The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

One of the most high-profile trends over the past year or so has been the growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). The latest advances in this quickly evolving field have created something of an AI gold rush as businesses scramble to determine how best to leverage this nascent technology. There are a vast and growing number of applications for generative AI , which can create original content, including text, images, and video.

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A Wealth of Common Sense

APRIL 8, 2024

A reader sent me the following chart asking for my thoughts: I honestly don’t know who the creator of this chart is. I don’t know the intention of it either but the fact that the title contains the word collapse makes it sound scary. Knowing that housing prices in the U.S. are at all-time highs makes this chart seem suspect, but the data checks out.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Your net worth is kind of like a scorecard of your financial progress. Seeing that number march steadily higher over your life should assure you that you're on the right track. Your net worth is calculated by adding up all of your assets -- cash savings, investments, home value, and other property -- and subtracting your liabilities -- your mortgage balance, student loans, credit card debt, and any other money you might owe.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

HD, a Thai based developer of chatbots for health care, raised $5.6m in Series A funding. The round was led by SBI Ven Capital with participation from M Venture Partners, FEBE Ventures, Partech Partners, Ratio Ventures, Orvel Ventures, and TA Ventures. HD is a healthcare and surgery marketplace in emerging Southeast Asia, powering over 1,800+ healthcare […] The post HD Raises $5.6M in Series A Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

The artificial intelligence (AI) bull market is here. Following the launch of ChatGPT, the power of generative AI technology has become clear, and tech companies are racing to take advantage of it, both to find better ways to serve their customers and to make their operations more efficient. Investors have also caught on to this trend, and investor enthusiasm is a big reason why tech stocks have soared since the beginning of 2023, with the "Magnificent Seven" leading the way.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Windfall Bio, a Menlo Park, CA-based company which specializes in methane-to-value solutions, raised $28M Series A funding. The round led by Prelude Ventures with participation from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund, Global Brain (through its Norinchukin Innovation Fund L.P.), Incite Ventures, Positive Ventures and existing investors including B37 Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Mayfield, and UNTITLED (a fund backed by the Tetra Laval family).

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Summer, a NYC-based provider of an end-to-end workplace student loan solution, raised $9M in funding. The round was led by Rebalance Capital and SemperVirens, with participation from General Catalyst, QED, Flourish Ventures, Partnership Fund for NYC, Fenway Summer, and Gaingels. The company intends to use the funds to expand its leadership team, grow its Advisory Board, […] The post Summer Raises $9M in Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Viking Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VKTX) has shown its strengths from a potential product perspective and an investment perspective in recent times. The company reported excellent data from clinical trials of two formulations of its leading weight loss drug candidate. In fact, after the first data report in late February, the stock surged 120% in just one trading session.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Prem Labs, a US-based applied research lab focused on enhancing and advancing open-source AI technologies, raised $14M in Seed funding. Backers included a co-founder of Sequoia Capital China, David Maisel, founder and former chairman of Marvel Studios, and Alan Lipschitz, the founder of Incubeta, and others. The company intends to use the funds to expand […] The post Prem Labs Raises $14M in Seed Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Alibaba (NYSE: BABA) announced on April 2 that it made $4.8 billion in share repurchases in the first quarter of 2024, the second-largest quarterly share buyback in its history. This is likely a down payment on the $25 billion increase in the share buyback program revealed in its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings announcement in February. However, the market's reaction to this news was tepid, and as of this writing, the stock has fallen on the news.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Flip, a Palo Alto, CA-based provider of a shopping social network, raised $144M in Series C funding, bringing the company’s pre-money valuation to $1.05 billion. The round was led by Streamlined Ventures with participation from previous investors Mubadala Capital and WestCap, and AppLovin Corporation (NASDAQ: APP) (which made a $50M investment). AppLovin investment is part […] The post Flip Raises $144M in Series C Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

The e-commerce industry has undoubtedly made room for Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Shopify (NYSE: SHOP) , but outside these e-commerce ties, the companies have less in common than one might think. Amazon is an online seller with a tech business, while Shopify is more of a software business. Hence, both companies approach e-commerce from different angles, meaning their investment cases differ significantly.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Leash Biosciences, a Salt Lake City, UT-based artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML)-native biotechnology company, raised $9.3M in Seed funding. The round was led by Springtide Ventures with participation from MetaPlanet, Top Harvest Capital, Mitsui Global Investment, MFV Partners, Recursion co-founders Chris Gibson, and Blake Borgeson.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Image source: Upsplash/The Motley Fool Last month, Target announced it would overhaul its Target Circle Rewards program in April. One positive change is that deals will be automatically applied to members' accounts, so they no longer miss out on discounts that could save them money. Previously, members had to activate deals to save. This is likely a welcome change for busy shoppers who may be forgetful.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Ubit, a Singapore-based Web3 smart market maker exchange company, raised $20M in funding. Bakers were not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to further develop the platform, and further consolidate its position in the Web3 trading platform domain. Unit is committed to creating intelligent and social financial tools, such as crypto spot and […] The post Ubit Raises $20M In Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

It's been a difficult few years for Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) , which has seen its stock fall from over $70 in early 2021 to under $4 today. In November 2023, when it filed its 10-Q for the third quarter, the company issued what is referred to as a "going concern" warning projecting that it may not have enough cash to fund its operations and capital expenditure requirements over the next 12 months.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

Zinclusive, a Cheyenne, WY-based financially inclusive company, raised $10M in funding. Backers were not disclosed. The company intends to use the funds to expand access to its solutions. Led by CEO Jay Abbasi, Zinclusive will offer personal credit and financial products to consumers who typically face limited options and predatory rates. With a focus on […] The post Zinclusive Raises $10M in Funding appeared first on FinSMEs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

It can be hard to find excellent stocks to buy on the dip in a bull market, but it isn't impossible. E-commerce specialist Etsy (NASDAQ: ETSY) is one excellent candidate. The online retailer was highly successful in the early days of the pandemic, but its shares have been southbound since late 2021. Etsy's shares are down by 38% in the past 12 months alone.

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FinSMEs

APRIL 8, 2024

LightLink, a remote Ethereum Layer 2 blockchain focused on gasless transactions, raised $6.2m in extended seed funding Backers included MH Ventures and NxGen, along with individual investors ANBESSA, Eric Cryptoman, Lady of Crypto, Satoshi Stacker, That Martini Guy, Zoran Kole, B3V, Blue7, and T&B Media Global. The company intends to use the funds to expand its development efforts.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

When it comes to long-term investing, it can pay to bet on smaller, less established companies with substantial growth potential over the coming years. With a market capitalization of just $1.6 billion, SoundHound AI (NASDAQ: SOUN) certainly fits the bill. And with shares up a whopping 145% year to date, near-term momentum looks strong. But is SoundHound's recent rally just a hype-driven fluke or the start of an enduring bull run?

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XY Planning Network

APRIL 8, 2024

I remember first hearing about a new group of planners through a post on the FPA discussion board. This group was looking to help people with financial planning and charge them on a retainer basis. “Wow,’ I thought. “That’s exactly what I am doing!” So I called Alan Moore and talked with him about this concept. This pricing dilemma was a challenge I had been struggling with and Alan was excited to share his vision.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

With megacap growth stocks the clear market leaders of this bull market, you may think that a growth-oriented exchange-traded fund (ETF) would be crushing the performance of a value fund. Year to date, the Vanguard Growth ETF (NYSEMKT: VUG) is up a little over 10%, but the Vanguard Value ETF (NYSEMKT: VTV) is close behind with a 7.8% return. Both funds are hovering around 52-week highs.

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Private Equity Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

Data analytics and AI consulting firm QuantSpark has partnered with Chronograph, a provider of private equity portfolio monitoring solutions, to provide technology infrastructure and guidance for the adoption of data-driven value creation strategies. Chronograph’s cloud-based analytics and data management solutions allow private equity firms to collect, standardise and centralise company-specific metrics alongside core KPIs.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Image source: Getty Images There's no getting around the fact that insurance costs ballooned over the past year. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that car insurance premiums rose 20% in 2023, and the average annual amount a driver pays for car insurance is now a staggering $2,543. Here are a few reasons why car insurance prices have increased lately and what you can do to help bring them under control.

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Private Equity Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

Ares Management is leading a group of private credit firms including Oak Hill Advisors, providing a debt package of over $1.2bn to CentralSquare Technologies as the software developer looks to refinance its debt, according to a report by Bloomberg. The report cites unnamed people familiar with the mater as revealing that the financing includes a $1.1m direct term loan that priced at 6 percentage points above the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, and a roughly $125m revolving facility.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

If you threw a dart at a list of Vanguard ETFs, it would probably land on one that will deliver solid long-term returns. That's just how good Vanguard's funds tend to be. However, some Vanguard ETFs are better picks than others. I think the Vanguard Energy Index Fund ETF (NYSEMKT: VDE) especially stands out as a winner with the current market dynamics.

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Private Equity Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

Unigestion, an independent asset management firm specialising in mid-market private equity transactions with $11.5bn in AUM, has made seven internal promotions within its 70-strong global private equity team. According to a press release, employees of seven different nationalities across three offices in Europe and Asia have been promoted, while 43% of the cohort is female.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Some people spend much of their lives planning for early retirement. They bank a large portion of their income in their 30s and 40s so that by the time their 50s or early 60s roll around, they're able to wrap up their careers without financial stress. But then there are those who are thrust into early retirement due to circumstances outside their control.

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AltAssets

APRIL 8, 2024

The $25.9bn-managing Louisiana Teachers’ Retirement System has earmarked $725m for four new alternatives fund commitments. The post Louisiana Teachers sets aside $725m for alternatives first appeared on AltAssets Private Equity News.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Shares of Zscaler (NASDAQ: ZS) fell 20.4% in March, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. Despite delivering impressive quarterly financial results, the cybersecurity stock still slid lower thanks to a combination of pessimism about its outlook, an expensive valuation, and unfavorable market conditions. Zscaler's quarterly results were solid, but its outlook was less impressive Zscaler reported quarterly earnings on Feb. 29 after the market closed for the day.

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Private Equity Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

Private investment house Ardian has entered into exclusive discussions with bpostgroup over the sale of its majority stake in Staci, a European specialist in B2B and B2B2C logistics solutions. As part of the proposed transaction, Staci’s management would reinvest alongside bpostgroup. Since acquiring Staci in 2019, Ardian, alongside Société Générale Capital Partenaires, has supported the group’s diversification and growth outside of its historical marketing products segment, expanding into

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

For nearly six decades, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) CEO Warren Buffett has been crushing Wall Street's major stock indexes in the return column. Since the mid-1960s (when Buffett took over as Berkshire CEO), the broad-based S&P 500 has generated a total return, including dividends paid, of roughly 33,700%. Compare that to Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares (BRK.A), which are higher by around 5,075,000% under the affably named "Oracle of Omaha.

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Private Equity Wire

APRIL 8, 2024

Buyers Edge Platform, a specialist in digital procurement solutions for the foodservice industry, has secured a $425m preferred equity investment from a consortium led by General Atlantic (GA) Credit’s Atlantic Park fund. Other participants include funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley (MS) Tactical Value.

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The Motley Fool

APRIL 8, 2024

Fool.com contributor Parkev Tatevosian forecasts where Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) stock could be in 2030. *Stock prices used were the afternoon prices of April 5, 2024. The video was published on April 7, 2024. Where to invest $1,000 right now When our analyst team has a stock tip, it can pay to listen. After all, the newsletter they have run for two decades, Motley Fool Stock Advisor , has more than tripled the market.* They just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to

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