With gold and copper prices hitting historic highs last year, is now the time to buy into gold and copper mining companies? With an uncertain macroeconomic and geopolitical outlook going into 2023, precious metals and industrial metals tend to be impacted conversely. Copper is widely considered a lead indicator for economic growth. Gold however is […]
Venture Capital Outlook for 2023
2021 was an outlier. 2022 was carried by momentum. 2023 may be the fine-tuning of a new market structure. There is no getting away from 2022 being a challenging year for Venture Capital. The lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, rising interest rates, and conflicts abroad have impacted the VC industry and upended the assumptions […]
Staggering Growth of European Unicorns Drives the European VC Market
Europe has produced three times as many unicorns than China in 2021 For the first time since 2016, Europe is ahead of China in the number of unicorns created or $1bn exits. Yet another sign of the enormous momentum in the European tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem. The tech boom is also being spearheaded by European […]
Venture Capital Activity Skyrockets in First Half of 2021
Venture Capital: Momentum Out of Uncertainty Nearly overnight, the COVID-19 pandemic threw economies around the world into turmoil. Over one year after the onset of that disruption, an unexpectedly rapid recovery has taken place, as well as resilient private market activity. Venture capital investors leaned into the new reality and despite the challenges posed by […]
The SPAC Phenomenon and What To Expect in 2021
SPACs (special-purpose acquisition companies) give start-ups an alternative to listing publicly. They are essentially public investment vehicles with a mandate to buy large stakes in start-ups. Instead of listing on a public exchange, start-ups can be bought by a SPAC – securing a large capital raise as well as allowing early shareholders to cash in. […]
2020 Reshapes IPO Market
After an improbable comeback in the second half of the year, the US IPO market delivered the decade’s biggest year in terms of exit value. Richly valued tech offerings pushed the value of all 120 VC backed IPOs in 2020 to a combined valuation of nearly $260 billion. These mega- IPOs have refashioned the relationship […]
2021 Emerging Technology Outlook
The primary trends set to shape the emerging tech VC market in 2021. Agtech – expect field robotics to receive a record level of VC investment in 2021 The pandemic has exacerbated labour shortages in the agricultural industry leading to rising long-term food demand on a global scale. Field robotics and smart field equipment could […]
Venture Capital Outlook for 2021
Venture capital focuses on funding small, early-stage and innovative firms that are deemed to have high growth potential. It is often considered a catalyst for job creation and economic growth. Investment focus in 2021 will be on new highly innovative start-ups and companies that have benefited from the disruption caused by the pandemic with follow-on […]
How the Founders of Airbnb went from renting three air mattresses to a $32 billion business
With Airbnb set to IPO next week with a price range of between $44 and $50 per share, the company could raise as much as $2.5 billion with a target valuation of $32 billion. If the company can achieve the top end of its targeted valuation, it will once again underline the extent to which […]
The COVID-19 Crisis has accelerated the rise of the digital economy and the 4th Industrial Revolution
The crisis has forced us to work in accordance with new procedures using new technologies. Business processes, such as alternative investment capital, were redesigned in an unplanned revolutionary manner and at unprecedented speed. A positive effect of the pandemic has been the rocketing digital adoption with levels that previously took several years to achieve being […]
Tech-Driven Investment Outperforms Trusted Value Investment Models
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway fame are widely heralded as the greatest investors of all time. Their tried and tested investment strategy is centred on buying securities in typically well-established, non-tech companies identified through their investment model as under-priced. Whilst Berkshire Hathaway has its own number crunching fundamental analysis to identify investment […]
The Curious Stock Market and Bitcoin Correlation
Since the liquidity crisis in March, as the S&P has rallied to all- time highs this summer there has also been a strong correlation between the index and the price of Bitcoin. In our latest blog, we ask whether this statistical relationship suggests the fate of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency has become tied to the […]