Startup News: Reddit mulling IPO with a value of at least $5 Billion
In early discussions with potential investors, the social network company Reddit is considering an initial public offering that could value the company for at least $5 billion, according to well-placed sources interviewed by Bloomberg.
“The ultimate figure will depend on the IPO market’s nascent recovery, the people said,” according to Bloomberg. Sources told Bloomberg that a listing on a U.S. exchange could take place as early as March.
Bloomberg reported that recent private trades of Reddit’s unlisted shares both on the platforms of Forge Global and Rainmaker Securities have valued the company at between $4.5 billion and $4.8 million.
Founded in 2005, San Francisco-based Reddit is a social network of more than 100,000 communities that allows users to explore many hobbies and other interests, including investing in meme stocks. In December, Forge Global wrote that Reddit was one of five companies setting the stage for an IPO this year.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink implants device in human brain
Brain science startup Neuralink has achieved a major milestone, implanting a device in a human brain for the first time, according to the firm’s famous co-founder, Elon Musk.
In a short two-sentence statement last week on social media site X, Musk wrote that “the first human received an implant from @Neuralink and is recovering well. Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.”
Neither Musk nor the company provided further details on the patient or the nature of the implant.
The news comes eight months after the company reportedly received Food and Drug Administration approval to conduct its first clinical study on humans.
Founded in 2016, Neuralink, based in Fremont, Calif., is creating devices that are aiming to help cure a variety of neurological diseases and disorders, from Parkinson’s to paralysis. These devices will be implanted in the skulls of patients, with thin wires fanning out into their brains. The company’s last known valuation, as of August 2023, was $3.45 billion.
Inari’s latest funding values AgTech company at $1.65B
Inari Agriculture has announced that it has received $103 million in fresh funding, bringing its total amount of equity raised to more than $575 million.
According to a company press release, the funding round was backed by existing investors including the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Rivas Capital, the State of Michigan Retirement System, and company founder Flagship Pioneering. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company also received funding from new investors including RCM Private Markets fund, advised by Rokos Capital Management.
In the release last week, the company added that the latest funding round “signals confidence in Inari’s ability to develop and commercialize higher-yielding seeds that require fewer resources, using AI-powered predictive design and multiplex gene editing."
Founded in 2016, Inari uses technology to develop corn, soybean, wheat, and other seeds that require less water, land, and even fertilizer than conventionally grown crops. The company’s mission is to “push the boundaries of what is possible for a more sustainable, nature-positive food system.”
According to Bloomberg, the company’s latest funding round values the company at $1.65 billion. That exceeds the $1.5 billion valuation the company was reportedly valued at in October 2022, Bloomberg wrote at the time.