Funding

Tesla Inc lost $126 billion in value on Tuesday amid investor concerns that Chief Executive Elon Musk may have to sell shares to fund his $21 billion equity contribution to his $44 billion buyout of Twitter Inc. Tesla is not involved in the Twitter deal, yet its shares have been targeted by speculators after Musk declined to disclose publicly where his cash for the acquisition is coming from. The 12.2% drop in Tesla's shares on Tuesday equated to a $21 billion drop in the value of his Tesla stake, the same as the $21 billion in cash he committed to the Twitter deal. Wedbush Securities analyst Daniel Ives said that worries about upcoming stock sales by Musk and the possibility that he is becoming distracted by Twitter weighed on Tesla shares. "This (is) causing a bear festival on the name," he said. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. To be sure, Tesla's share plunge came against a challenging backdrop for many technology-related stocks. The Nasdaq … [Read more...] about Tesla loses $126 billion in value amid Elon Musk Twitter deal funding concern

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Venture capital isn’t exactly the old boys club that it used to be. While some women have focused on working their way up at large, established VC firms, many others have decided to raise their own funds. Over the past few years, we’ve seen a rising tide of women charting their own paths in venture, investing in the ideas they want to see built, and building the firms they want to see exist. Venture firms in the U.S. with women founders were on track to raise more than $7 billion during the first three quarters of 2021—up 59 percent year over year, according to Crunchbase . At the same time, the number of female check writers grew just 3.5 percent since 2019, according to Pitchbook , and women still only hold 15.4 percent of general partner positions in venture capital firms. The numbers are up from previous years, but not up enough. For women raising their own VC funds, starting a new fund is an opportunity to do … [Read more...] about How To Raise A VC Fund: 15 Tips From Women Who Have Done It

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Psychology-based digital health platform Noom today raised $540 million in a Series F round led by Silver Lake, with participation from Oak HC/FT, Temasek, Novo Holdings, Sequoia Capital, RRE, and Samsung Ventures. Silver Lake and technology leader Stacy Brown-Philpot will join Noom’s board of directors. Like the “Freshman 10,” which refers to the number of pounds students typically put on during their first year in college, the “Covid 15” signifies the amount of weight U.S. adults gained during the pandemic. Noom’s weight-loss app was clearly a beneficiary, generating approximately $400 million in revenue in 2020, almost double the 2019 revenue. Noom reached a record number of signups during the most recent New Year’s season. Noom saw an uptick in new user sign-ups last spring at the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and saw the same level this spring as lockdowns neared an end. Throughout the year there are different … [Read more...] about Weight-Loss App Noom Raises Whopping $540 Million In Latest Funding Round

Compiled by IYLIA MARSYA ISKANDAR, C. ARUNO and R. ARAVINTHAN A MAN managed to recover the funds he lost to credit card fraud by pestering the customer service department of a bank in Malaysia every day for one whole month, Sin Chew Daily reported. The victim, whose name on Facebook is Justin Lim, claimed that his credit card was used twice to purchase goods in October 2021. Without having received a TAC code or a one-time password (OTP), Lim received a text message that his card was charged RM519.40. Realising that he had been a victim of credit card fraud, Lim immediately cancelled his card and reported the matter to the issuing bank’s customer service department. “Usually, banks will say they need six months to investigate after you have made a report. Only after they have ascertained that your card has been misused will they refund your money,” he said. Lim said he continued to pester the customer service department for an entire month by repeatedly asking them three … [Read more...] about Persistent fraud victim gets refund from bank

The sustainable-investing movement is picking up momentum. Here’s how to participate. S hould your portfolio align with your notion of corporate responsibility? If you think it should, join a small but rapidly expanding population of ESG investors, those sensitive to the environmental, social and governance qualities of the companies that use their capital. This three-part guide delivers: — a directory of the best ESG stock funds, — an explanation of the competing scorecards for corporate benevolence and — a recipe for combining responsible investing with a tax break. Before diving in, think about what you are trying to accomplish. This is how Michael Jantzi, founder of the ESG rating firm Sustainalytics, puts it: “What’s the motivation? Are you looking to improve investments or improve the world?” Some socially conscious investors aspire to do both. Perhaps it is possible to create an outperforming portfolio by avoiding the worst polluters, harshest … [Read more...] about ESG Investment Guide

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus has announced that it will make a $200 million investment over the next five years to create the Gates Institute , a research and treatment center that will focus on the development of new regenerative, cellular and gene therapies for a variety of serious illnesses. The new funding will consist of $20 million per year for five years invested by both the Anschutz campus itself and the Gates Frontiers Fund , a private family foundation established in 1946 that focuses its philanthropy on the fields of education, natural resources, and community development in Colorado. The new institute will expand on the exisitng Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine and Gates Biomanufacturing Facility, which have been leading centers for stem cell research and regenerative therapies for cancer and other diseases. Regenerative medicine refers to a variety of treatments that … [Read more...] about University Of Colorado To Invest $200 Million In New Regenerative Medicine Institute

California's attorney general, Rob Bonta, is taking the fight to the oil and gas industry, but over plastics. His office announced an investigation and issued a subpoena to ExxonMobil over its role in the plastics crisis. Bonta said, "In California and across the globe, we are seeing the catastrophic results of the fossil fuel industry's decades-long campaign of deception. Plastic pollution is seeping into our waterways, poisoning our environment and blighting our landscapes," according to a press release from his office. He says the truth is the vast majority of plastic cannot be recycled and the recycling rate has never surpassed 9%. Every week we consume the equivalent of a credit card worth of plastic through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. According to the complaint, in the 1950s, 1.5 million tons of plastic were produced annually. Today, that number has skyrocketed to more than 300 million tons. Uber is stepping up its electric vehicle plans in the … [Read more...] about Responsibilities of Responsible Investing

- A + A NEW YORK (May 14): Investors are studying an array of indicators for clues about how much further a brutal slide in US stocks could run, with some signs suggesting the tumble in equities may not be over. The S&P 500 extended its decline to nearly 20% from January’s record peak on Thursday before an end-of-week bounce, approaching the cusp of a bear market amid concerns that persistently high inflation will prompt more aggressive US Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate increases that could undermine the economy. Declines have been even steeper in the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which is down 24.5% year-to-date. Despite those losses, many widely followed indicators do not yet show the pervasive panic, supercharged volatility and outright pessimism that have emerged in past market bottoms, a potentially worrisome signal for those looking to step in and buy on the cheap after the most recent sell-off of stocks. Indeed, stocks ripped higher on Friday (May … [Read more...] about Signs of market bottom elude investors after steep sell-off

- A + A (May 14): Chinese stocks saw a reversal of fortune this week versus global peers as investors tiptoed back into the market, betting an expected lift of Shanghai lockdowns would spur a rally. China’s benchmark CSI 300 Index rose 2% this week, standing out within a global sea of red. It’s also outperformed major peers for the month so far. Driving the turn in sentiment has been China’s stabilising Covid-19 outbreak, which helped soothe worries that movement restrictions may intensify. While the outlook remains highly uncertain, with China’s zero-Covid stance set to keep pressuring growth and the global economy looking fragile, stimulus promises from Beijing and cheap valuations are making more traders willing to take risks. “We don’t get so greedy as to try to time the market for the rock bottom,” said Yang Wei, a fund manager at Longwin Investment Management Co. “Valuations of some are now attractive enough to take the chance,” added Yang, who’s been … [Read more...] about Chinese stocks stand out as rare winners in global equity rout

- A + A (May 14): An investment firm for the Walton family ramped up its position in a US municipal bond fund and added a sizeable stake in Japanese equities, while also betting on small-cap stocks and Coinbase Global Inc before tumultuous declines. WIT LLC, an acronym for the Walton Investment Team, invests mostly in low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It held about US$5.1 billion (about RM22.43 billion) in US stocks and ETFs at the end of last quarter, a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) showed on Friday (May 13). The firm, which oversees money for the world’s wealthiest family, added 3.9 million shares in the iShares MSCI Japan ETF worth about US$239.3 million, its biggest new stake and its fifth-largest overall. WIT also bought about US$150 million in small-cap stocks through new positions in Vanguard and iShares index funds. The largest holding is the Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF, which was worth US$1.6 billion at the end of … [Read more...] about World’s richest family betting on munis, Japanese stocks, Coinbase