Crypto hacks are now making the headlines on a regular basis, as illustrated by the $620 million heist of blockchain game Axie Infinity in March or last week’s $160 million hack of crypto market maker Wintermute. With criminal activity involving cryptocurrencies on track to reach a new record after the 2021 peak ($14 billion, up…
Solar energy in the US has benefited over the years from a highly supportive tax policy, consumers’ pursuit of clean energy and sharply declining costs, leading residential solar installations to reach an expected record in 2022 according to BloombergNEF. As an illustration, residential photovoltaic installers delivered impressive revenue growth in their latest quarter with Sunrun…
In line with recent press reports, Tencent has acquired a 49.9% stake in Ubisoft’s family holding company, Guillemot Brothers Ltd (which owns a 13% stake in Ubisoft), in a deal that values the French video game maker (a portfolio company) around EUR75-80 per share and reflects a premium around 80%. Tencent, which already owned directly…
SpaceX’s Starlink, owned by Elon Musk, and US wireless operator T-Mobile made the headlines recently when they announced a partnership aimed at connecting users’ current mobile phones directly to satellites in orbit, hence providing mobile users with (limited) network coverage in remote areas of the United States. The use of satellites for bi-directional telecommunications…
After a material growth slowdown since summer 2021 when most geographies exited Covid restrictions and consumers found their way back to physical stores, the US e-commerce and digital payments ecosystem showed signs of bottoming out in the Q2 earnings season. Amazon (North America), eBay, Farfetch, Etsy, PayPal among others all reported improving growth metrics in…
If California has been a driving force behind the rise of clean energies and adoption of electric vehicles, it could soon take on the same role in the blue revolution. Governor Gavin Newsom recently released a plan called “California’s Water Supply Strategy, Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future” aimed at improving water supply amid…
Many countries around the world have been hit by record droughts and implemented water restrictions in recent weeks, a harsh reminder that, today, roughly 40% of the people on Earth live in a water stressed region and that this number is expected to climb to 60% in a near future. Secular trends like urbanization, climate…
Yesterday was a big day for hydrogen pure players Plug Power, Bloom Energy and Ballard. Amid general concerns over their corporate customers’ capex plans and cost inflation, they managed to deliver decent quarterly figures (albeit slightly below expectations), allowing investors to look beyond a messy short term and to focus on the long-term growth opportunity…
Many cybersecurity companies, including Fortinet, Cloudflare or Rapid7, reported their quarterly earnings in recent days. While revenue and earnings were overall solid, most companies hinted at increasing deal scrutiny from their corporate customers, lengthening sales cycles and softening growth trends going forward as customers navigate a complex environment and are closely watching their spending amidst…
Identity management specialist Ping Identity (a portfolio company) just announced its acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo for a $2.8 billion enterprise value and a massive 63% premium, marking the sixth multi-billion M&A deal in cybersecurity so far this year. This deal follows the recent SailPoint takeover (also by Thoma Bravo), which was the…