News

Relativity Space raises $140M to stay on track for 3D-printed rocket’s launch

Relativity Space, a rocket startup founded by former Blue Origin and SpaceX engineers, just quadrupled its funding by raising $140 million.

CEO Tim Ellis says it's enough cash to fund Relativity through the first launch of its Terran 1 rocket in 2021.

It also sets the company apart from many of its competitors in the crowded arena of rockets dedicated to launching small satellites. The industry has dozens of startups with pitchbooks and blueprints, but very few have significant cash and factory space.

Smallsat launch companies like Relativity aren't looking to compete directly with firms such as SpaceX and Blue Origin. Those outfits are focused on building large rockets that can haul spacecraft or big communications satellites to orbit.

Relativity's rocket is part of a new sector focused on launching smallsats. The idea is to build lightweight vehicles cheaply and quickly, offering express access to orbit for payloads ranging from the size of a ...

Freedom Holding Corp. Announces Uplisting to The Nasdaq Capital Market

Freedom Holding Corp. (FRHC), a financial services company with operations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, today announced that its common stock has been approved for listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market. Trading on the exchange is expected to commence at the opening of trading on October 15, 2019 under the symbol "FRHC."

Since July 2018, the Company's common stock has been listed on the OTCQX Best Market, which is operated by the OTC (Over-the-Counter) Markets Group. The Company was named to the OTCQX Best 50 list in January 2019.

"We are pleased to announce our Nasdaq exchange listing. I believe we are the first Kazakhstan-headquartered financial services firm to be listed on the exchange. This is an important accomplishment for our company as we continue executing our business plan. We expect this listing will facilitate our efforts to communicate our vision to a broader audience and further develop strategic synergies we ...

Norway Withdraws $6 Billion Investments in Oil and Gas Stocks

Norway’s enormous $1 trillion sovereign wealth fund decides to sell oil and gas stocks worth $5.9 billion. The decision is a moderate divestment action as an answer to a radical initial proposal to dump all its oil investments in two years.

The fund, widely known as oil fund, had already asked the government for permission in 2017 to sell about $40 billion in such stocks, to reduce the overall risk for Norway, one of the world’s biggest oil producer.

The final decision from the Finance Ministry released on Tuesday evening outlines a gradual divestment instead.

The divestment plan includes companies classified as crude oil producers.

Moreover the fund’s investments in such companies and funds will continuously be blocked from now on.

Environment Minister Ola Elvestuen called the decision as the most important climate decision the coalition has agreed on.

/Source: The Nordic Page/

Synthetic Biology Unicorn Ginkgo Bioworks Raises An Additional $290 Million

Through biological engineering, Ginkgo Bioworks design custom organisms to create new products with the potential to transform industries. Today the company announced the Series E financing round totaling $290 million, with all their existing investors participating. This brings the total funding of the company to $719 million. The recent $290 million funding is dedicated to further aid Ginkgo’s cell programming platform. Ginkgo aims to do so by enabling greater access to expertise, resources, scaling and by further developing the underlying technology of the platform.

Boston-based start-up accelerator Petri’s launched a new 12-month program just last week, with Ginkgo bioworks represented in the program’s mentor panel. Ginkgo also established another new partnership with Bay Area-based Y Combinator. And now, thanks to this access to Gingko and this most recent funding round, start-ups will now have more opportunity to translate their innovative ideas. 

This funding will further propel Ginkgo’s platform as well as its ...

Google signs up to $2bn wind and solar investment

Google’s chief executive has revealed plans for the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.

Sundar Pichai said the clean energy deal will include 18 separate agreements to supply Google with electricity from wind and solar projects across the world.

The search engine’s green energy portfolio will grow by 40%, giving the company access to an extra 1.6 gigawatt of clean electricity – the equivalent capacity of a million solar rooftops, the company said.

Google has become the largest corporate buyer of renewable electricity by matching the huge energy demand of its global operations and data centres with the electricity generated by renewable energy projects.

Pichai said the latest package of deals will “spur the construction of more than $2bn in new energy infrastructure”, including millions of solar panels and hundreds of wind turbines across three continents.

Almost half of Google’s new renewable energy investments will be made in Europe, including projects in Finland, Sweden, ...

Hong Kong stock exchange in talks to buy London Stock Exchange for $36.6 billion

The Hong Kong stock exchange says it has started talks to buy the London Stock Exchange that would value the British company at 29.6 billion pounds ($36.6 billion).

The Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd said on Wednesday that a deal would provide the London Stock Exchange with a key opening to Asian markets and underpin the British capital's role as a financial hub.

The offer comes at a time of heightened uncertainty for London and British companies because of Brexit, which threatens to create barriers to trade for the country. A weakened pound has also made UK companies cheaper takeover targets.

The Hong Kong exchange is required to make a binding offer by October 9.

/Source: The Times of India/

AT&T Shares Rise After Activist Shareholder Discloses $3.2 Billion Stake

Activist shareholder Elliott Management, which has pressed for big changes at companies including Barnes & Noble and Interpublic Group, said Monday it had taken a stake valued at $3.2 billion in the shares of telecommunication giant AT&T, and urged the company to focus more intently on its operations after a series of big acquisitions and missed opportunities have, in Elliott’s words, “eroded AT&T’s business focus and shareholder value.”

AT&T is grappling with subscriber losses at satellite-distributor DirecTV, which it acquired for $49 billion in 2016 and working to reduce debt after buying the former Time Warner for $85 billion last year.

The shareholder suggested that AT&T’s move into what it believes are non-core markets – DirecTV and WarnerMedia among them – “has not only contributed directly to its profound share price underperformance, but has also caused distractions that have contributed to the Company’s recent operational underperformance.” 

In a statement, AT&T said it welcomed ...

The legal commitment to end UK's global warming contributions by 2050

Theresa May pledged to introduce a legally binding target forcing the UK to end its contribution to climate change by the middle of the century. 

In one of her last acts in office before leaving No 10, the prime minister laed legislation in the Commons, setting a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Hitting net zero – a 100 per cent cut in emissions – will mean an end to heating of homes with traditional gas boilers, more green electricity, and a switch from petrol and diesel cars to electric vehicles, walking and cycling. 

“Now is the time to go further and faster to safeguard the environment for our children. This country led the world in innovation during the Industrial Revolution, and now we must lead the world to a clear, greener form of growth."

“The government will now need to come forward with the coordinated policies, actions, and regulations needed to ...

British Petroleum leaving Alaska

BP plc reported Tuesday that it has agreed to sell all of its operations and interests in Alaska to Hilcorp for $ 5.6 billion, ending a six-decade run in the state.

With the deal, Anchorage-based Hilcorp Alaska - already the largest private operator in the state - will gain ownership of BP’s interests in high-profile upstream and midstream assets such as the giant Prudhoe Bay field and the Trans Alaska Pipeline (TAPS).

“Alaska has been instrumental in BP’s growth and success for well over half a century and our work there has helped shape the careers of many throughout the company,” BP CEO Bob Dudley said in a written statement. “We are extraordinarily proud of the world-class business we have built, working alongside our partners and the State of Alaska, and the significant contributions it has made to Alaska’s economy and America’s energy security.”

Nevertheless, Dudley added that other opportunities in the U.S. ...

SoftBank launches new $108 billion fund to invest in A.I.

SoftBank on Friday announced its second mega fund to invest into technology companies developing artificial intelligence technologies around the world.

The total expected contribution to the SoftBank Vision Fund 2 from both the Japanese conglomerate and other partners stands at about $ 108 billion based on a series of memoranda of understandings, the company said.

For its part, SoftBank said it plans to contribute $ 38 billion into the new fund.

Some prominent corporations that are expected to participate in Vision Fund 2 include: Apple, Microsoft, iPhone assembler Foxconn, Standard Chartered Bank, Japanese financial giants Mizuho Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and MUFG Bank.

Others include the National Investment Corporation of National Bank of Kazakhstan and investors from Taiwan.

SoftBank said that the total anticipated capital contribution is expected to rise amid ongoing discussions with other participants. If partners follow through with their financial commitments, the second fund is set to raise more than the ...