Episode 90: Biggest quarter for IPOs in two decades
The market for initial public offerings just completed the biggest quarter in more than two decades, and issuance isn’t cooling off. According to data from Renaissance Capital, 115 traditional IPOs, collecting $40.7 billion, were completed. That is nearly three times the 39 offerings, valued at $15 billion, that hit the market during the same period in 2020. It was the highest number of deals since the third quarter of 2000, when 139 companies went public. The $40.7 billion is the biggest amount raised by new issues since the fourth quarter of 1999, when 154 companies, valued at $46.5 billion, listed their stock.
Stocks rose on Friday and the S&P 500 hit another record high after the June jobs report showed an accelerating recovery for the U.S. labor market. Solid moves by major tech stocks helped support the overall market on Friday, with shares of Apple and Salesforce rising by nearly 2% and 1.3%, respectively. Microsoft jumped 2.2%. For the week, the Nasdaq Composite rose nearly 2%, while the S&P 500 and Dow climbed 1.7% and 1%, respectively. Several sectors closed at record levels on Friday, including tech and health care.
Space tourism venture Virgin Galactic announced its next spaceflight test will carry billionaire founder Sir Richard Branson. The flight is set to launch July 11, days before billionaire Jeff Bezos is expected to fly on his company Blue Origin's first passenger spaceflight on July 20.
As of this year, 83 of the 100 largest publicly traded employers disclosed the racial and ethnic makeup of their boardroom, according to data from nonprofit JUST Capital. That’s an improvement from the 45 that did so in 2019 and 63 disclose their workforce demographics. The disclosure of diversity makeup is now more important to more shareholders, employees, and even lawmakers.
Market Closed
Dow 30 34,786.35 +152.82 (+0.44%)
S&P 500 4,352.34 +32.40 (+0.75%)
Nasdaq 14,639.33 +116.95 (+0.81%)
IPO/SPAC
Robinhood filed for what's expected to be one of the largest IPOs of 2021, capping off a stunningly swift corporate comeback. It's not normal for a company under this much recent scrutiny to invite even more attention via a public listing, but these aren't normal times in Robinhood's industry. Just look at how much it made last quarter by enabling dogecoin trades.Robinhood plans to list on the Nasdaq under ticker "HOOD," and lists just about every bank in the world except for Morgan Stanley.
LATAM
Frubana, a one-stop-shop for restaurants, raised a $65M (R$351M) funding round. GGV Capital, Tiger Global Management, SoftBank, Monashees, Hans Tung, and the new Lightspeed Venture Partners participated in the round. Frubana provides fresh produce and grocery staples for restaurants across Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico. The platform uses smart data to connect local farmers with restaurants to optimize produce and meet demand, reducing waste, and improving efficiency.