024. IWTSD identifies, develops and fields capabilities for the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct irregular warfare against all adversaries including Great Power competitors and non-state actors, and delivers those capabilities to DOD components and interagency partners supporting U.S. military operations. https://t.co/dFC5dj4SrA

Sophic Client American Aires (WIFI-CSE, AAIRF-OTCQB) showcases advanced technology at UFC Performance Institute with “Next Frontier of UFC Training and Performance” symposium. American Aires Inc.

marked a significant milestone in its partnership with UFC by co-hosting a first-of-its-kind symposium on the eve of UFC 309 on Friday, November 15, 2024. “The Next Frontier of UFC Training and Performance” event spotlighted the role of advanced technology in athlete care and peak performance, showcasing Aires Tech’s advanced solutions now integrated into the UFC Performance Institute (“UFC PI”). (3.5-minute highlight video can be viewed here.) The roundtable discussion highlighted the UFC PI’s renowned status, described by many as the “gold standard” in health, wellness, and performance for UFC athletes. With the addition of Aires Tech’s electromagnetic field (“EMF”) radiation protection technology, the UFC PI continues to advance its holistic approach to ensuring more effective training and recovery for UFC athletes. Dr. Duncan French, Senior Vice President, UFC PI, shared his enthusiasm for Aires Tech’s impact in a published testimonial: “When I first saw how Aires Tech mitigates the negative effects of EMF on brain activity, I was blown away. It was astonishing to witness the silent effects of EMF radiation on human physiology, and seeing how Aires Tech can restore optimal brain function through EEG recordings was impressive. The science behind it is truly remarkable.” Dr. French’s full remarks on the effectiveness of Aires Tech’s partnership in supporting the UFC’s athlete performance can be found here. https://tinyurl.com/47597e7n

Sophic Client Plurilock (PLUR-TSXV, PLCKF-OTCQB) announces US$820,000 order with a state law enforcement agency.

Plurilock Security Inc., received a two-year sales order for a total of US$820,000 with a State Law Enforcement Agency (the “Customer”) dated November 13, 2024. The one-year contract with one optional year for a total of two years was awarded through the Company’s Aurora Systems Consulting subsidiary, and will provide the Customer with Intrusion Detection and Prevention Systems (IDPS). In connection with this US$820,000 sales order, the Company anticipates that both the expenses associated with fulfillment of this order and the gross margin will be consistent with the Company’s historic Solutions Division hardware and system sales business as previously reported in the Company MD&A. The Company expects to delivery and fulfillment to occur during Q4, 2024. https://t.co/jUKFsroeDs

Noble closes US$15 million Series A to fuel growth of its digital asset issuance platform.

Toronto-based digital asset issuance platform Noble has secured US$15 million in Series A financing led by San Francisco-based cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm. The blockchain startup’s round also saw participation from a slew of other Web3 investors, including Polychain, Foresight Ventures, Wintermute Ventures, Toronto’s Informal Systems, and undisclosed angels from Celestia, Skip Protocol, Succinct, and Conduit. It brings Noble’s total funding to US$18.3 million. The collapse of Terra and its Luna stablecoin in 2022 spurred the launch of Noble. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged to a commodity or fiat currency such as the https://tinyurl.com/yzuyexuj

Neuralink gets approval to start human trials in Canada.

The first Neuralink clinical trials outside the US will take place in Canada. Neuralink has secured Health Canada’s approval to launch human trials in the country, with the Toronto Western Hospital being the “first and exclusive surgical site” for the procedure. The company first opened its Canadian patient registry in March this year, but now it’s actively looking for potential participants. “Recruitment is now open,” it has announced on X. https://tinyurl.com/2b8xrfne

Software firm ServiceTitan files for IPO.

ServiceTitan, which sells software to help tradespeople such as plumbers, electricians and landscapers run their businesses, filed paperwork for an initial public offering. The filing showed that the company’s revenue grew 31% to US$614 million in the 12 months to January 2024 but lost US$195 million during the same period. Its top-line growth rate slowed to 24% in the six months ending in July. Founded in 2007, ServiceTitan had planned to go public at a US$20 billion valuation in 2021, according to a Reuters report, but the offering was called off as interest rates rose and the number of new listings overall contracted. The company garnered a US$9.5 billion valuation in a mid-2021 fundraising from investors including Thoma Bravo and Tiger Global Management. It then raised another US$250 million in debt-like financing from Coatue Management in 2023, by which time its valuation had fallen sharply, The Information previously reported. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are among the banks leading the offering. Investors Bessemer Venture Partners and ICONIQ Growth each hold more than 5% of ServiceTitan’s common stock. https://tinyurl.com/4de3p8n2

Klarna’s planned IPO sets the stage for more fintech listings.

Klarna Bank AB’s planned initial public offering is fueling hopes that a long drought of fintech listings may be coming to an end, heralding a wave of debuts for the sector over the next couple of years. The Swedish buy-now, pay-later giant plans to go public in New York during the first half of next year, Bloomberg has reported. A successful listing — coupled with rising share prices and the prospect of lighter regulation during a second Donald Trump presidency — could finally prompt some of Klarna’s peers to do the same, according to bankers, venture capitalists and analysts.
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CoreWeave targets valuation of over US$35 billion in 2025 US IPO, sources say.

Artificial intelligence cloud platform CoreWeave, is aiming for a valuation of more than US$35 billion in its U.S. initial public offering that is expected to occur next year, people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Roseland, New Jersey-based CoreWeave is likely to target raising more than US$3 billion from its share sale, which could launch during the second quarter of 2025, the sources said, cautioning that the company’s plans are subject to market conditions and could change. Reuters reported in September that data center operator Switch is exploring an IPO that could value the company at about UD$40 billion, including debt. Funding for private AI and cloud startups in the U.S., Europe and Israel is rising after three years of decline, and is estimated to touch US$79.2 billion by the end of this year, venture capital firm Accel said in October. CoreWeave offers access to data centers and high-powered chips for AI workloads, primarily supplied by Nvidia, one of the company’s main backers. It competes against larger cloud computing service providers such as tech giant Microsoft’s Azure and Amazon’s AWS. CoreWeave recently completed a US$650 million secondary share sale, which valued it at US$23 billion. Investors led by Jane Street, Magnetar, Fidelity Management, and Macquarie Capital participated in the secondary stock deal. https://tinyurl.com/2ruukc3a

Chinese AV startup Pony AI boosts its IPO goal to US$260 million.

Pony AI, the Chinese autonomous vehicle startup that’s looking to go public on the Nasdaq stock exchange, now wants to raise around US$260 million, according to a new regulatory filing. That’s up from its previous target of around US$224 million. To meet the goal, Pony will sell as many as 20 million American depository shares. That’s still down from the much higher target of US$425 million, which Pony was aiming for earlier this year before its board approved a reduction of its minimum valuation from around US$8 billion to US$4 billion. Pony has had its struggles with early testing in the United States, including losing its permit to test AVs in 2022. Meanwhile, it maintains a fleet of 190 “robotrucks” in Beijing and Guangzhou, plus 250 robotaxis in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Shanghai. This has led some, including former Waymo CEO John Krafcik to question why Pony is gunning for a U.S. IPO? There is still demand for Chinese AV companies on U.S. exchanges. But the shifting financial target suggests Pony is still crafting the exact answer to that question. https://tinyurl.com/4njexvfm

Nasdaq poised to list spot-Bitcoin ETF options as crypto assets rally.

Bloomberg’s ETF IQ on Monday. “Getting these options listed on IBIT into the market I think will be very exciting for investors because that’s really what we have heard from them.” A Nasdaq spokesperson confirmed the launch Tuesday. The move comes after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued a notice that cleared the way for the Options Clearing Corporation to oversee the market. Hennessy says Nasdaq and Blackrock have been working with regulators for over 10 months to make this happen. The iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF has amassed nearly $30 billion in assets since its launch, by far the biggest in the cohort. Having options on an ETF expands the trading possibilities, says Eric Balchunas at Bloomberg Intelligence, and will ultimately drive volumes and assets into the product. “These group of ETFs did not need this. They are successful on their own merit. But this is a pretty big tailwind to an already juggernaut situation,” said the ETF senior analyst. “Options allow you have to express opinions on something with more specificity.” https://archive.ph/vpvXW

Anthropic raises another US$4 billion from Amazon, makes AWS its ‘primary’ training partner.

Anthropic has raised an additional US$4 billion from Amazon, and has agreed to train its flagship generative AI models primarily on Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon’s cloud computing division. The OpenAI rival also said it’s working with Annapurna Labs, AWS’ chipmaking division, to develop future generations of Trainium accelerators, AWS’ custom-built chips for training AI models. This new cash infusion brings Amazon’s total investment in Anthropic to US$8 billion while maintaining the tech giant’s position as a minority investor, Anthropic said. To date, Anthropic has raised US$13.7 billion in venture capital, according to Crunchbase. https://tinyurl.com/2m4xwhue

Elon Musk’s xAI startup is valued at US$50 billion in new funding round.

Elon Musk’s artificial-intelligence startup, xAI, has told investors it raised US$5 billion in a funding round valuing it at US$50 billion—more than twice what it was valued at several months ago. Qatar’s sovereign-wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority, and investment firms Valor Equity Partners, Sequoia Capital and Andreessen Horowitz are expected to participate in the round, according to people familiar with the matter. The financing brings the total amount xAI has raised to US$11 billion this year. xAI was previously raising funds at a US$40 billion valuation, before factoring in the new cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. Over the past few weeks, xAI raised that figure by US$5 billion in negotiations with investors. The infusion of new cash brings its total post-investment value to US$50 billion. xAI was valued at US$24 billion when it raised US$6 billion in the spring. Investor interest in Musk’s businesses, including xAI and SpaceX, has increased since Donald Trump won the presidential election. Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars to boost Trump’s campaign and led rallies on behalf of the Republican. He has worked on the early stages of Trump’s transition back to the White House and is co-leading an effort to cut government spending. Tesla’s stock is up about 35% from its close on Election Day through Wednesday. https://tinyurl.com/bdn8xujd

Oura valued at US$5 billion following deal with medical device firm Dexcom.

Smart ring maker Oura announced on Tuesday that it has received a US$75 million investment from glucose device maker Dexcom. The investment marks Oura’s Series D funding round and brings the company’s valuation to more than US$5 billion. The partnership paves the way for the two companies’ devices and apps to be used together, which means Oura rings will eventually help users monitor their blood sugar. https://tinyurl.com/4wam52n7

Nvidia forecasts 70% quarterly growth as AI boom continues.

Nvidia on Wednesday said revenue rose 94% year-over-year to US$35.1 billion in the October quarter, continuing its two-year streak of blowing past its own growth projections as more artificial intelligence developers and cloud providers gobble up its data center chips. The revenue growth was 14.5 percentage points higher than what Nvidia had projected three months ago. Notably, Nvidia CFO Colette Kress said the company was generating software, service and support revenue at a pace of US$1.5 billion per year, implying US$125 million per month in revenue, and said the annualized pace would hit US$2 billion by the end of this year. She previously said Nvidia generated US$1 billion in annualized revenue from that business at the end of 2023, meaning the business will double this year, putting Nvidia in competition with some of its key customers, such as cloud providers. Free cash flow reached a record US$16.8 billion in the quarter while the company purchased US$11 billion of its own shares. Nvidia forecast 70% revenue growth to US$37.5 billion in the current fiscal quarter, which ends at the end of January. Nvidia shares fell 2% in after-hours trading, though they have tripled so far this year. Impressively, Nvidia’s sales of data center server chips and networking gear in the October quarter rose 112% from a year earlier. That’s only 10 percentage points lower than the sales growth of competing data center chips from Advanced Micro Devices in the September quarter, despite Nvidia generating 10 times more revenue from such hardware than AMD. To put Nvidia’s growth in perspective, quarterly data center chip sales have risen 8.5 times from the first full quarter after OpenAI launched ChatGPT, in early 2023, setting off an AI boom. There have been some snags, including a delay with its next flagship chip, Blackwell, and overheating issues with the server racks Nvidia designed to house the chip, The Information has reported. (During an earnings conference call with analysts, CEO Jensen Huang did provide an answer when asked about the overheating report.) Kress said demand for Blackwell will exceed supply for at least the next few quarters, due to supply chain constraints, and Huang said the company is shipping more Blackwell chips this quarter than it had anticipated. https://tinyurl.com/nzkvknup

Trump’s social media group in talks to buy crypto platform Bakkt.

President-elect Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group is in advanced talks to buy Bakkt, the crypto marketplace backed by the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, in an all-share deal, the Financial Times reported. Shares of Bakkt surged 162% on Monday after the report, while TMTG, which operates Truth Social, rose 17%. NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange launched Bakkt in 2018, which went public in 2021. Bakkt has been exploring options including a sales after disclosing in February that it may not be able to continue as a going concern. Kelly Loeffler, former CEO of Bakkt who served as U.S. Senator from Georgia, is a co-chair on Trump’s inauguration committee. https://tinyurl.com/4ee92pjp

Snowflake raises product sales forecast, shares jump 19%.

Shares of database provider Snowflake jumped more than 19% after it reported that sales grew 28% to US$942.1 million in its October quarter compared to last year. Investors seemed to be encouraged that the company sailed well past its earlier quarterly product revenue projections and raised its full-year forecast by nearly US$90 million. Snowflake’s product revenue for the quarter was just over US$900 million, representing growth of 29% compared to last year. That surpassed its earlier estimate of US$850 million to US$855 million in product revenue and growth of 22%. Snowflake, which hasn’t had a profitable quarter since its September 2020 IPO, reported a net loss of US$327.9 million, up from US$214.6 million in last year’s October quarter. That likely reflects Snowflake’s development of new products that let customers build applications using the data they store in its database, such as tools for building chatbots that draw from internal corporate data. Snowflake has also struck a multi-year partnership with startup Anthropic that will let its customers use large language models such as Claude 3.5 to build applications, following our earlier report that the companies were in talks to form such an agreement. https://tinyurl.com/52m8h7su

Baidu posts 3% drop in third-quarter revenues, beating market expectations.

Chinese tech giant Baidu on Thursday posted a 3% annual drop in third-quarter revenue, nevertheless beating market expectations amid AI cloud growth. The revenue print came in at US$4.78 billion for the quarter ending on Sept. 30. Net income for the period rose by 14% to US$1.09 billion. Baidu noted a 12% surge in its non-online marketing revenue to the equivalent of US$1.1 billion, mainly driven by its artificial intelligence cloud business. The company’s U.S.-traded shares fell 2.3% at 08:42 a.m. ET in premarket trading following the release of its results. Online ad spend from small and medium-sized businesses remained weak in the third quarter without noticeable improvement in the weeks since, management said on an earnings call. They forecast that China’s stimulus announcements, which began in late September, will require time to take effect. https://tinyurl.com/3vbv2h66

Intuit, H&R Block shares fall after report that Trump government efficiency team is considering tax-filing app.

The stock prices for H&R Block and Intuit fell after a report Tuesday said Trump’s government efficiency team is considering creating a free tax-filing app. Intuit, which makes the TurboTax tax-filing software, closed down 5%, while H&R Block closed down 8%. President-elect Donald Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” has held “https://tinyurl.com/yanmbk4f

Super Micro stock surges 27% after the company files plan to avoid Nasdaq delisting.

Super Micro Computer shares have rallied this week, fueled by the artificial intelligence darling’s plan to avoid being delisted from the Nasdaq. The stock skyrocketed 27% on Tuesday to trade at US$26.72, its highest level in two weeks, after the company announced Monday it would remain listed on the Nasdaq while the exchange reviews its compliance plan. The gains add to Monday’s rally of over 15%. The company also said it hired BDO as its new auditor to help meet compliance requirements after its previous audit firm, Ernst & Young, quit in October. https://tinyurl.com/4c9zzfc6

Anthropic CEO says AI gains aren’t slowing down.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said he doesn’t expect the rate of improvement of large language models to slow down, despite recent reports that upcoming LLMs from his company as well as from Google and OpenAI didn’t show as many performance gains compared to earlier models. The Information reported earlier this month that the performance of OpenAI’s newest flagship model, Orion, isn’t improving as much on the previous flagship GPT-4, compared to the jump between GPT-3 and GPT-4. Part of the reason involved the apparent lack of high quality data needed to develop the models’ understanding of the world. Amodei said at the Cerebral Valley AI Summit that training new models was always challenging, but “I mostly don’t think there’s any barrier at all” when it comes to the amount of data companies can use to train new models. OpenAI and Google, for their part, have turned to newer techniques, including giving LLMs more time to process answers—known as reasoning—to improve their ability to answer questions or handle complex tasks such as coding. Anthropic’s LLMs have been particularly good at coding tasks. https://tinyurl.com/2efy253w

OpenAI talks to Samsung about AI features, strikes search deals with apps.

OpenAI has discussed powering artificial intelligence in Samsung devices, similar to a deal the AI developer has with Apple, The Information reported. The discussions are part of a multipronged attack by OpenAI on Google, which is Samsung’s most important partner in using the Android mobile operating system and distributing Google’s mobile apps. OpenAI also has discussed or reached deals with a slew of website publishers and apps—including Conde Nast and Priceline—to use the company’s conversational AI so that readers or customers can interact with the sites and apps in the same conversational tone they use with ChatGPT, according to the report. https://tinyurl.com/5fm99wwk

The Trade Desk launches smart TV operating system.

Publicly traded ad tech giant The Trade Desk is building a TV operating system for streaming. It’s a notable move, given most of the dominant smart TV operating systems on the market have come from TV businesses, such as Roku, Samsung or LG, or big tech firms, like Amazon or Google. The Trade Desk, by contrast, is a pure play advertising technology firm, which sells software that lets brands buy ads programmatically and has no ambitions to sell hardware. The company will offer the new software to firms like TV manufacturers and distributors, hotel chains and gaming companies. The new system, called Ventura, will launch in the second half of 2025, The Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green told Axios. The new system could help The Trade Desk’s advertiser clients reach a wider swath of audiences, though Green told Axios it won’t seek to make money from the technology directly. Shares of The Trade Desk rose 3.7% on Wednesday. https://tinyurl.com/43k6fst8

DOJ asks Judge to make Google sell Chrome and possibly Android too.

The U.S. Department of Justice late Wednesday asked a federal judge to force Google to sell its Chrome browser and potentially its Android operating system to undo Google’s illegal search monopoly. The DOJ, which won an antitrust case against Google over the summer, also requested that Google allow rivals to access data related to its search engine and search ads so that they could better compete, and be barred from paying tens of billions of dollars a year to companies such as Apple and Samsung to make Google the default search provider on their devices or in their browsers. The DOJ also asked that Google be prevented from investing in or owning other search rivals or companies that develop artificial intelligence search or advertising. It wasn’t immediately clear whether such a decision would affect Google’s investment in AI developer Anthropic. In the DOJ’s Wednesday filing, its lawyers said selling Chrome—which helped Google grow the reach of its search engine—was necessary to “permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet.” Regarding Android, the DOJ said Google should be barred from bundling its services, including search, with the mobile operating system. If that isn’t effective, Google should be made to sell Android, which also is a key profit generator for the company because of its Play app store. In a statement, Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, called the DOJ’s proposed remedies “a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America’s global technology leadership.” A judicial ruling in favor of any of the DOJ requests could reshape Google’s business and the search industry writ large. The judge, Amit Mehta, will hold a trial in the spring on the DOJ’s proposed penalties, and has said that he aims to issue a final decision by August. Google has also said it will appeal Mehta’s initial finding that it runs an illegal search monopoly. https://tinyurl.com/2xc9uzyb

CFPB launches new focus on payment apps like Apple Pay, Cash app.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will launch more investigations into big payments fintechs including Apple Pay, PayPal and Cash App, after finalizing a new rule aimed at protecting customers from fraud, data sharing and debanking. The CFPB new rule will allow it a greater focus on ensuring that payments fintechs take responsibility for disputed transactions, instead of leaving disputes to banks or credit card companies to handle. The agency will also monitor fintech firms that abruptly cut off access to consumers with account closures and freezes, and the ability of customers to opt-out of data collection and sharing. The rule affects companies processing more than 50 million transactions a year. “Digital payments have gone from novelty to necessity and our oversight must reflect this reality,” CFPB director Rohit Chopra said. https://tinyurl.com/5dzhn9hs

AI startup Perplexity adds shopping features as search competition tightens.

Artificial intelligence search startup Perplexity on Monday launched a shopping hub to attract users, in a bid to beef up its platform as it attempts to take on Alphabet-owned Google’s dominance in the search engine space. The firm, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and leading AI chipmaker Nvidia, will give users product cards showing relevant items in response to questions related to shopping. Each card provides product details in a visual format, the company said. The new feature is powered by platform integrations including Shopify, which gives access to recent and relevant information on products from businesses on the Canadian e-commerce platform globally that ship to the United States. E-commerce platforms have focused on employing more AI-powered tools in an effort to pull in more merchants. Perplexity’s online shopping-focused rollout includes ‘Snap to Shop’ – a visual search tool that shows products based on users’ photos of an item. The features are first launching in the United States and will later expand to other markets, the timeline for which was not specified. Perplexity is also introducing a ‘Merchant Program’ to allow retailers to share product information with the company. The startup is raising new investment that would value it at US$9 billion, Reuters had reported earlier in November. Perplexity has been looking to expand its offerings, with OpenAI now a direct competitor after the generative AI pioneer added a set of new search functions to ChatGPT.s https://tinyurl.com/4vmh69nv

Walmart reports 27% e-commerce revenue growth.

Walmart’s e-commerce business grew 27% in the third quarter, the company reported Tuesday. The retailer also raised its full-year revenue guidance, indicating optimism about holiday sales. On a call with analysts, Walmart chief financial officer John Rainey said e-commerce sales accounted for 18% of overall sales during the quarter, up from 15% during the same period last year. That would imply e-commerce revenue of $30.5 billion based on the company’s overall sales of $169.6 billion. Walmart doesn’t regularly break out online sales in earnings. Walmart shares closed up 3% at US$86.60 on Tuesday. https://tinyurl.com/58drz9dw

Amazon adds 50% discount for Temu competitor haul.

Amazon on Thursday added a temporary 50% discount to all orders made through its new Temu competitor, Amazon Haul. The aggressive discounting coincides with the holiday shopping season and comes one week after Amazon launched Haul, which features a Temu-like assortment of cheap products like US$3 phone cases and US$10 dresses. Amazon ships the orders directly to U.S. shoppers from China with much longer shipping times than Prime orders made through its regular e-commerce site. Also on Thursday, Temu parent PDD Holdings reported a sharp growth slowdown in the third quarter, citing “intensified competition and ongoing external challenges,” though Amazon had not yet launched Haul during that period. PDD shares were down more than 10% on Thursday morning. https://tinyurl.com/3fs4sv4x

SEC Chair Gary Gensler will step down Jan. 20, make way for Trump replacement.

Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler will resign on Jan. 20, the agency announced Thursday, paving the way for President-elect Donald Trump to immediately select a replacement. Gensler took over the SEC in 2021, and under his leadership the commission has taken an ambitious but controversial approach to several regulatory issues, including cryptocurrencies. Trump has not announced his pick to lead the SEC, but the expectation is that the next chair will be friendlier to Wall Street and crypto. SEC commissioners serve five-year terms, so Gensler could in theory have stayed on until at least 2026. Instead, he is leaving the agency completely, as was widely expected. https://tinyurl.com/2x6aw3f2

Goldman to spin off digital assets platform to drive adoption.

Goldman Sachs announced that it plans to spin off its digital-asset platform so that it will be “industry-owned” in order to drive adoption. The platform, called GS DAP, which went live in early 2023, allows financial firms to create, trade and settle traditional assets such as bonds on permissioned blockchain. Blockchain efforts by Wall Street banks have often struggled to gain scale because competitors are reluctant to join a platform owned by a rival. Goldman also said the platform will partner with Tradeweb, an electronic marketplace operator, on potential bond trading applications. Goldman is also seeking to resume its bitcoin-backed lending activities, its global head of digital assets Mathew McDermott told Bloomberg. The bank in 2022 made a loan backed by bitcoin to Coinbase. That comes as Wall Street investment bankers across the board have started warming back up to taking on crypto-related clients for capital markets and other business. https://tinyurl.com/2hkzu2bt

Nvidia’s delayed Blackwell AI chips are overheating in servers.

Nvidia’s upcoming Blackwell GPUs for AI computing may face further delays because they’re prone to overheating when connected to each other on server racks, The Information reports. The issue has reportedly been traced to the server rack Nvidia designed for Blackwell—which can connect up to 72 GPUs at a time. Nvidia has repeatedly redesigned the racks, which could delay GPU server shipments and the opening of new data centers for Google, Microsoft, or Meta. In August, a previous report suggested that a “design flaw” had caused the Blackwell GPUs’ launch to be delayed by months. It’s unclear whether this flaw is the server rack design issue. Nvidia announced Blackwell in March and initially said the GPUs could ship as soon as Q2 2024 before it encountered challenges. Nvidia indirectly addressed the server rack problem in a statement to Reuters. “Nvidia is working with leading cloud service providers as an integral part of our engineering team and process. The engineering iterations are normal and expected,” a company spokesperson said, suggesting a new server design could be on the horizon. Overheating is the main cause of performance issues for GPUs, which require a lot of energy to operate. The crypto mining industry, like AI, also uses a ton of energy, produces a lot of heat, and relies on high numbers of interconnected GPUs or mining rigs. Sometimes, crypto miners use immersion cooling, where the rigs are submersed in liquid, to prevent overheating. And the more powerful a GPU, the more heat it can produce. While sometimes tech advancements can bring more energy efficiencies, this typically isn’t enough to offset the increased energy needs overall. The Blackwell AI chips can be 30 times faster than previous GPUs, according to Nvidia. Training and running generative AI models at scale requires a lot of energy, too, as well as water to cool these systems. This has led some experts to predict that AI data centers may face power shortages as soon as next year. AI firms aren’t able to add new power sources to grid as quickly as they can add data centers—and they aren’t necessarily willing to wait, either. Meta, Microsoft, and Google have recently turned to nuclear power to meet their rising energy needs. However, “power purchase agreements” don’t necessarily solve AI’s energy problems. Nvidia has seen its stock soar over 180% in the past year due to the AI surge and resulting spike in chip demand, while rival AMD recently began mass layoffs. https://tinyurl.com/u4vrh58m