All posts tagged: investors

The investor’s guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Everything you need to know 

The investor’s guide to TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Everything you need to know 

Published by Miika Tikkanen

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is built around one question for founders: How do you build an enduring company in the AI era? For investors, it’s the opposite: How do you find that company before someone else does? At Disrupt, the volume and competition are the point for investors, not a drawback. Year after year, investors who’ve explored the Expo Halls, met founders, and learned from peers at panels and Side Events have proven why you need to be on the ground to get ahead of the curve. Consider that every founder pitching during the Startup Battlefield competition does so in front of a packed room of VCs. Why? Because they know their next cohort could be sitting right there. All it takes is making the trip to San Francisco this October 13-15. This guide is for the investors who recognize that three days spent at Moscone West are well worth it and who plan to walk away with the insights and prospects that yield returns.   And speaking of returns, we have up to $100 in …

Grindr wants to be the everything app for gay men; investors are still deciding whether it can pull it off

Grindr wants to be the everything app for gay men; investors are still deciding whether it can pull it off

Published by Miika Tikkanen

When George Arison took over Grindr in 2022, he inherited a company that had been bounced from Chinese ownership to a forced divestiture to a private-equity rescue — a business that was printing money but also had no real product or business strategy. Four years, a SPAC listing, and a controversial return-to-office mandate later, Grindr has become convincing as a growth story. Revenue is on pace to roughly triple, from $195 million in 2022 to a guided $540 million-plus this year, with adjusted EBITDA margins holding above 40%. That growth has come almost entirely from getting existing customers to pay more versus dramatically growing its user base. In the second quarter of this year, it had 1.4 million paying users, or 9% of its user base, but average revenue per user has risen considerably since 2022, and Arison is very focused on where the next leg of growth comes from. Part of that plan includes turning Grindr into a “gayborhood in your pocket” — a platform that handles not just dating and hookups but healthcare …

Explainer-What are credit default swaps and why are they spooking AI investors?

Explainer-What are credit default swaps and why are they spooking AI investors?

Published by Sam Flores

July 29 : Shares in companies driving the AI boom have been under pressure for weeks. Now their bonds are coming under strain too, pushing up the cost of insuring debt issued by companies such as Oracle, Nvidia and Apple against default. The move reflects growing concern among investors about when the billions of dollars being poured into artificial intelligence will generate returns. Technology companies have raised billions of dollars in debt this year to fund AI investments, with firms including Nvidia tapping bond markets for the first time. But the cost of the AI build-out is so high that even blockbuster earnings have failed to reassure some investors about the durability of future returns. Demand for AI-linked credit default swaps (CDS), a form of insurance against default that gained prominence during the 2008 financial crisis, has surged. WHAT IS A CDS? A CDS is a derivative that provides protection against the risk that a bond issuer, such as a company or government, fails to meet its debt obligations. Bond investors expect to receive interest …

SpaceX at 0 could mean investors see zero value in its AI

SpaceX at $100 could mean investors see zero value in its AI

Published by Sam Flores

The selloff in SpaceX shares has driven the stock near a level that would imply investors are assigning no value to its artificial intelligence business, according to analysts at Morgan Stanley. The rocket, space and artificial intelligence company has had a rocky trading debut after its record $86 billion offering in mid-June. Shares initially surged nearly 50% in the first three sessions, but have tumbled since. They were trading near $110 on Monday. “We believe the current disconnect between increasingly bearish investor sentiment and largely unchanged fundamentals creates an attractive entry point in SpaceX shares.” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote in a note to clients Friday. Jonas said that many investors expect SpaceX’s stock price to fall further and hit $100 per share when a lockup on the first batch of shares unlocks next month, allowing some insiders to sell. At that level, he argues, investors are pricing in zero or even negative value from its AI segment. The analyst has a $300 price target on SpaceX’s stock, out of which more than 50% …

Investors Flocking to Super-Anonymous Cryptocurrency Used for the Sketchiest Stuff Imaginable

Investors Flocking to Super-Anonymous Cryptocurrency Used for the Sketchiest Stuff Imaginable

Published by José Betancourt

Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech When Bitcoin first launched in 2009, it promised its users a decentralized digital currency that would be free from the prying eyes of financial authorities. That was possible thanks to the blockchain, a digital stone slab where every transaction could be etched into the collective public record. Of course, Bitcoin and its look-alikes quickly descended into a haven for grifters, drug sales, and money-laundering, enabling anonymous criminals the world over. Then a few confusing things happened. First, it quickly turned out that Bitcoin wasn’t quite as anonymous as initially advertised, meaning crooks had to take extra steps to launder their ill-gotten gains. And worse, at least for crypto’s most dedicated libertarian acolytes: it also became a legitimate financial vehicle, tracked on the Bloomberg terminal, trafficked by publicly-traded corporations, and increasingly scrutinized by government watchdogs. Bitcoin going legitimate was evidently a bridge too far. According to new reporting by the Wall Street Journal, cryptobros are now ditching the old …

Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter

Institutional investors boosted holdings of AI infrastructure plays during first quarter

Published by Sam Flores

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, May 15 : Institutional investors were eager buyers of stocks in companies whose fate hinges on the rollout and adoption of artificial intelligence during the first quarter of 2026, according to a Reuters overview of filings by nearly 6,000 hedge funds, pension funds, college endowments and other asset managers with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. These quarterly 13-F filings, which provide insight into how some major investors reacted to emerging opportunities and new sources of risk or anxiety during the three-month period, show that more than 4,000 of them added to their existing holdings or initiated new positions in a group of nine companies that are big players in the AI infrastructure arena, including Oracle, Arista Networks and Vertiv. Only 146 of those entities sold holdings in the space, or only 2.5 per cent of the investors that have reported their positions to date. Major institutional investors must report any changes made to their portfolio and its composition to the SEC within 45 days of the end of each calendar quarter. …

UBS Discusses Next Maritime Chokepoint Investors Should Watch

UBS Discusses Next Maritime Chokepoint Investors Should Watch

Published by Jenni Sidey

A lot of attention has centered on the Strait of Hormuz since the waterway was effectively shut not only by the IRGC drone threat, but mostly because maritime insurers are withdrawing war-risk coverage across the region. Our focus now shifts to the other critical maritime chokepoints. If Washington can pressure Iranian oil flows and, by extension, curb China’s cheap Gulf crude flows, then the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea also emerge as potential flashpoints that traders can no longer afford to ignore. For more color on which critical maritime chokepoints and geopolitical flashpoints investors should watch next, Bilahari Kausikan, former Permanent Secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke with UBS’s Aditi Samajpati at the 14th UBS OneASEAN Summit in Singapore to discuss the issue earlier on Thursday. Kausikan told Samajpati that China claims about 80% of the South China Sea, but other surrounding countries reject those claims, and none of the disputes are likely to be resolved in the near term. He described the situation in the highly disputed waterway as a “strategic …

Investors Overreacting To Starlink’s Threat To Traditional Telcos; Goldman Says

Investors Overreacting To Starlink’s Threat To Traditional Telcos; Goldman Says

Published by Jenni Sidey

Talk of space-based data centers has suddenly become a major conversation on Wall Street. One key driver is Elon Musk’s merger of SpaceX with his AI venture, xAI, aiming to eventually build “orbital data centers” at scale. With a potential IPO later this year, the space industry – first in low-Earth orbit, then on the moon – will be center stage for years to come. Goldman analysts, led by Andrew Lee, hosted a webcast titled “Space – Datacentres Opportunity and Telecom Risk,” featuring Justin Hotchkiss (Associate Partner), Gregor Eichler (Principal), and Federico Torri (Partner) from TMT consultancy Altman Solon. The webcast conversation looked ahead to a future in which space-based data centers could become a reality. Goldman’s telecom analysts and tech consultants discussed two major ideas: Space data centers: Not yet deployed, but could become a reality in the near term. The advantages are low-cost solar power in space, easier cooling, no property costs, and no permitting issues. One big hurdle is the need for cheaper rocket launch costs and a lightweight cooling system. If …

Investors Concerned AI Bubble Is Finally Popping

Investors Concerned AI Bubble Is Finally Popping

Published by José Betancourt

For quite some time now, investors have fought the suggestion that the artificial intelligence industry may be forming a massive bubble, risking an eventual collapse of epic proportions that could take down the US economy with it. But shaking off those fears has proven increasingly difficult as the tech stock market reels from a major selloff this week. Amazon shares tumbled nine percent Friday morning after claiming that its spending would hit an astronomical $200 billion this year as part of its efforts to keep up in the ongoing AI race. Shares are down over eight percent over the last five days, indicating it’s not just a blip. Microsoft has been hit hard lately as well, with shares also plunging almost eight percent over the last five days, following its biggest single-day loss since the pandemic last week. Other tech companies, including AI chipmaker Nvidia, Oracle, Alphabet, and Meta, all saw their shares drop significantly this week as they indicated they remained committed to spending vast sums to scale up their AI infrastructure investments. As …

As Crash Deepens, Investors Say Bitcoin Is Headed for Zero Dollars

As Crash Deepens, Investors Say Bitcoin Is Headed for Zero Dollars

Published by José Betancourt

Mainstream cryptocurrency Bitcoin is being eviscerated this week. The token tanked to a historic low, coming eerily close to as little as $60,000 on Thursday evening. That’s well under 50 percent down from its all-time high a mere four months ago. While the crypto has since bounced back to around the $68,000 mark, it comes at a grim cost: it’s now wiped out all of its gains since president Donald Trump won the presidential election in late 2025. Analysts aren’t presumably hopeful about an imminent recovery, with some expecting the absolute worst. “Our BTC price target is 0.0,” Pivotus Partners chief market strategist and partner Richard Farr tweeted. “That’s not just for shock factor. It’s where the math takes us.” Farr said he concurred with Michael Burry, who famously shorted the US housing market before its collapse in 2008, and recently warned in a Substack post that further losses for Bitcoin could result in a “death spiral.” Farr pointed to Bitcoin following similar trends to a larger US stock downturn, suggesting it’s no longer the …