Innovation

I Squared Capital To Acquire oOh!media For A$1.04 Billion Enterprise Value

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

I Squared Capital has entered into a Scheme Implementation Agreement to acquire Australian out-of-home advertising company oOh!media Limited in a transaction implying an enterprise value of approximately A$1.04 billion, or about US$733 million.

FTAI Infrastructure: Long Ridge Sale Targets Roughly $1.46 Billion Of Debt Reduction As Rail Business Hits Record

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

FTAI Infrastructure is preparing for a major balance-sheet reset through the anticipated sale of Long Ridge Energy & Power Generation as its rail operations simultaneously deliver record quarterly revenue and Adjusted EBITDA.

e.l.f. Beauty: Sales Rise For 30th Straight Quarter As Fiscal 2027 Growth Outlook Increases To 20%

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

e.l.f. Beauty extended its growth streak to 30 consecutive quarters during its fiscal first quarter of 2027, with net sales increasing 36% as the company raised its full-year growth outlook to as much as 20%.

APA: Debt Falls $2.3 Billion As Annual Interest Expense Drops More Than $155 Million And Cost Savings Reach $500 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

APA Corporation has reduced total debt by $2.3 billion since the end of 2024, cutting annualized interest expense by more than $155 million as stronger cash generation and cost reductions reshape the exploration and production company's balance sheet.

Clarecast: Interview With CEO And Co-Founder Bradley Taylor About Predictive Workforce Intelligence

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Clarecast is an agentic AI platform that delivers predictive intelligence across people, customers, markets, and prospects, helping organizations gain forward-looking insight for planning and growth. Built on Databricks from Day 1, the platform continuously scores more than 18 million companies across growth, hiring, and market signals and has achieved 80%+ headcount forecast accuracy. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Clarecast CEO and Co-Founder Bradley Taylor to learn more.

Universal Technical Institute: Atlanta Student Starts Beat Expectations By 30% As Skilled-Trades Demand Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Universal Technical Institute is seeing skilled-trades demand accelerate faster than anticipated, with its new Atlanta campus opening in July with initial student starts approximately 30% above the company's expectations.

Helmerich & Payne: Offshore Backlog Reaches $3.6 Billion As Argentina Adds Five FlexRigs

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Helmerich & Payne's international and offshore businesses are building momentum, with the drilling contractor securing contracts for five additional FlexRigs in Argentina while a four-year Norwegian contract renewal helped lift its offshore backlog to $3.6 billion.

Bradesco: Fully Digital Clients Top 30 Million As Net Income Rises For Tenth Straight Quarter

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Bradesco reported its tenth consecutive quarter of rising net income during Q2 2026 as its transformation strategy expands digital adoption, improves operating efficiency and diversifies revenue across lending, insurance and capital-markets businesses.

Honest Company: Consumption Grows 7.7% Versus 2.3% Category Growth As Organic Revenue Rises 6.7%

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

The Honest Company's underlying consumer demand significantly outpaced its reported revenue performance during the second quarter of 2026, with tracked-channel consumption increasing 7.7% compared with 2.3% growth across the categories in which it competes.

Bumble: Reimagined App Overhauls Matching Algorithms And Adds Group Experiences As Paying Users Fall 16%

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Bumble is undertaking a broad product overhaul that includes a platform migration, redesigned matching algorithms, new conversation tools and upcoming group experiences as the dating company attempts to stabilize engagement following a 16.4% decline in paying users.

ADNOC Gas Commits $13.2 Billion To Rich Gas Development Project

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

ADNOC Gas reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $665 million, exceeding its previously issued guidance range of $400 million to $600 million despite operational and maritime disruptions during the period.

Duolingo: Daily Active Users Reach 58.7 Million As Retention Hits Record 84% And Social Accounts Top 1 Billion Organic Impressions

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Duolingo's Daily Active Users increased 23% year-over-year to 58.7 million during the second quarter of 2026 as product improvements pushed retention to a record level and the company's social-media presence surpassed one billion organic impressions per quarter.

Firmus Raises $2 Billion Strategic Equity Round At More Than $10.5 Billion Valuation To Expand NVIDIA AI Factories

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Firmus has secured full commitments for a $2 billion strategic equity financing round to accelerate the expansion of its AI infrastructure platform across Australia and prepare for further growth throughout the Asia-Pacific region. The round includes follow-on investments from Coatue and NVIDIA, along with new capital from funds managed by Blackstone Tactical Opportunities and other Blackstone vehicles. Jane Street also participated.

Kalshi Adopts Nasdaq Market Surveillance To Strengthen Prediction Market Oversight

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Kalshi has entered into a multi-year partnership with Nasdaq Market Surveillance to enhance monitoring and oversight of trading activity across its markets. The agreement is part of Kalshi’s broader market oversight strategy and will complement the exchange’s existing surveillance framework.

Bechtel Takes Over Site Management For Poland’s First Nuclear Power Plant As Construction Preparation Begins

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Bechtel has assumed responsibility for managing the site of Poland’s first nuclear power plant as the project moves from planning, permitting and design into large-scale site preparation and construction activities. The handover from Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe, or PEJ, coincides with the start of earthworks at the future plant site in Choczewo.

NextSlide Team Joins OpenAI To Help Build ChatGPT

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

NextSlide, an AI presentation creation startup founded by Ahmed Beshry, is joining OpenAI, with the company’s team now working on ChatGPT.

Plantible Foods Secures $25 Million USDA-Backed Loan From X-Caliber And $10 Million Equity Investment To Quintuple Protein Production

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Plantible Foods has secured $35 million in combined debt and equity financing to expand production of Rubi Protein, its plant-derived functional protein ingredient, at the company’s Ranchito facility in Eldorado, Texas.

Salus Scientific Raises $10.1 Million In Oversubscribed Series A Financing

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Salus Scientific has closed an oversubscribed $10.1 million Series A financing to support commercial expansion, production growth and the buildout of its clinical infrastructure.

NetcoreNetwork Launches Causeway For Private Peer-To-Peer Device Connectivity

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

NetcoreNetwork has launched Causeway, a connectivity ecosystem designed to allow devices to find, authenticate and communicate directly with one another without relying on centralized third-party intermediaries.

Malachyte: Interview With Co-Founder And CEO Sidd Motwani About Behavior Intelligence For E-Commerce

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Malachyte provides behavior intelligence infrastructure for e-commerce, creating continuously updated shopper profiles from real-time activity to power search, recommendations, and product pages. Pulse 2.0 interviewed Malachyte Co-Founder and CEO Sidd Motwani to learn more.

Uplifty: Interview With Founder & CEO Scott Amyx About Building Real-World Social Connections

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Swisscom: Free Cash Flow Surges 45% To CHF 717 Million As Operating Free Cash Flow Reaches CHF 1.2 Billion

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Swisscom's cash generation accelerated during the first half of 2026 as operating free cash flow increased 21.6% to CHF 1.202 billion and free cash flow surged 44.6% to CHF 717 million.

Harbour Energy: $163 Million Waldorf Deal Unlocks More Than $400 Million Of Cash And Adds 14,000 Boe/D

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Harbour Energy completed its acquisition of substantially all subsidiaries of Waldorf Energy Partners and Waldorf Production for a $163 million completion payment, with the transaction immediately unlocking more than $400 million of cash while adding approximately 14,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of production.

Banco BPM: Shareholder Distribution Target Rises To €7 Billion As NPE Ratio Falls Below 2% For First Time

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Banco BPM increased its cumulative shareholder distribution target for 2024 through 2027 to approximately €7 billion from €6 billion as record profitability, capital generation and asset quality give the Italian banking group additional capacity for dividends and share repurchases.

TP ICAP: Parameta Annual Recurring Revenue Tops £200 Million As Data Business Expands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

TP ICAP's Parameta Solutions data business surpassed £200 million of annual recurring revenue during the first half of 2026 as new-business activity accelerated and the group continued building its high-margin financial market data franchise.

Siemens: Smart Infrastructure Orders Surge 42% To Record €8 Billion As Data Center Contracts Accelerate

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Siemens' Smart Infrastructure business delivered record quarterly orders during the third quarter of fiscal 2026 as growing data center investment in the U.S. and Europe drove significant demand for electrical products and electrification technology.

Wizz Air: AI Travel Platform Launches As Starlink Deal Targets In-Flight Internet From 2027

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Wizz Air is expanding its digital travel strategy with the launch of an AI-powered vacation platform while preparing to introduce Starlink satellite connectivity across its aircraft beginning in January 2027.

OHB: Cash Surges Tenfold To €527 Million As Backlog Reaches €3.3 Billion And Defense Expansion Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

OHB significantly strengthened its financial position during the first half of 2026 as cash and cash equivalents increased nearly tenfold to €526.9 million and the European space and defense company's order backlog reached €3.304 billion.

Merck: Mid-2030s Revenue Opportunity Exceeds $70 Billion As Pipeline Transformation Accelerates

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Merck continues to estimate that its current and potential new growth drivers represent more than $70 billion of non-risk-adjusted annual sales opportunity by the mid-2030s as the pharmaceutical company works to diversify its portfolio and advance a broad group of newer medicines.

Admiral: Secured Loan Book More Than Quadruples To £680 Million As Admiral Money Expands

By Amit Chowdhry ● Aug 10, 2026

Admiral Group's secured lending portfolio expanded sharply during the first half of 2026, with secured loans reaching £679.7 million compared with £159.8 million a year earlier as Admiral Money continues to broaden beyond unsecured personal lending.