Episode 67: It’s About Love As Bumbles IPO Soars
Happy Friday! It’s fitting that we end the week with a love story going into Valentine's day weekend, Bumbles IPO soars.
#Bumblelove: The platform that is helping everyone find love soars to a $13B valuation. Bumbles CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd joins the elite girls club of only 20 or so women who have ever taken the company they founded public. Wolfe Herd, 31, is the youngest woman ever to do so, breaking the record set by Stitch Fix founder and CEO Katrina Lake back in 2017 (she was 34). Thursday also propelled Wolfe Herd into another rarified group - self-made female billionaires. She holds an 11.6% stake in Bumbles, which, as of yesterday afternoon, was worth about $1.6 billion.
Let’s Get Green: Cannabis stocks have been making headlines this week, and analysts' favorites include Green Thumb. The maker of products such as The Feel Collection, Dr. Solomon’s, and Rhythm was described by Cantor Fitzgerald as one of the most profitable multi-state operators. It upped its 12-month price target from $35B to $62B.
What is the Clubhouse app and why is it suddenly everywhere? Part talkback radio, part conference call, part Houseparty, Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. Users can listen in to conversations, interviews, and discussions between interesting people on various topics – it is just like tuning in to a podcast but live and with an added layer of exclusivity. We held a LatinX event on the platform and will be creating a series, so stay tuned for more.
As bitcoin moves further into the mainstream, the ways individual investors can dip their toes into the world of cryptocurrency are expanding. Bitcoin traded at nearly $49,000 per unit this week, putting the nascent asset class up nearly 70% since the start of the year. The price of bitcoin jumped sharply in 2020 as well, with major hedge fund managers and other high profile players signaling their interest in the cryptocurrency.
Market Close
Dow 30 31,458.40+27.70 (+0.09%)
Nasdaq 14,095.47+69.70 (+0.50%)
S&P 500 3,934.83+18.45 (+0.47%)
IPO
Talis Biomedical, a company developing diagnostic tests for COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, raised $221 million by offering 13.8 million shares at $16. It plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol TLIS. JPMorgan, BofA Securities, and Piper Sandler acted as lead managers on the deal (http://axios.link/FcFc).
Urban-gro, which provides equipment and services for the commercial indoor horticulture market, raised $54 million by offering 5.4 million shares at $10 in its Nasdaq uplisting. At that pricing, it commands a diluted market cap of about $103 million. Much larger peer Hydrofarm Holdings (HYFM), also a "picks and shovels" play on the cannabis market, went public in December and popped 160% on its first day; it closed Thursday with a 302% return from offer.
Urban-gro plans to list on the Nasdaq under the symbol UGRO.
Latam
Jüsto, the Mexican online supermarket, raised a $65M Series A funding round led by General Atlantic. Existing investors Foundation Capital and Mountain Nazca also participated in the round. Jüsto is an online supermarket that provides new distribution avenues to local suppliers at fair prices, eliminating the middle-man in the supply chain. The platform is 100% digital with no physical stores.