Every so often, Wall Street financial firms and investment banks blindly announce acquisition rumors as if they are facts. This mainly occurs in the tech and biotech sectors, where M&A rumors run amuck. And while these claims are often unfounded, investors nonetheless pile into the alleged "buyer" and "seller" companies.
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Startups Primed For IPOs
In what has been a relatively uneventful year for tech IPOs, a number of private startups continue to set record valuations in exchange for cheap capital. While few private tech companies have released IPO information, the following seven companies have grown quite rapidly and could prove to be lucrative investment opportunities for public traders.
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Profitless Snapchat To IPO
Snapchat, one of tech's most popular and fastest growing social media applications is planning to follow in the footsteps of its successful predecessors. Similar to how Mark Zuckerberg oversaw Facebook's (FB) IPO, Snapchat Co-Founder & CEO Evan Spiegel recently stated that Snapchat “need(s) to IPO." After releasing this juicy news, Spiegel later declared that Snapchat had also formed a strategic plan for doing so.
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$2.8 Billion In One Year
Slack, a relatively new messaging and communications application, specifically aimed at increasing business efficiency, has announced that it recently raised $160 million in new funding at a valuation of $2.8 billion. Its investors include big VC names like Accel Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, and Google Ventures. To date, Slack has raised $340 million of working capital to fund expansionary business strategies.
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Facebook's Recent Release
Social media giant Facebook (FB) recently took a page out of AOL’s (ancient) playbook by creating a standalone desktop messaging platform similar to AIM (for those who remember, this was the greatest invention of all time). The goal of Facebook’s new PC application is to expand its user base, increase data collection, and generate higher revenues.
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Snapchat's Newest Feature
Earlier this week, Snapchat announced it had added a new feature, Snapcash, to its popular photo-sharing application. In the hopes of further monetizing the Snapchat platform, the company forged a partnership with Square, a widespread B2C payment service that Apple (AAPL) tried to acquire in early 2014 (click here to see how much Square turned down from Tim Cook).
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Simplifying Simple
Many developers design applications to make life simpler, but have they finally ventured too far? Yo is a new app that is designed to send the one-word phrase “Yo” to your contacts. Evidently, the app was created to eliminate the tedious task of sending full text messages and calling people. Instead, after opening the app (God forbid), users simply tap the “Yo” button to alert someone.
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