Lordstown Motors charged with misleading investors about the sales potential of its EV pickupThe Securities and Exchange Commission has charged bankrupt Lordstown Motors with misleading investors about the sales prospects of its Endurance electric pickup truck.
Lordstown has agreed to pay $25.5 million as a result — money that the SEC says will go towards settling a number of pending class action lawsuits against the company.
“We allege that, in a highly competitive race to deliver the first mass-produced electric pickup truck to the U.S. market, Lordstown oversold true demand for the Endurance,” Mark Cave, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said in a statement.
“Exaggerations that misrepresent a public company’s competitive advantages distort the capital markets and foil investors’ ability to make informed decisions about where to put their money.”The SEC says its investigation into Lordstown Motors is ongoing.
This story is developing…
If Reddit prices too high out the gate, it loses out on potential buyer interest and could trade down from its IPO valuation instead of building momentum.
Reddit’s most recent primary round in 2021 raised $410 million at a $10 billion valuation from investors, including Fidelity, Quiet Capital and Montauk Ventures, among others.
The market has obviously changed since then, and going out at that $10 billion valuation wouldn’t be smart.
What happens nextThe $5 billion valuation that Reddit may pursue is not risk-free.
Reddit offering shares to its top users is likely a ploy to avoid the stock entering meme-trading territory, Martin said.
Payments infrastructure giant Stripe said today it has inked deals with investors to provide liquidity to current and former employees through a tender offer at a $65 billion valuation.
Notably, the valuation represents a 30% increase compared to what Stripe was valued at last March when it raised $6.5 billion in Series I funding at a $50 billion valuation.
But it is also still lower than the $95 billion valuation achieved in March of 2021.
A Stripe IPO has been long anticipated and was widely expected to happen in 2024.
But with this deal, it appears that an initial public offering may not take place until next year.
As Reddit finally files to go public, the company wrote in its S-1 filing that “meme stock” schemes on r/WallStreetBets could pose a risk to investors.
The stock was so volatile, jumping more than 600% within days, that trading was halted multiple times.
Retail traders tried to replicate the GameStop saga by investing in other heavily shorted stocks like AMC and Bed, Bath & Beyond, solidifying this phenomenon of trading “meme stocks,” to mixed results.
This is a rare move that would let community members buy stock at the same price as institutional investors upon IPO.
In 2023, Reddit incurred a net loss of $90.8 million, adding to the company’s cumulative deficit of $716.6 million.
The participating shareholders — whose combined ownership in Byju’s exceeded 60% — also passed the resolution to reconstitute the board of Byju’s.
“At today’s Extraordinary General Meeting shareholders unanimously passed all resolutions put forward for vote.
Late last month, Byju’s launched a rights issue where it sought to raise about $200 million at a massively discounted rate.
Raveendran told shareholders earlier this week that the rights issue had been fully subscribed and requested all existing investors to participate and maintain their ownership.
“[…] I understand that participating in this rights issue may seem like a Hobson’s choice.
Byju’s cut the pre-money valuation ask in the rights issue to about $20 million to $25 million, TechCrunch earlier reported.
If they don’t participate in the rights issue, they risk losing nearly all their stake in Byju’s.
“Our rights issue is fully subscribed and my gratitude to my shareholders remains strong,” founder and chief executive Byju Raveendran wrote in a letter to shareholders Tuesday.
“But my benchmark of success is the participation of all shareholders in the rights issue.
“I understand that participating in this rights issue may seem like a Hobson’s choice.
But this example is eerily similar to the pitch many startup founders make to potential investors.
For a startup, the “finished house” isn’t bricks, mortar, and those cool USB power sockets, but it’s built with milestones and achievements.
These are the “rooms” and “fixtures” investors are looking to find in the startup house.
The journey of building a startup is an adventure filled with unexpected twists and turns, much like the construction of a dream home.
That’s startup life: You roll with the punches.
Partech closes its second Africa fund at $300M+ to invest from seed to Series CPartech has closed its second Africa fund, Partech Africa II, at €280 million ($300 million+), just one year after reaching its first close.
Amidst a backdrop of global VCs and institutional investors pulling back from Africa, Partech Africa’s recent fund closure is significant.
However, he clarified that the firm will deploy the majority of its second fund between Series A and B rounds.
Among the investments from its second fund is Revio, a South African payment orchestration platform, where Partech Africa co-led the seed round with global fintech fund QED.
Partech Africa intends to back over 20 companies, with initial investments ranging from $1 million to $15 million, it disclosed.
Brex might not be having a good couple of quarters, but there’s sufficient positive news from the world of fintech to offset all the negativity around the sector.
So, yeah, while there has been a stark lack of fintech companies going public recently, capital is flowing into the sector because venture investors are still cautiously optimistic about it.
We can answer that question relatively easily today thanks to a new list compiled by GGV US that highlights 50 fintech startups venture capitalists think are hot stuff.
We also spoke to GGV managing partner Hans Tung about what he’s seeing in the sector today.
Why does fintech look like it’s stuck in first gear today?
Brex might not be having a good couple of quarters, but there’s sufficient positive news from the world of fintech to offset all the negativity around the sector.
So, yeah, while there has been a stark lack of fintech companies going public recently, capital is flowing into the sector because venture investors are still cautiously optimistic about it.
We can answer that question relatively easily today thanks to a new list compiled by GGV US that highlights 50 fintech startups venture capitalists think are hot stuff.
We also spoke to GGV managing partner Hans Tung about what he’s seeing in the sector today.
Why does fintech look like it’s stuck in first gear today?
