VinFast debut: Checking in on previous SPACs
Valuation velocity Vietnamese EV startup VinFast completed its merger with a SPAC on Monday and its shares soared 68% on its first day of trading — catapulting its valuation to $86 billion, above aut...
Mythical creatures: Unicorns are rare again
Unicorns are rare again Unicorns, once elusive creatures of the startup universe, are again becoming a rarity. According to the latest data from Pitchbook , July saw just 3 new companies reach the $...
Should you buy the dip the day after stocks drop? Maybe.
Yesterday’s market mayhem, in which the Nikkei 225 recorded its worst one-day drop since 1987, US stocks fell 3%, and the Magnificent 7 shed some $650 billion of market cap, saw Wall Street’s “fear ga...
Think different: Apple continues to scale to new heights
Think different... Shares in Apple finished trading just a few cents below $194 on Friday, valuing the entire company at a cool $3.05 trillion — the first company in history to close above the “3T” b...
The (gentle) rise of Reddit: The social media platform is in its awkward years
Social media platform Reddit missed the red-hot IPO market of 2021, and efforts to go public this year have taken a knock after Fidelity, the lead investor in Reddit’s most recent round of funding, sl...
Timing is everything: The IPO class of 2020/21 has struggled since going public
The IPO class of 2020/21 For fast-growing startups, an IPO is often the ultimate goal, a milestone after which the company has “made it” — but how is the class of 2020/21 getting on? Robinhood, Coin...
Blank check bust: SPACs are struggling
Blank check bust If 2021 was the year of the SPAC , 2022 is the year of terminating the SPAC. This week alone saw $11 billion in SPAC deals called off within a single hour . That puts the total numbe...
WeWork: The high-profile startup is still going
We-still-workin’ After a spectacular failed attempt at an IPO 3 years ago, many expected high-profile co-working startup WeWork to crash and burn. But WeWork is still going, announcing recently that ...
Porsche going public: Volkswagen’s plan for the sports car spin-out
This week Volkswagen confirmed its intention to float shares in Porsche in the coming weeks — an IPO that, if it comes off, would be one of the largest in recent European history. Porsche in proporti...
They had us in the first half: Stocks have had the worst start to a year since 1970
They had us in the first half That's a wrap for the first half of the year. And it was one to forget for equity investors, as the flagship S&P 500 Index declined 20.6% in value, putting 2022 off to t...
Stocks are in a bear market: Sometimes it's helpful to zoom out
The bears are coming US stocks are officially in a bear market, with the S&P 500 Index closing down 22% below its previous peak yesterday as investors sold stocks for any number of valid concerns. As...
Back to square one: Alibaba's share price is back to where it was at its IPO
China changes course China has pledged to keep its stock markets more stable and take measures to boost economic growth this morning, sending shares of tech companies Alibaba and JD.com up more than ...
Reddit: The platform's going public and r/wallstreetbets is bigger than ever
Social media platform reddit has officially filed to go public , more than 16 years since the company was founded. In many ways, modern day reddit looks a lot like the internet forums of the early 200...
Sleeping unsoundly: Mattress-in-a-box company Casper hasn't made its business model work
"Mattress-in-a-box" company Casper announced this week that it was being acquired, taking the company private less than two years after the company's IPO. The deal values Casper somewhere around $300m...
Rivian: Revenues are over-rated for the latest hot IPO
Rivian, a maker of "electric adventure vehicles" (glossy promo video here ), is officially a public company — one with an eye-watering valuation of ~$105bn after its share price rose almost 30% on its...
Unfazed: Gaming group Faze Clan are going public
Last week we discussed the ongoing SPAC boom, highlighting WeWork and Donald Trump's new media and tech company as two of the most interesting deals this year. That story might have been a bit prematu...
SPACs: There have been 487 this year, and 2 big ones just hit the tape
Even with a mid-year lull, 2021 has been the year of the SPAC. According to the latest data , almost 500 companies have chosen to go public in the US this year via a SPAC — a public shell company with...
Rent the Runway: The fashion platform is the latest unprofitable company looking to go public
Rent the Runway is a really cool idea for a business. The premise is that for most women it doesn't make sense to splurge hundreds of dollars on a dress or item of clothing that they are likely only g...
Record spinning: The world's biggest record company has a lot to thank streaming for
Spin me right round This week Universal Music Group, the largest record company in the world, was officially spun out from its parent company — listing on the Euronext exchange in Amsterdam and finis...
D2C grows up: Two big D2C brands have filed for an IPO
No more middleman In the last decade direct-to-consumer (D2C) companies have been cropping up everywhere. From razors to mattresses, shoes to glasses, D2C companies have popped up selling pretty much...