Better.Com, an online mortgage lender backed by SoftBank (SFTBF), became an internet sensation overnight in late 2021 after its founder and CEO Vishal Garg abruptly fired 900 employees over a Zoom call. After nearly two years of bad press, market turmoils and financial losses, the company is going public—with the Garg still at the helm. Better is expected to debut shares on Nasdaq “on or about August 22, 2023,” according to an SEC filing earlier this month. The company is pursuing a direct...

While the overall electric vehicle industry continues to grow, companies that make electric pickup trucks seem to be collectively struggling to meet their production targets and keep their finances in check, exposing the unique challenges of electrifying trucks. Pickup trucks are the second best-selling vehicle category in the U.S., after crossovers, and there is no carmaker that currently offers an electric option at scale. Established EV makers and startups all want to be first to introduce...

Block, the digital banking and payment company led by Jack Dorsey, is the latest target of Hindenburg Research, the short seller that brought down Indian billionaire Gautam Adani with a report in January. In a report published today (March 23), Hindenburg alleged Block, formerly known as Square, misled investors with inflated user numbers, facilitated payments for criminal activities, evaded regulation, and marketed predatory banking products as revolutionary technology. Block shares tumbled...

Stripe, an Irish-American payments company founded in 2010, looks ready for an exit no matter how the market looks. The startup has hired Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan to advise it on either going public or allowing employees to cash out their stakes in a private-market transaction, the Wall Street Journal reported Jan. 26. The company’s brother founders, Patrick and John Collison, told employees they will make a decision within the next 12 months, according to the Journal. Some of Stripe’s...

The U.S. IPO market saw a blockbuster year in 2021. Nearly 400 companies went public through traditional initial public offerings (IPOs) or reverse mergers with special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). But in 2022 private companies revered course, after inflation and the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes sent the stock market into a free fall. There have been only 71 IPOs in the U.S. this year, the lowest level since 2009, according to Renaissance Capital, an investment...