News

Zoom Announces $100 Million Zoom Apps Fund

Zoom Video Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: ZM) announced the Zoom Apps Fund, a new $100 million venture fund created to stimulate growth of Zoom’s ecosystem of Zoom Apps, integrations, developer platform, and hardware. 

Portfolio companies will receive initial investments between $250,000 and $2.5 million to build solutions that will become core to how Zoom customers meet, communicate, and collaborate. Zoom Apps, announced at Zoomtopia 2020, are leading applications that will bring productivity and engaging experiences directly into the Zoom platform.

Dozens of Zoom Apps are currently in development and are an important component in building the future of video communications. The Zoom Apps Fund will invest in developer partners with viable products and early market traction that will provide valuable and engaging experiences to our customers.

/Source: Intrado/

April 21, 2021


Mobile gaming group AppLovin is worth $ 28.6 billion in IPO

AppLovin, a mobile gaming company that owns hits such as Matchton Mansion and Wordscapes, has raised $ 1.8 billion in an initial public offering and has a market capitalization of $ 28.6 billion, making it one of the biggest public debuts of the year. became.

With the support of private-equity group KKR, the company has established itself as one of the power players for mobile games through numerous acquisitions. 

Owning and running over 200 games and selling access to marketing software to other developers makes it easy for developers to monetize their apps.

The company set the stock price at $ 80 before listing on the Nasdaq on Thursday, according to a regulatory filing. This is the midpoint between the previously set $ 75 and $ 85. The issue price gives KKR many times higher market value than the $ 2 billion that KKR bought $ 400 million in shares three years ago.

According ...

April 16, 2021


Cryptocurrency market value surges to all-time high of $2 trillion

The cryptocurrency market capitalisation hit an all-time peak of $2 trillion on Monday, according to data and market trackers CoinGecko and Blockfolio, as gains over the last several months attracted demand from both institutional and retail investors.

The surge was led by bitcoin, which hit its own milestone by holding at a $1 trillion market cap for one week. Bitcoin was last up 1.4 per cent at $59,045. Since hitting a lifetime peak of more than $61,000 in mid-March, bitcoin has traded in a relatively narrow range.

Analysts said as long as bitcoin stays above $53,000, it will be able to maintain its $1 trillion market cap.

Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, was up 1.3 per cent at $2,103. Its market cap was $244 billion. 

Blockchain data provider Glassnode, in a research report, said the fact that bitcoin has held the $1 trillion market cap for one week is ...

April 12, 2021


Pioneer's $6.4 billion deal for DoublePoint accelerates U.S. shale oil consolidation

U.S. oil producer Pioneer Natural Resources agreed on Thursday to acquire privately-held rival DoublePoint Energy for about $6.4 billion, speeding up a consolidation of shale oil producers.

Oilfield rollups have accelerated this year as energy prices recover following last year’s coronavirus-driven market crash. Companies with strong balance sheets have been snapping up debt-laden and privately-held operators, and promising to focus on profit over volume growth.

Acquisitions of fast-growth oil companies like DoublePoint Energy by mature operators “will allay concerns that U.S. shale could again oversupply the market and crash prices,” said Andrew Dittmar, an Enverus merger and acquisitions analyst.

The deal, which Reuters first reported, is Pioneer’s second big purchase and the fourth multi-billion shale deal this year. In January, Pioneer closed its $4.5 billion, all-stock purchase of Parsley Energy, giving it one of the largest positions in the Permian Basin, the top U.S. shale field.

In January, ConocoPhillips completed its $9.7 billion purchase ...

April 7, 2021


Delivery scaleup Glovo raises €450 million Series F funding to continue expansion in 20 markets

Barcelona-based Glovo, one of the world’s leading multi-category delivery players announced that it has raised €450 million in its Series F funding round led by New York-based investment managers Lugard Road Capital and the Luxor Capital Group.

The round also saw participation from returning investors including Delivery Hero, Drake Enterprises and GP Bullhound, and reflects both the significant growth potential in the online delivery sector and the strong demand from existing shareholders to invest in the company.

Founded in 2015, Glovo is the baby amongst the European scaleups taking the lead in the ‘on-demand’ delivery race. Despite having the smallest team of +4K employees compared to Deliveroo and Delivery Hero, the startup has expanded to 20 countries and 750+ cities, more than its older counterpart Deliveroo. The team has closed 11 funding rounds, and unique aspects to mention about Glovo are their diversification from just food delivery to also grocery, alcohol and ...

April 2, 2021


Aviva sells Polish business to Allianz for €2.5bn

UK-based insurer Aviva said it agreed to sell its entire shareholding in Aviva Poland to Germany’s Allianz for €2.5 billion in cash, completing a programme to sell European and Asian assets it started last year.

Allianz is also buying Santander’s minority stake in the Aviva Poland business, bringing the total value of the transaction to €2.7 billion.

Santander will retain a 49% holding in Aviva Poland’s life and general insurance joint ventures.

“Aviva will now focus on its strongest businesses in the UK, Ireland and Canada where it has leading market positions and strong growth potential,” said Aviva.

“The divestment of Aviva Poland is the eighth transaction Aviva has announced in the past eight months, and this successfully concludes the planned refocus of the group’s portfolio.”

“This transaction delivers excellent value for Aviva shareholders."

“It is also a very positive outcome for our customers, employees and distribution partners and we are confident that Aviva Poland will ...

March 29, 2021


Intel doubles down on chip manufacturing with $20 billion investment

Intel's new CEO Pat Gelsinger is doubling down on chip manufacturing.

The company — which has been pressured to outsource more of its chipmaking — announced a business update its plan to invest $20 billion to build two new factories in Arizona.

"There is an extraordinary demand for semiconductors as we're seeing basically, the world is becoming more digital in every aspect," Gelsinger told Yahoo Finance Live of the investments. 

Gelsinger says that he views Intel's internal chipmaking as a key strategic advantage. 

Gelsinger arrived at Intel at a pivotal time.

Disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic compounded with Intel's own delays in producing its next generation of smaller, more powerful 7-nanometer chips. In mid-2020, Intel said initial production shipments of these chips would begin in late 2022 or early 2023, a year behind the company’s previous schedule. Competitor AMD has already begun selling its 7-nanometer processors.

The delays prompted the arrival of activist investor Dan Loeb ...

March 24, 2021


Morgan Stanley becomes the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealthy clients access to bitcoin funds

Morgan Stanley is the first big U.S. bank to offer its wealth management clients access to bitcoin funds.

The investment bank, a giant in wealth management with $4 trillion in client assets, told its financial advisors Wednesday in an internal memo that it is launching access to three funds that enable ownership of bitcoin, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter.

The move, a significant step for the acceptance of bitcoin as an asset class, was made by Morgan Stanley after clients demanded exposure to the cryptocurrency, said the people, who declined to be identified sharing details about the bank’s internal communications. Bitcoin’s rally in the past year has put Wall Street firms under pressure to consider getting involved in the nascent asset class.

But, at least for now, the bank is only allowing its wealthier clients access to the volatile asset: The bank considers it suitable for people with “an ...

March 19, 2021


Branson-backed SPAC to raise $500 million through U.S. IPO

A blank-check firm, backed by Virgin Group’s billionaire founder Richard Branson, is looking to raise as much as $500 million through an initial public offering, a regulatory filing showed on Tuesday.

Virgin Group Acquisition Corp III, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, plans to sell 50 million units, composed of shares and warrants, priced at $10 per unit on the New York Stock Exchange. 

The firm said in its filing it will be looking for targets to acquire in one of Virgin Group’s core sectors, namely travel and leisure, financial services, health and wellness and renewable energy, among others.

Branson, a serial entrepreneur and a prolific investor, has raised hundreds of millions through multiple blank-check companies so far.

In February, VG Acquisition Corp, one of Branson’s SPACs, agreed to take consumer DNA-testing firm 23andMe public through a merger, valuing the merged entity at $3.5 billion.

SPACs are shell companies which raise funds to acquire ...

March 15, 2021


Volocopter raises 200 million euros for air taxi certification push

German aviation startup Volocopter said on Wednesday it had raised 200 million euros ($242 million) from investors including funds run by U.S. asset manager BlackRock as it seeks certification for its battery-powered flying taxi.

Volocopter said it expects to bring its VoloCity air taxi into commercial service within the next two years, while it has also teamed up with logistics group DB Schenker to deploy heavy-lift cargo drones.

The Series D funding round brings the total amount raised by Volocopter to 322 million euros, with new investors Avala Capital, Atlantia, Continental, NTT and Tokyo Century also coming on board. ($1 = 0.8278 euros) (Reporting by Douglas Busvine Editing by Riham Alkousaa) 

/Source: Reuters/

March 10, 2021