Weekly Investment News and Analysis

While this past week, was relatively quiet in terms of Canadian small cap equity funding; sports betting and gaming stocks performed well. Sophic client, Luckbox (LUCK-TSXV) stock performed well as the company announced its entry into sports betting and Sophic client Kontrol Technologies (KNR-CSE) stock also performed well on the back of a $2 million funding from the province of Ontario. In the USA, Robinhood appears to be going ahead with its plans to go public in 2021 as downloads surged despite recent weeks’ public relations fiasco. In other developments, the tech media had some fresh data on Apple’s speculated virtual reality headset, which will reportedly cost US$3,000 and have 12 cameras with eye-tracking technology.

In Canadian tech & clean tech capital markets, this past week, we witnessed some healthy activity related to cryptocurrencies, as well as Sophic Client, UGE International (UGE-TSXV) raising over $6 million through a bought deal offering. Many Canadian investors are also aware of Monkey Knife Fight, which is being acquired by Bally’s, we were impressed by the product’s engagement as we followed the company’s evolution over the past few years. In the USA, and overall markets the Gamestop / Wallstreetbets has captured everyone’s attention and increased market volatility. As some may have speculated WeWork could be considering going public via a SPAC, Roblox’s IPO could be delayed, and Coinbase is considering going public via a direct listing.

Canadian tech & clean tech capital markets had an eventful week, marked by new issues, fund raising and M&A. In the USA, there was considerable chatter focused on the recent GameStop stock pop and resultant drama. Crunchbase had some interesting data around unicorns and their recent proliferation. Meanwhile, Bitcoin seems to be undergoing a correction, which some attribute to Janet Yellen’s comments at her recent Senate confirmation hearing.

We had a busy week in Canadian capital markets, marked by fundraising in public and private markets, as well as M&A activity. Public markets interest seems focused on the crypto, healthcare tech, esports/sports betting and ESG sectors. In the USA, high profile SaaS companies issued converts & bonds. High profile IPOs performed well, with the Visa-Plaid acquisition called off, with some speculating the company could choose to go public in an enthusiastic public market.

2021 is off to a busy start in Canadian capital markets, with regards to public equity offerings, private financings and M&A. Specifically, in the small-medium cap space, Emerge Commerce & Converge appear to be executing very rapidly on their M&A plan. We’re looking forward to additional details for mobile sports betting in New York, which bodes well for theScore and eventually Sophic Client, Luckbox. In the USA, we’re also excited to watch the potential public market debut of Roblox, Affirm, Bakkt and SoFi, among others.

We wish you and your family a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021. Canadian capital markets were relatively quiet this past holiday week, following a busier than usual December, we expect activity to pick up in January, with a focus on technology, which appears to have more robust activity in the past few months. As expected, heightened activity also benefited global investment banking, according to Refinitiv. In the near term, we expect headlines pertaining to NYSE – China telco delisting and Bitcoin momentum to dominate.

Thank you for your support through 2020, we hope you and your loved ones are enjoying a restful holiday season. Canadian fundraising activity understandably slowed this past week, M&A activity remained robust. As Bitcoin enjoys a revival these past few weeks, we would expect to see heightened capital markets activity in 2021. In the USA, most of the news in the past week focused on SPACs. We would also keep an eye out for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the NYSE’s “direct” listing plan, which could allow companies to raise capital in direct listings.

This past week, we saw multiple successful Canadian tech company public market debuts, including Sophic Client Luckbox (LUCK-TXSV), Emerge Commerce (ECOM-TSXV) and WeCommerce (WE-TSXV). While in the USA, ContextLogic (WISH-NASDAQ) was down 16% on its IPO. That said, recent tech IPOs and strong tech stock performance has left experts scratching their heads and led to the introduction of new structured products. At the same time, the potential IPO, SPAC list continues to grow, with listings expected by Poshmark, Bumble, UiPath, Coinbase, Playtika, Tokopedia, indie Semiconductor.

While Canadian capital markets slowed this week after a very busy previous week, in the week ahead, we’re looking forward to the trading debut of Sophic client, Luckbox (LUCK-TSXV). Emerge Ecommerce (ECOM-TSXV) is also expected to start trading this coming week. Meanwhile, in the USA, AirBnB, DoorDash and C3.AI, all had very strong trading debuts as expected by most. At the same time, IPOs of Roblox and Affirm seem delayed to 2021, with speculation that these companies may try a different approach than the traditional IPO in order to avoid massive IPO pops, which do not benefit companies issuing new stock. Some alternatives could include direct listing, auction IPOs or going public via a SPAC. At the same time, there seems to be increasing chatter about unsustainable valuations.

This past week was perhaps one of the most tech capital markets news intensive weeks we have witnessed in a while. In Canada, there was plenty of activity in public and private markets, as well as M&A with MindBeacon, Dye&Durham, theScore, BlackBerry, Lightspeed, Benevity, Element AI & PayBright. In the USA, a lot of attention was focused on Salesforce-Slack acquisition, at a 50% premium, however, there were at least three more high profile acquisitions, as well as a few more high profile IPOs including Airbnb & DoorDash.

We witnessed another week of decent small tech capital markets activity in Canada. In the USA, with the Thanksgiving shortened holiday week, another massive Stripe up-round, Metromile’s SPAC and Discord’s financing were perhaps the most topical news items.