Leading agriculture machinery maker CNH announced yesterday the takeover of Raven Industries, a portfolio company, for $2.1bn including debt. Raven is mainly known for its precision agriculture and autonomy technology with a range of products covering machinery guidance & steering, field computers and data management. Raven is also active in two other businesses (engineered films and…
A couple of weeks ago, we commented that the Augmented Reality (AR) theme was heating up with several major new games (Pikmin, the Witcher…) and devices (Snapchat spectacles) hitting the market and that AR glasses could take over smartphones as the new major gaming platform in a near future as they offer more immersive AR…
Nearly one million cancer cases have been neglected across Europe due to the pandemic according to the European Cancer Organisation. In the US, the National Cancer Institute documented that nearly ten million cancer screenings were missed nationwide during the coronavirus outbreak. Due to ignored appointments and cancer screenings, Covid-19 will therefore, unfortunately, cause indirect increases…
It’s already been 5 years since the Pokemon Go phenomenon brought Augmented Reality (AR) to the masses, with the game developed by Niantic (held by both Google and Nintendo) reaching more than 500 million users by the end of 2016 and still remaining at the top of app store downloads in 2021. Despite this initial…
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…
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…
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…