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☆ AI deals give investment banks a glimmer of hope
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

About a third of all M&A deals in the first half of 2023 were technology deals, and a lot of that was related to AI, said Berlin. The success of these deals mean more M&A is likely on the horizon, said Dan Ives, a tech analyst at Wedbush. Costco members now have access to $29 online health care visitsCostco is known for its giant tubs of mac and cheese, cheap hotdogs and more-for-less warehouse deals. The retailer is offering the new service in partnership with Sesame, a direct-to-consumer health care marketplace that connects medical providers nationwide with consumers. Costco is among several retailers, including Amazon, CVS and Walgreens, who are directly providing health care to customers as the demand booms for urgent care access outside of a traditional hospital setting.

Persons: CNN —, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, ” Goldman, David Solomon, Instacart’s, ”, Mitch Berlin, “ You’re, Dan Ives, ” Ives, Taavon Naja, Ramishah Maruf, Parija Kavilanz, Sesame Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, CNN, Wall, Companies, Renaissance, Nasdaq, Cisco, Wedbush, of Foreign, Control, Costco, Costco Pharmacy’s, Amazon, CVS, Walgreens Locations: Americas, Berlin, Iran, Switzerland, United States, PFAS, New York

☆ US debt rises to $33 trillion as government shutdown looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

New York CNN —As the US national debt passes $33 trillion and a government shutdown looms, Wall Street feels defensive. What’s happening: The gross national debt has grown at an alarming pace since then — by $1 trillion in the last three months alone. Political finger pointing around what caused the accelerated debt accrual, meanwhile, has left the government at an impasse around the budget. The recent increase in interest rates has already made it much more expensive for the government to pay back what it owes. That would leave the door open for another rate increase, which could come when the following meeting concludes, on November 1.

Persons: Fitch, ”, Michael Peterson, Peter G, Peterson, Biden, Gary Schlossberg, Jennifer Timmerman, Gregory Daco, Bryan Mena, Jerome Powell, Instacart, Jordan Valinsky Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, AAA, AA, GOP, UAW, Wells, Investment Institute, Fed, Federal, Financial, Walmart Locations: New York, —, Amazon

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched higher on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting and as investors awaited grocery delivery app Instacart’s Nasdaq debut to assess a potential recovery in the IPO market. FILE PHOTO: Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, U.S., August 29, 2023. Arm Holdings last week had a stellar market debut, raising hopes of a bounce back in the initial public offering (IPO) market. Investors will closely monitor the Fed’s quarterly report on economic projections to gauge participating members’ longer-term policy outlook. While most of the key data releases on inflation are out, investors will keep an eye on U.S. housing data for August, due at 8:30 a.m.

Persons: Brendan McDermid, ”, Matthew Morgan, Alyssa Henry Organizations: Reuters, Federal, Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange, REUTERS, Inc, Arm Holdings, Fed, Jupiter Asset, Traders, Dow e, Block, CVS Health Corp, ISI, Intel Locations: New York City, U.S, “

☆ Instacart soars 40% in its trading debut
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

New York CNN —Instacart started trading Tuesday, opening at $42 per share and propelling the grocery-delivery company to a market valuation of just over $11 billion. Trading under the ticker CART, Instacart had set a price of $30 per share for its initial public offering. The company might get a warm response from investors, who gave UK-based chip designer Arm a successful Nasdaq debut last week. That stock finished its first day of trading 25% higher, landing the company with a market cap of around $65 billion. Arm was the largest public offering in two years, after Rivian made its trading debut.

Persons: New York CNN — Instacart, Instacart, “, Rivian Organizations: New, New York CNN, Walmart, Nasdaq Locations: New York, Amazon

Initial public offerings are back, warts and all. After a two-year dearth of new listings, shares of the grocery delivery company Instacart closed their first day of trading on Tuesday at $33.70, up 12 percent from their initial public offering price of $30. The performance signaled that investors were eager to take a chance on young tech companies — but only at the right price. But even with the early stock price pop, the company’s valuation remained a far cry from the $39 billion that investors assigned it in the private market in 2021. “The markets will always ebb and flow,” she said, adding that she was more focused on what she could control.

Persons: Fidji Simo

Instacart on Monday priced its shares at $30 each for its initial public offering, at the top of its expected range, in a sign of renewed demand for tech stocks. The San Francisco-based grocery delivery company had estimated that its shares would be priced at $28 to $30 a share. Instacart raised $660 million in the offering and was valued at $9.9 billion, significantly below its last private fund-raising round in 2021, which valued the company at $39 billion. Many companies that raised money during the boom times of 2020 and 2021 have slashed their soaring valuations over the last year. Before last week, this had been the worst year for I.P.O.s since 2009, according to EquityZen, a marketplace for private stocks.

Persons: Instacart Organizations: Nasdaq, I.P.O.s Locations: San Francisco

☆ Instacart’s Grocery Partnerships Are No Free Lunch
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Jinjoo Lee | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones

When Fidji Simo took over as chief executive of Instacart in 2021, the grocery delivery start-up’s growth was cratering as its pandemic boom ebbed. Ms. Simo, a former executive at Meta with experience in advertising, played to her strengths. She also hatched a plan to sell software tools and other products to grocery companies to help improve shopping experiences, they said. Then she embarked on a good-will tour to visit the grocery companies and hosted their executives at her home in Carmel, Calif.As Instacart prepares to go public next week, it is a markedly different company. Envisioned in 2012 as a service that matched people at home with contract workers who would shop for them and deliver groceries, it has increasingly focused on advertising and software products as its delivery business has slowed.

Persons: Fidji Simo, Simo, Brands, Instacart Organizations: Meta Locations: Carmel , Calif

☆ This week’s US inflation data is very important. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Nicole Goodkind | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

All this uncertainty has led markets to lack conviction, flip-flopping as conflicting narratives around inflation rates and Fed hikes prevail. But this week’s readings — just a few days ahead of the Fed’s September policy meeting -— could give the markets direction. “Getting core inflation to 2% won’t come quickly, and upside risks remain,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate. And while the Fed generally looks at core inflation, the impact of crude prices often extends into other areas of the economy. Pensions and inflation adjustments: The UAW wants a return of traditional pension payment plans and retiree health care for all UAW members.

Persons: There’s, —, Price, Jason Pride, Michael Reynolds, Glenmede, ”, Greg McBride, David Kelly, Chris Isidore, Shawn Fain, they’re, Chris, Jordan Valinsky, Instacart, “ Organizations: CNN Business, Bell, New York CNN, United Auto Workers, Federal, Consumer, of America, JPMorgan Asset Management, UAW, Ford, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, Workers, Union Locations: New York, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia, America, Instacart

That’s far less than what Instacart fetched in a fund-raising round two years ago. But like Arm, the SoftBank-owned chip designer set to price its own stock offering on Wednesday, Instacart’s shift reflects investor caution as Wall Street slowly warms up to I.P.O.s again. In 2021, the company was valued at a heady $39 billion, as venture capitalists poured money into start-ups, especially those that benefited from stay-at-home pandemic restrictions. But investors had expected it to pursue a valuation as high as $70 billion. (The projected appraisal is higher than the $32 billion that SoftBank paid for Arm in 2016.)

Persons: I.P.O.s Instacart, I.P.O.s Organizations: U.S Locations: I.P.O.s, what’s

☆ Instacart’s mixed bag has valuation opportunities
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Anita Ramaswamy | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

If it doesn’t push valuation too hard, a public listing could be seamless. Instacart booked net income in 2022, a rarity for a growth company hitting the public market. That brings Instacart’s enterprise value to roughly $17 billion, less than half of what it was worth in 2021 but still higher than the internal valuation it inked last year. Follow @AnitaRamaswamy on XCONTEXT NEWSGrocery-delivery business Instacart filed paperwork to go public on Aug. 25 under the formal name Maplebear. The company, which did not share its target price range in the filing, grew revenue by 39% in 2022 to $2.6 billion.

Persons: Eric Cohn, Cheney Orr, Fidji Simo, Instacart, Simo, Apoorva Mehta, Domino's, Lauren Silva Laughlin, Sharon Lam Organizations: Safeway, REUTERS, Reuters, Nasdaq, Kroger, Aldi, Costco Wholesale, Companies, Thomson Locations: Tucson , Arizona, U.S, Cava

☆ India’s space startups are ready to blast off too
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Amit Dave Acquire Licensing RightsBENGALURU, Aug 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Nearly seven million people watched India’s space program make history on Wednesday. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) became the first to land near the moon’s unexplored south pole. Peak XV Partners, formerly Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, in June led a $10 million investment in Digantara, which maps space debris. At $74 million, the bill for India’s moon mission was less than the cost of producing 2013 Hollywood space thriller "Gravity". New Delhi is finalising new foreign direct investment rules, and that will likely turbocharge India’s space startups.

Persons: Amit Dave, Elon Musk, Singapore’s GIC, Pranav Kiran, Coinbase’s, Una Galani, Streisand Neto Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, SpaceX, XV Partners, Sequoia, Skyroot Aerospace, Hollywood, Twitter, Thomson Locations: Gujarat Science City, Ahmedabad, India, Sequoia India, Southeast Asia, Digantara, New Delhi

☆ GAM’s end game still has a way to go
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsMILAN, Aug 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - GAM’s (GAMH.S) long-running takeover saga has entered a critical phase. The ball is now with the opposing shareholders, which control nearly 10% of the asset manager. The NewGAMe crowd has proposed issuing a 25 million Swiss franc convertible bond to give GAM some breathing space. But this won’t cover expected losses, restructuring charges and pension costs amounting to at least 100 million Swiss francs, GAM has calculated. As things stand, to win the game of rescuing this embattled asset manager, investors will have to dig deep.

Persons: Xavier Niel, Sarah Meyssonnier, NewGAMe’s, Lisa Jucca, Coinbase’s, Aimee Donnellan, Streisand Neto Organizations: French, REUTERS, Reuters, Management, GAM, X, Thomson Locations: Paris, France, French, Ukraine

☆ UK’s improving finances will bear no fiscal gifts
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON, Aug 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Higher tax receipts helped Britain to borrow less than expected in July. The UK’s poor economic health leaves him with little room for fiscal giveaways ahead of a prospective 2024 election. Public sector net borrowing stood at 4.3 billion pounds in July, less than the 5 billion pounds expected by economists polled by Reuters. In the first four months of the fiscal year, borrowing was 11.3 billion pounds below the Office for Budget Responsibility’s forecast. The recent rise in bond yields will add around 18 billion pounds to debt interest spending by 2027/28, says Capital Economics.

Persons: Jeremy Hunt, Mairead McGuinness, Yves Herman, Hunt, Francesco Guerrera, EY’s loveless, Lisa Jucca, Katrina Hamlin Organizations: Financial Stability, Financial Services, Capital Markets, REUTERS, Reuters, Budget, Economics, Twitter, TPG, Thomson Locations: Brussels, Belgium

☆ Coinbase’s stablecoin bet pegs to wishful thinking
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The crypto exchange will take a minority stake in Circle Internet Financial, issuer of stablecoin USDC. Such tokens, designed to track the U.S. dollar, haven’t delivered on promises of transforming finance. Coinbase already earns interest from reserves backing USDC through a partnership with Circle, and doesn’t expect any new major financial benefit. Meanwhile, U.S. legislation to regulate the tokens is stalled, and PayPal’s (PYPL.O) stablecoin launch last month drew criticism from Representative Maxine Waters, among others. Coinbase, meanwhile, is cozying up to pillars of traditional finance like BlackRock (BLK.N).

Persons: haven’t, Coinbase, Maxine Waters, Brian Armstrong, Anita Ramaswamy, EY’s loveless, Jonathan Guilford, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, U.S ., Wall Street Journal, BlackRock, Twitter, TPG, Thomson

☆ Instacart’s slow IPO delivery spoils the goods
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW YORK, Aug 18(Reuters Breakingviews) - Instacart may finally be in the market for new investors. The grocery delivery company is set to submit an initial public offering prospectus to regulators as soon as next week, Bloomberg reported. Fund managers were on a shopping spree when Simo was appointed Instacart’s boss in August 2021. The slow IPO delivery has spoiled the goods. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

Persons: Apoorva Mehta, Fidji Simo, Simo, Jay Ritter, Instacart, Andreessen Horowitz, Rowe Price, Jennifer Saba, EY’s loveless, Jeffrey Goldfarb, Sharon Lam Organizations: Reuters, Bloomberg, University of Florida, Twitter, TPG, Thomson

☆ Instacart Joins ChatGPT Frenzy, Adding Chatbot To Grocery Shopping App
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Instacart’s new search tool, “Ask Instacart,” will tap data from more than 1.5 million products stocked by some 75,000 grocery stores, said JJ Zhuang, the company’s chief architect. Mr. Zhuang described the software integration as “experimenting with what’s possible” using ChatGPT on Instacart’s app. OpenAI, a San Francisco-based software startup launched in 2015, has sought to expand its reach by easing the process of integrating ChatGPT software with outside apps. Microsoft Corp. , an OpenAI investor, last month added ChatGPT technology to its Bing search engine. Mr. Brockman said it is important for companies to consider the stakes involved in the way they plan to use ChatGPT technology.

A part-time worker for Instacart filled customer orders in New Jersey last year. Instacart Inc. generated sharply higher sales and profit in the fourth quarter, according to people familiar with the matter and an internal memo, as the company prepares for its highly anticipated initial public offering of stock. The grocery-delivery company told employees on Tuesday that its revenue increased more than 50% in the fourth quarter, compared with the same period a year earlier, while gross profit rose more than 80%, according to a memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

☆ Instacart could do worse than incinerating $32 bln
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Jennifer Saba | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Based on peers, it could have incinerated $32 billion of value in the past two years. That might be painful, but failure to accept that new price tag could lead to a worse outcome. The pandemic accelerated growth for companies like Instacart, as people opted for food delivery services to avoid crowded stores and restaurants. Two years ago, Instacart was worth some $39 billion. The grocery delivery company had positive net income and generated more than $100 million in adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter, the article said.

☆ Health Startups Offer Diabetes Drugs Like Ozempic for Weight Loss With Little Oversight
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Rolfe Winkler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In an Instagram ad for online weight-loss service NextMed, a young woman holds the skin on her stomach and complains about her “little tummy pouch.” In an ad for a similar service—launched by Instacart’s former chief executive—a model wears a yellow bikini and weighs 102 pounds, according to a modeling-agency profile. Digital health startups are racing to cash in on booming demand for diabetes drugs that are effective for weight loss, but some of the companies are advertising and prescribing the drugs to people who aren’t overweight.

☆ Instacart Plans to Focus IPO on Selling Employee Shares
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Berber Jin | Corrie Driebusch | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Instacart Inc. doesn’t plan to raise much capital in its initial public offering and instead plans to have most of the listing come from the sale of employees’ shares, said people familiar with its thinking. In meetings with prospective investors in recent weeks, Instacart executives said they didn’t plan to issue many new shares in their IPO, the people said. The sale of mostly employee shares would allow Instacart’s staff, including some of its earliest hires, to at last cash out of some of the shares they have been accumulating.

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