FAAMG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google) had absolutely monster Q1s. Here’s a breakdown.

Last week, we saw the latest quarterly results for the (unfortunately named) FAAMG Big Tech companies.

For the uninitiated, that acronym is collectively worth $8T+:

• FB, Facebook ($923.6B)
• AAPL, Apple ($2.2T)
• AMZN, Amazon ($1.7T)
• MSFT, Microsoft ($1.9T)
• GOOGL, Alphabet ($1.6T)

The pandemic boosted Big Tech sales

The phrase “record growth” was a constant theme for Q1 2021 revenue: Apple sales were +54% YoY to $90B while Amazon jumped 44% YoY to $108.5B.

While growth was slower for the other behemoths, their Q1 sales numbers are still huge: Alphabet ($55B), Microsoft ($42B), Facebook, ($26B).

For perspective, here’s how much these companies made per minute in the first 3 months of the year:

• Amazon: $837k
• Apple: $691k
• Alphabet: $427k
• Microsoft: $322k
• Facebook: $202k

And it’s not just sales

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, here are some other notable Q1 stats:

• iPhone sales alone hit $47B, with the average retail price hitting $847
• Microsoft Teams has 145m daily users, more than 7x the figure from 1.5 years ago
• Amazon’s US employee count hit 950k, ~2x the same period last year
• YouTube revenue was +49% YoY (and its projected $29-$30B run rate for 2021 puts it on par with Netflix)
• Facebook apps (i.e., FB, Instagram, Messenger, WhatsApp) were used by 3.4B+ people at least once in the past month

Perhaps the most jarring number?

FAAMG now makes up ~25% of the total value of the S&P 500 — 2x the share from 5 years ago. Unfortunately for us, it looks like that ghastly acronym isn’t going anywhere.

Turner Novak is monetizing memes with venture capital

If you’ve been anywhere near tech Twitter over the past year, you’ve seen a viral tweet from Turner Novak.

The 30-year-old investor pumps out investment memes and conjures up hysterical parodies:

Don’t let the jokes fool you, though

It’s a very deliberate approach with an end goal in mind.

“My thesis for focusing on memes… is that founders and other investors want to work with people they enjoy being around,” Novak tells The Hustle.

Earlier this week, Novak officially launched Banana Capital, a $9.999m early-stage VC fund backed by top names including:

• General partners from Andreessen Horowitz
• Co-founders of Coinbase and Flatiron Health
• Sequoia Capital

Perhaps most importantly, the fund’s name is a 4D chess move to own the 🍌 emoji.

Novak isn’t just a meme lord

He built his investing chops with stints at Afore Capital and Gelt VC. Novak also writes widely on consumer tech (e.g., Snap, Pinduoduo, TikTok) at his Substack.

Based in a nontraditional VC locale (Michigan), Novak credits Twitter for building his network.

For that reason, Banana Capital is focused on “internet-first” founders… most of whom just so happen to love memes.

(To find out more, read our full Q&A with Novak)

Blockchain is revolutionizing the way contracts and agreements are created, and the way securities and assets trade hands between buyers and sellers. Digital securities or tokens rely on blockchain to verify their value and authenticity free from the need for paper-based contracts and share certificates.

NFTs are just that: tokens. If minted as a digital asset and offered for whole ownership, there’s no need to worry about securitization of the NFT. People are free to buy, sell and trade those tokens as they please.

But as soon as people look to create and market a NFT for real assets with investment contract elements and/or offer fractional ownership in a NFT, they have created a security. For example, if someone creates a NFT for a piece of art valued at $50 million and sells 50, $1 million shares, then one has created a security — and this requires the issuer to comply with the applicable securities laws and regulations.

New FinTech platform are expanding the types of issuers beyond those offered by traditional capital markets. They are pushing the boundaries into direct ESG investing and other securities to offer investors a range of choice and opportunities. Some innovative variations of NFTs deemed as securities fit that bill.

A good Canadian example is a platform like Finhaven Private Markets. They are a registered exempt market dealer and marketplace with a platform that allows for buying and selling security tokens. They adhere to all regulations and compliance standards set by securities regulators from BC to Quebec in Canada. They are able to work with people looking to sell tokens, providing a simple turnkey solution in a digital marketplace.

The digital asset revolution is here and Canadian innovators are at the heart of it.

Back in 2019, Ford had its prototype all-electric F-150 pickup truck tow a double-decker, 10-car freight train filled with 42 other F-150s.

Not to rain on Ford’s parade, but apparently towing a train isn’t hard to do, though it’s still insanely cool and represented a trend toward EV pickups years in the making.

It’s a shift that makes sense for one simple reason:

America LOVES pickup trucks

When we say “loves,” we mean it:

• 5 of the 10 bestselling vehicles in 2020 were pickups
• For 39 straight years, the F-150 has been America’s bestselling vehicle
• The 3 top-selling pickups accounted for 13% of vehicles sold in the US in 2020
• 20% of total US auto sales in 2020 were — you guessed it — pickups

Companies new and old are revving their engines batteries

Tesla already received hundreds of thousands of preorders for Cybertruck, and Rivian’s R1T pickup will reach its first customers in June.

Detroit and Japan are making moves, too:

• Ford has said its electric F-150 will enter production in Q1 of 2022
• Toyota last week confirmed it’s bringing an electric powertrain to its pickup lineup
• GMC is releasing a 1k-horsepower, ~$113k Hummer EV pickup truck this fall

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Meet the $40B+ ‘software robot’ maker poised to automate pencil pushing

UiPath’s software does robot-like work for humans — tasks like filling forms, moving files, inputting data, and scraping documents.

A company you’ve probably never heard of made IPO history this week.

UiPath, an automation company, made its market debut and notched the 3rd largest US software IPO in history, behind only Snowflake (No. 1) and Qualtrics (No. 2).

By market’s close on Wednesday, the company’s market cap had settled at a hefty $35.8B — which leaves only one question…

WTF is UiPath?

The company was founded in 2005 by Romanian entrepreneurs Daniel Dines and Marius Tîrcă.

Originally called DeskOver, UiPath was based in Romania but later rebranded and moved its HQ to the US in 2017. Today, about ¼ of its ~3k employees are still based in Romania.

UiPath helps enterprises automate tedious manual tasks done on computers, something they refer to as RPA or…

… Robotic Process Automation

They call their automations “software robots” that do robot-like work for humans — tasks like filling forms, moving files, inputting data, and scraping documents.

The real gem is that creating these software robots requires no coding, and they can interface with existing software using AI-fueled “computer vision” — think robots actually seeing what they click.

This all rolls up into a serious business:

• $580m in annual recurring revenue (+65% YoY)
• Margins up to 89% (the highest in software)
• 7,968 customers (+32% YoY)

And according to UiPath, the market for robot automation is expected to reach $30B by 2024, up from $17B in 2020.

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