The cyber-attack which recently struck one of the biggest oil infrastructures in the US, the Colonial Pipeline, is the latest in a series of high-profile attacks targeting critical US infrastructures. Back in December, the Sunburst/SolarWinds infiltration operation made the headlines as it hit the US Treasury, the US Department of Commerce as well as most…
While it was already on an upward trajectory, consumption of plant proteins recorded a pandemic-related acceleration in 2020 with U.S. retail plant-based foods growing 27% to $7 billion and plant-based meat 45% to $1.4 billion. Consumption continued to be driven by rising awareness to natural organic foods which are perceived as healthier. As many meat…
There has been a lot of talk recently around NFTs (non-fungible tokens) with, notably, the sale by Christie’s of digital art patchwork “Beeple” for $69m. NFTs are blockchain-based records that identify notably unique pieces of digital media (music, video, gifs, tweets…). The fact that NFTs come with documentation about an item’s history and are based…
Microsoft just announced the acquisition of medical artificial intelligence software maker Nuance in a deal worth $19.7bn, that represents a 23% premium to the last closing price. Nuance, one of our Digital Health portfolio companies, is focused on speech recognition software that allows physicians to capture patient discussions and enter the data into electronic health…
Even if video gaming stocks have not been spared by the massive Tech correction of the last few weeks, it’s worth noting that several Tech giants keep spending big on gaming M&A, in a clear sign of confidence in the industry’s outlook and valuation in a post-pandemic world. Just a few weeks after the completion of…
Over the last couple of days, the cleantech industry has suffered from an uninspiring newsflow. First, three of California’s major utilities proposed to increase grid access fees and reduce compensation for consumers who install solar panels on their home rooftops, a move that would make solar economics less attractive for consumers. Second, hydrogen leader Plug…
“A Zest of Crypto On Booming e-commerce Trends” is probably the best way to depict right now our Fintech certificate which is up 25% year-to-date (and 80% over the last 12 months). We started building a crypto pocket in our portfolio and investing in several “crypto equities” (that mine or invest their cash reserves in digital…
Hydrogen fuel cell maker Plug Power, our largest portfolio company, just announced a strategic partnership with SK Group, one of the leading South Korean conglomerates which owns various businesses in the energy industry. The partnership aims to accelerate hydrogen penetration in Korea and broader Asian markets and to leverage Plug Power’s fuel cell and electrolyzer…
Since the vaccine news last month, some investors have started questioning the growth sustainability of work-from-home winners, including cybersecurity names, considering that most lockdowns are now behind us and that we are heading towards a full economy reopening in 2021. This week’s earnings and guidance from some of the top software vendors securing the remote…
The newsflow in the gaming industry remains extremely supportive, to say the least. Last week, Nvidia commented that demand for its graphics cards was significantly exceeding supply and Ubisoft announced that its latest Assassin’s Creed title was the biggest first-week seller in the franchise, suggesting that consensus relatively low expectations for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla are…