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.
Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart has held discussions in recent weeks about potentially acquiring Dunzo, the hyperlocal delivery startup backed by Reliance Retail, three sources familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.
The acquisition talks follow a turbulent year at Dunzo, which has been struggling to raise cash and make staff payroll.
Flipkart is skeptical about precisely what all it will be able to take over if it were to acquire Dunzo.
Reliance Retail, the largest investor in Dunzo, has also not approved the deal.
Flipkart and Dunzo didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday evening.
The deal’s latest hurdle is the European Commission, which has set a February 14 deadline to reach a final decision.
According to a new report, the EU regulatory body is set to vote against acquisition, citing the perceived anti-competitive nature of deal.
In July, Amazon announced that it was lowering its asking price from $61 to $51.75 per share.
The day the initial deal was announced, iRobot cut its headcount by 10% — around 140 people – as part of a restructure.
As of this writing, share prices have dipped below $20 – one-third of where things where when the deal was announced.
To coincide with the National Retailer Association’s annual conference in NYC, Google Cloud today unveiled new gen AI products designed to help retailers personalize their online shopping experiences and streamline their back-office operations.
But the slew of announcements show, if nothing else, how aggressively Google is attempting to court gen AI customers.
(Google’s long offered Distributed Cloud Edge as a service, but it’s now targeting retailers more directly.)
My question after being pre-briefed on all this was, frankly, are retailers really clamoring for gen AI?
But considering some of the rocky rollouts of gen AI in retail recently (see: Amazon’s review summaries exaggerating negative feedback), I can’t say I’m convinced that the retail industry will rush to adopt gen AI en masse — from Google Cloud or any other provider.
Most notably, Walmart is launching a new generative AI search feature on iOS that will allow customers to search for products by use cases, instead of by product or brand names.
These enhanced search results will span categories, rivaling Google’s SGE (Search Generative Experience), which can recommend products and show various factors to consider, along with reviews, prices, images, and more.
At the time, Walmart teased that a generative AI-powered search feature was also in the works.
In another area, Walmart’s generative AI tool for store associates, My Assistant, will be expanded to 11 countries outside the U.S. in 2024, where it will work in employees’ native languages.
Outside of AI, Walmart is looking to other new technology for faster deliveries.
The valuation reassessment comes at a time when Reliance is expected to undertake initial public offerings for both Jio Platforms and Reliance Retail.
In 2020, Jio Platforms raised over $20 billion from a series of investments by companies like Meta, Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners and others.
Reliance Retail, which raised about $7 billion in 2020, recently raised about $1.85 billion at $100 billion valuation.
The investment bank also expects the Indian telecom industry to hike tariff in the second half of the year, it said.
“On enterprise business we see three areas where Jio Platforms could capitalize on: government contracts, SMEs and corporates (by offering VAS),” BofA added.
The investment arm of the UK retail bank M&G has led a funding of $340 million into Udaan, a business-to-business e-commerce startup, in one of the largest financing rounds secured by an Indian startup in 2023.
The Bengaluru-headquartered startup, which helps merchants in smaller Indian cities and towns secure inventories from major brands as well as gain access to working capital, said the new funds include some convertible debt.
Existing backers Lightspeed Venture Partners and DST Global have also participated in the new round, which awaits regulatory nod.
Udaan competes with a number of players, including Mukesh Ambani’s $100 billion Reliance Retail, the largest retail chain in India.
Udaan didn’t share how M&G and other investors valued the startup in the new round.
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