<div>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        Marqeta reported a GAAP loss per share of USD 0.07 for Q4 2021 (in line with analyst consensus estimates), improving from the USD 0.11 loss per share in Q4 2020. On an annual basis, the GAAP loss per share worsened to USD 0.45 in 2021 from USD 0.39 in 2020. Q4 net revenue surged 76.2% YoY to USD 155.4 million, around 12% ahead of analyst estimates and the high end of its own guidance. Annual revenue also rose sharply (up 78.2% YoY) to USD 517.2 million. Marqeta&rsquo;s stock price closed 6.3% higher than its opening price on the 9th.&nbsp;
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        Revenue growth was driven by total processing volume (TPV) increasing 76% YoY (reaching USD 33 billion in Q4 2021) on the back of higher TPV from existing large customers and the growth in TPV from digital banking and buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) customers.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        The gross margin expanded 7.4 percentage points YoY to 48.8% in Q4 2021, while adjusted EBITDA for the quarter turned positive (USD 1.2 million) from a negative USD 2.6 million in Q4 2020. On an annual basis, the adjusted EBITDA remained negative; however, it improved to a loss of USD 12.8 million from USD 15.4 million.&nbsp;
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <ul>
    <li>
      <p>
        The company does not provide annual guidance but it expects its 1Q 2022 revenue to grow 48%&ndash;50% and its gross margin to be between 43% and 44%. It expects the adjusted EBITDA to remain negative at a negative adjusted EBITDA margin of 8%&ndash;9%.
      </p>
    </li>
  </ul>
  <p>
  </p>
</div>


<div>
  <p>
    <a href="https://investors.marqeta.com/news-releases/news-release-details/marqeta-reports-strong-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2021">
      Press release
    </a>
  </p>
  <p>
    <a href="https://www.streetinsider.com/Earnings/Marqeta+%28MQ%29+Shares+Up+18%25+Following+Marqedly+Strong+Q4+Results+and+Guidance/19753463.html?classic=1">
      Street Insider
    </a>
  </p>
</div>


FinTech Infrastructure

Marqeta stock price rises as revenue beats Q4 analyst estimates

Exploring the limitless possibilities of AI

Generative AI Applications

INCUMBENTS_PRESENT

PROMINENT_CATEGORY

<div>

<p>Thomson Reuters, a news and information services company, has revealed its extended vision for its GenAI assistant, CoCounsel. This tool is designed to speed up workflows and help professionals in sectors such as legal, tax, and media simplify their tasks.</p>
<p>Key features of CoCounsel include understanding natural language, the ability to multitask, and secure data protection. Reportedly, this GenAI assistant can efficiently carry out complex assignments, keep context between different tasks, and hold vital information while communicating with several daily-use products, consequently providing added value to professionals and businesses.</p>
<p>The tool is also compatible with Microsoft 365 applications.</p>

</div>

Thomson Reuters expands CoCounsel GenAI Assistant capabilities

Promising research and receding stigma are giving investors cannabis-boom flashbacks.

Psychedelic Medicine

<div>
 <p>Clearmind Medicine, a Vancouver-based psychedelic drugs firm, has signed a licensing agreement with Yissum Research Development Company at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The aim of the partnership is to create and utilize next-generation psychedelic compounds for the treatment of addictive behaviors and mental health conditions.</p>
 <p>The terms of the agreement grant Clearmind exclusive global rights to not only develop and research but also manufacture, market, and distribute products based on a future patent of psychedelic compounds.</p>
 
</div>

Clearmind Medicine partners with Yissum for development of psychedelic compounds to treat mental disorders

Leveraging personal data for custom-fit diagnosis and treatment

Precision Medicine

<div>
 <p>Bionano Genomics has partnered with China-based company, Diagens, aiming to commercialize a cytogenetic workflow using optical genome mapping (OGM) and AI chromosome karyotype analysis. The technology is intended to detect pathogenic SVs associated with recurrent pregnancy loss and significant genome variants that could cause prenatal or postnatal complications.</p>
 <p>Under the agreement, Diagens will get the Saphyr instrument registered for clinical use with China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), which will use Bionano's OGM reagents, already approved and Class I registered.</p>
 <p>Bionano Genomics specializes in genome analysis and has developed the Saphyr system for conducting structural variation analysis using OGM. Their products include OGM, dedicated software, nucleic acid purification, and data services.</p>
 </div>

Bionano and Diagens sign partnership to commercialize clinical cytogenetic analysis powered by optical genome mapping and AI

Buy Now, Pay Later

ANALYST_QUICK_TAKE

<div>
  <p>Ramp, a business expense and payout management solutions provider, garnered USD 150 million in an extension of its Series D round. Khosla Ventures, a new investor, and Founders Fund, an existing investor, jointly led the round. Other participants included Sequoia Capital, Greylock, 8VC, among others.</p>
  <p>The investment will be utilized for technological advancement within the organization, with a focus on expanding its application of AI. The capital will also support possible acquisitions.</p>
  <p>With the recent investment round, the firm is now valued at USD 7.65 billion, an increase from its earlier valuation of USD 5.8 billion in its previous round of funding in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21235"> August 2023</a>.</p>
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> The latest funding round brings Ramp’s valuation closer to the USD 8.1 billion valuation it had previously achieved during its series C funding round in March 2022. Similar to its <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26114"> acquistion of Venue </a> following its last funding round in August 2023, the firm may pursue inorganic growth to accelerate its expansion.&nbsp;</p>

Ramp raises USD 150 million to accelerate AI integration and expansion; valuation grows to USD 7.65 billion

Building future-ready applications in the cloud

Cloud-native Tech

<div>
 <p>Tetrate, a company specializing in cloud orchestration and management, has collaborated with the United States Air Force (USAF) Platform One team to initiate AuthService, an open-source program. This project aims to streamline the deployment and management of the existing authorization service for the Istio service mesh.</p>
 <p>The AuthService, programmed in the Go language, utilizes Istio mesh sidecars and Kubernetes secrets. This allows IT teams to handle application authentication dynamically without needing additional code. Additionally, AuthService offers single sign-on (SSO) capabilities, available through a software factory supervised by the Department of Defense (DoD).</p>
</div>

Tetrate collaborates with USAF to launch open-source AuthService project for Istio service mesh

Platforms, apps, and cards to keep the corporate wallet in check

Business Expense Management

<div>
 
 <p>Ramp, a business expense and payout management solutions provider, secured USD 150 million in an extension of its Series D round. The funding round saw participation from new investor Khosla Ventures and existing investor Founders Fund, with additional involvement from Sequoia Capital, Greylock, 8VC, among others.</p>
 <p>The capital raised is destined for technological innovation, primarily to augment the firm's use of artificial intelligence. It will also support potential future acquisitions.</p>
 <p>After the recent financiering round, the company's valuation reached USD 7.65 billion. This figure represents a significant increase from its USD 5.8 billion valuation in the previous round in <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21235"> August 2023 </a>.</p>
 
</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> The latest funding round brings Ramp’s valuation closer to the USD 8.1 billion valuation it had previously achieved during its series C funding round in March 2022. Similar to its <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/26114"> acquistion of Venue </a> following its last funding round in August 2023, the firm may pursue inorganic growth to accelerate its expansion.&nbsp;</p>

Empowering Tomorrow's Innovations with Generative AI Infrastructure

Generative AI Infrastructure

<div>
 
 <p>Baidu, a leading internet company, has unveiled a suite of tools aimed at making the development of AI applications more accessible. These tools are free to use up to a specific usage limit and are geared towards enabling those without coding expertise to create AI-powered chatbots. These chatbots can be integrated into various online platforms including websites and Baidu's own search engine.</p>
 <p>The new AI tools comprise three novel versions of Baidu's Ernie AI model, named 'Speed', 'Lite', and 'Tiny'. Each version is designed for different levels of task complexity. By using the Ernie AI model, users can develop customized chatbots equipped to carry out a wide range of functions, ranging from recommending movies to correcting code.</p>
 <p>Since its launch in 2023, the Ernie bot has been used by over 200 million users, with the underlying AI model utilized 200 million times a day, according to Baidu. In addition, the company claims that more than 85,000 business clients have taken advantage of Baidu's AI cloud platform to create around 190,000 AI applications.</p>
 
</div>

Baidu introduces free tools to develop AI applications in China

Travel Tech

<div>
 <p>Profitroom, a firm focused on aiding hotels to secure direct bookings, has recently sold a 65% majority stake to MCI Capital for EUR 67 million (USD 71 million). Despite the sale, the company's founders will retain leadership roles and hold onto the remaining 35% ownership.</p>
 <p>This sale comes as part of Profitroom's ongoing goal to secure the necessary funding to expand their operations across Africa, Asia, and Europe.</p>
 <p>Profitroom's main services encompass B2B revenue management tools for standalone and group hotels. These services include a channel manager, booking engine, as well as digital marketing aids. Additionally, Profitroom also extends a central reservation system (CRS) to hotel groups.</p>
</div>

MCI Capital acquires majority stake in Profitroom for EUR 67 million

Clear the air on carbon capture, reuse, and storage

Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS)

<div>
 
 <p>CO280 Solutions, a CO2 removal project developer from Canada, and Aker Carbon Capture, a subsidiary of Aker Solutions from Norway, have formed an agreement with technology giant Microsoft. This agreement aims to upscale the capture and sequestration of biogenic CO2 at pulp and paper mills located in the US and Canada.</p>

<p>Through this partnership, biogenic carbon capture projects will be developed, involving the ones currently in CO280's pipeline as well as potential new projects. The collaboration will extensively make use of CO280's expertise to develop an efficient process for determining the feasibility of carbon capture at pulp and paper mills. It will also utilize facilities provided by Aker Carbon Capture, such as the modularized Just Catch series. </p>

<p> The partnership will also put to use Microsoft's robust digital capabilities, cloud computing platforms and solutions for the standardization of lifecycle assessment (LCA) along with measurement, verification, and reporting (MRV) systems specifically designed for carbon capture projects. </p>

<p>Moreover, a digital tool will be developed by the companies, which will facilitate the comparison of CO280 Solutions's upcoming projects against the high-quality carbon removal criteria set by Microsoft.</p>

</div> <p><b>Analyst QuickTake:<br>
 </b> This partnership was announced following a <a href="https:<br>
//sp-edge.com/updates/27899"> similar collaboration </a> between CO280 Solutions and Aker Carbon Capture in March 2024 to develop carbon dioxide removal (CDR) projects in the pulp and paper industry in the US and Canada.&nbsp;</p>

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture work with Microsoft on carbon removal at pulp and paper mills

<div>
 
 <p>Swiss company Climeworks has introduced a service, Climeworks Solutions, that offers carbon removal portfolios in addition to its primary direct air capture (DAC) carbon removal service. This new service combines engineered and natural techniques such as reforestation, biochar, bioenergy with carbon capture, and enhanced weathering. The company also provides third-party verification and in-depth due diligence for these carbon removal portfolios.</p>
 <p>Climeworks states that this expansion was motivated by an increase in customer demand and a need to scale up the carbon removal industry. Alongside this new service, Climeworks announced a 12-year agreement with its first customer, Swiss luxury watchmaker Breitling, which will include the use of Climeworks' DAC technology and enhanced weathering.</p>
 
</div>

All Updates

Thomson Reuters expands CoCounsel GenAI Assistant capabilities

Clearmind Medicine partners with Yissum for development of psychedelic compounds to treat mental disorders

Bionano and Diagens sign partnership to commercialize clinical cytogenetic analysis powered by optical genome mapping and AI

Ramp raises USD 150 million to accelerate AI integration and expansion; valuation grows to USD 7.65 billion

Tetrate collaborates with USAF to launch open-source AuthService project for Istio service mesh

Ramp raises USD 150 million to accelerate AI integration and expansion; valuation grows to USD 7.65 billion

Baidu introduces free tools to develop AI applications in China

MCI Capital acquires majority stake in Profitroom for EUR 67 million

CO280 and Aker Carbon Capture work with Microsoft on carbon removal at pulp and paper mills

Climeworks launches Climeworks Solutions; expands offerings beyond DAC-based carbon removal