TheChek News Flow

LG Energy Solution estimates $360mn in operating income in boost from projected $1mn without credit

LG Energy Solution’s profits more than doubled unexpectedly in the second quarter, as the world’s third-largest electric vehicle battery producer benefited from Joe Biden’s tax credits that are set to be scaled back under his successor Donald Trump.

The South Korean supplier to General Motors and Tesla on Monday estimated its operating profit for April to June to be Won492bn ($360mn), up 152 per cent from year earlier. It was much higher than the Won294bn profit forecast by analysts in an LSEG estimate. Sales are estimated to have fallen 9.7 per cent to Won5.6tn.

Analysts said the company’s US plants produced more batteries than expected as carmakers appeared to frontload orders over fears of higher tariffs on cars. This raised profits for LGES, as it continued to reap benefits from a production tax credit for clean energy under Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

Excluding the so-called advanced manufacturing production credit, second-quarter operating profit would be just Won1.4bn, LGES estimated, with its operating profit margin at 0.03 per cent.

LGES, the world’s largest non-Chinese battery producer, was among the main beneficiaries of the Biden-era act, which sought to decrease US dependence on Chinese clean energy technology and offered tax breaks for EV purchases and EV technology production.

Some of those subsidies will be scaled back under Trump’s sweeping budget bill. A $7,500 tax credit for consumers who buy or lease EVs and a $4,000 credit for the purchase of a used EV will be eliminated. “The scrapped tax credits will probably hurt EV demand,” said Kim Chul-joong, an analyst at Mirae Asset Securities.

However, tax incentives for companies that produce and sell EV batteries in the US, such as LGES, will remain intact until 2032. The legislation also tightens restrictions on Chinese and China-invested companies’ access to federal tax credits.

“We are relieved that the AMPC will be maintained and the clause on foreign entities of concern has been strengthened, making it more difficult for Chinese companies to benefit from the tax scheme, which is good for us,” said a spokesperson for LGES.

Global EV battery usage excluding China rose by 26 per cent in the first five months of this year compared with 25 per cent during the same period last year, according to SNE Research.

Usage of LG batteries grew by 13 per cent in that time, while usage of batteries produced by Chinese giant and global market leader CATL grew by 36 per cent.

Monday’s upbeat profit estimate boosted the company’s shares 2.4 per cent to Won318,000, while the benchmark Kospi index was little changed.  

The company’s shares have fallen more than 8 per cent so far this year on a prolonged decline in EV demand. LGES is expected to release detailed quarterly results later this month.

With AI igniting an investor frenzy, every month, more startups obtain unicorn status.

Using data from Crunchbase and PitchBook, TechCrunch tracked down the VC-backed startups that became unicorns so far this year. While most are AI-related, a surprising number are focused in other industries like satellite space companies like Loft Orbital and blockchain-based trading site Kalshi.

This list will be updated throughout the year, so check back and see the latest powerhouse startups who are now worth over $1 billion.

Linear — $1.25 billion: This software development product management tool last raised an $82 million Series C, valuing the company at $1.25 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company, founded in 2019, has raised more than $130 million in funding to date from investors including Accel and Sequoia Capital.

Gecko — $1.62 billion: This company makes data-gathering robotics that climb, crawl, swim, and fly. Founded in 2013, the company last raised a $121 million Series D, valuing the company at $1.6 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised more than $340 million in funding to date from investors including Cox Enterprises and Drive Capital.

Meter — $1.38 billion: This company, which offers managed Internet infrastructure service to enterprises, last raised a $170 million Series C, valuing the company at $1.38 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company, founded in 2015, has raised more than $250 in funding to date, from investors including General Catalyst, Sequoia Capital, Sam Atlaman, and Lachy Groom.

Teamworks — This sports software company last raised a $247 million Series F, valuing the company at $1.25 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company, founded in 2006, has raised more than $400 million in funding to date from investors including Seaport Capital and General Catalyst.

Thinking Machines — This AI research company, founded just last year by OpenAI alumn Mira Murati, raised a $2 billion seed round, valuing the company at $10 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company’s investors include a16z and Nvidia.

Kalshi — $2 billion: The popular prediction markets company, founded in 2018, last raised an $185 million Series C, valuing the company at $2 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised more than $290 million in funding to date, from investors including Sequoia and Global Founders Capital.

Decagon — This customer service AI agent company, founded in 2023, last raised a $131 million Series C, valuing the company at $1.5 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised more than $231 million in funding to date, from investors including a16z and Accel.

May

Pathos — $1.6 billion: This drug development company, founded in 2020, last raised a $365 million Series D, valuing the company at $1.6 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised more than $460 million to date from investors, including General Catalyst and Altimeter Capital Management.

Statsig — $1.1 billion: This product development platform, founded in 2021, last raised an $100 million Series C, valuing the company at $1.1 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised around $153 million to date, from investors including Sequoia, Mardona, and ICONIQ Growth.

SpreeAI — $1.5 billion: This shopping tech company last raised an undisclosed round, according to Pitchbook, that valued the company at $1.5 billion. The company, founded in 2020, has raised more than $20 million to date from investors including The Davidson Group.

Function — $2.5 billion: This health tech company, founded in 2020, last raised a $200 million round, according to Pitchbook, valuing the company at $2.5 billion. The company has raised more than $250 million in funding to date, from investors including a16z.

Owner — $1 billion: This restaurant marketing software company, founded in 2018, last raised a $120 million Series C, valuing the company at $1 billion, per Pitchbook. The company has raised more than $180 million in funding to date, from investors including Headline, Redpoint Ventures, SaaStr Fund, and Meritech Capital.

Awardco — $1 billion: This employee engagement platform last raised a $165 million Series B, valuing the company at $1 billion, per Pitchbook. The company, founded in 2012, has raised more than $230 million in funding to date, from investors including General Catalyst.

April

Nourish — $1 billion: This dietitian tele-health company last raised a $70 million Series B, according to Pitchbook, valuing the company at $1 billion. The company, founded in 2020, has raised more than $100 million in funding to date from investors including Index Ventures and Thrive Capital.

Chapter — $1.38 billion: This Medicare guide health tech company, founded in 2013, last raised a $75 million Series D, valuing it at $1.38 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company has raised $186 million in funding to date, with investors including XYZ Venture Capital and Narya.

Threatlocker — $1.2 billion: This Orlando-based data protection company last raised a $60 million Series E, valuing the company at $1.2 billion, according to Pitchbook. The company, founded in 2017, has raised more than $200 million in funding to date, from investors including General Atlantic and StepStone Group.

Cyberhaven — $1 billion: This data detection company last raised a $100 million Series D in April, according to Pitchbook, valuing the company at $1 billion. The company, launched in 2015, has raised more than $200 million in funding to date, with investors including Khlosa Ventrues and Redpoint Ventures.

Fleetio — $1.5 billion: This Alabama-based startup creates software to help make fleet operations easier. It last raised a $454 million Series D at a $1.5 billion valuation, according to PitchBook. It was launched in 2012 and has raised $624 million in funding to date, with investors including Elephant and Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives.

The Bot Company — $2 billion: This robotics platform last raised a $150 million early-stage round, valuing it at $2 billion, according to PitchBook. The company, which was founded in 2024, has raised $300 million to date in funding.

Celestial AI — $2.5 billion: The AI company raised a $250 million Series C led by Fidelity that valued the company at $2.5 billion, per Crunchbase. The company, based in California, was launched in 2020 and counts BlackRock and Engine Ventures as investors. It has raised more than $580 million in capital to date, per PitchBook.

Underdog Fantasy — $1.3 billion: The sports gaming company last raised a $70 million Series C valuing the company at $1.3 billion, according to Crunchbase. The company, founded in 2020, has raised more than $100 million in capital to date, per PitchBook. Investors include Spark Capital.

Build Ops — $1 billion: This software company last raised a $122.6 million Series C, valuing it at $1 billion. Build Ops, which was launched in 2018, has raised $273 million in total, according to PitchBook, with investors including Founders Fund and Fika Ventures.

Insilico Medicine — $1 billion: The drug research company raised a $110 million Series E valuing the company at $1 billion, per Crunchbase. It launched in 2014, has raised more than $500 million to date in capital, and counts Lilly Ventures and Value Partners Group as investors.

Olipop — $2 billion: This popular probiotic soda company last raised a $137.9 million Series C at a $1.96 billion valuation. It was founded in 2018 and has raised $243 million to date with investors including Scoop Ventures and J.P. Morgan Growth Equity Partners.

Peregrine — $2.5 billion: This data analysis and integration platform, launched in 2017, last raised a $190 million Series C with a valuation of $2.5 billion. It has raised more than $250 million in funding to date, according to PitchBook, with investors including Sequoia and Fifth Down Capital.

Assured — $1 billion: The AI company helps process claims and last raised a $23 million Series B, valuing the company at $1 billion. It was launched in 2019 and has raised a little more than $26 million to date, with investors including ICONIQ Capital and Kleiner Perkins.

February

Abridge — $2.8 billion: This medtech company, founded in 2018, last raised a $250 million Series D at a $2.75 billion valuation, per PitchBook. The company has raised more than $460 million to date in funding and counts Elad Gil and IVP as investors.

OpenEvidence — $1 billion: This medtech company, founded in 2017, last raised a $75 million Series A at a $1 billion valuation, per PitchBook. The company has raised $135 million to date in funding and counts Sequoia Capital as an investor.

Hightouch — $1.2 billion: The data platform, founded in 2018, last raised an $80 million Series C at a $1.2 billion valuation, per PitchBook. The company has raised $171 million to date in funding and counts Sapphire Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures as investors.

Kikoff — $1 billion: This personal finance platform last raised an undisclosed amount that valued it at $1 billion, according to PitchBook. The company, founded in 2019, has raised $42.5 million to date and counts Female Founders Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and basketballer Steph Curry as investors.

Netradyne — $1.35 billion: Founded in 2015, this computer vision startup raised a $90 million Series D valuing it at $1.35 billion, according to Crunchbase. The round was led by Point72 Ventures.

Hippocratic AI — $1.6 billion: This startup, founded in 2023, creates healthcare models. It raised a $141 million Series B, valuing it at $1.64 billion, according to Crunchbase. The round was led by Kleiner Perkins.

Truveta — $1 billion: This genetic research company raised a $320 million round valuing it at $1 billion, according to Crunchbase. Founded in 2020, its investors include the CVCs from Microsoft and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.

Clay — $1.25 billion: Founded in 2017, Clay is an AI sales platform. The company raised a $40 million Series B, valuing it at $1.25 billion, according to PitchBook. It has raised more than $100 million to date and counts Sequoia, First Round, Boldstar, and Box Group as investors.

Mercor — $2 billion: This contract recruiting startup raised a $100 million Series B valuing it at $2 billion. The company, founded in 2022, counts Felicis, Menlo Ventures, Jack Dorsey, Peter Thiel, and Anthology Fund as investors.

Loft Orbital — $1 billion: Founded in 2017, the satellite company raised a $170 million Series C valuing the company at $1 billion, according to Crunchbase. Investors in the round included Temasek and Tikehau Capital.

With a $10 billion deal for the Los Angeles Lakers, Guggenheim CEO Mark Walter is adding another trophy asset to a portfolio that makes him one of the most influential individuals in sports

Over the course of Mark Walter’s slow journey to build one of the most glittering portfolios in sports, doing a $10 billion deal to buy the Los Angeles Lakers turned out to be the easy part.

Every other major acquisition—including the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chelsea FC, and the Cadillac Formula One team—had turned into protracted affairs that required the involvement of bankruptcy courts, suspicious rivals, or the British government. But when news first emerged last month that Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, was taking over the Lakers, it was already a fait accompli.

The transaction not only made Walter the overnight owner of the world’s priciest team. It also turned the shy billionaire from Cedar Rapids, Iowa into one of the most influential people in sports.

“A few things I can tell you about Mark—he is driven by winning, excellence, and doing everything the right way,” tweeted Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who is also one of Walter’s business partners in the Dodgers. “AND he will put in the resources needed to win.”

At a time when the soaring price of buying a top-tier professional team has shrunk the pool of possible owners, the 65-year-old Walter is in elite company among investors whose sports portfolios span the richest leagues on several continents.

The club includes a handful of other billionaires expanding personal empires, such as Los Angeles Rams and Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke or John Henry and Tom Werner at Fenway Sports Group. But the very top of the pyramid is increasingly populated by private equity-led consortia and sovereign-wealth funds, who are prepared to plow billions into building superteams.

“I hate losing,” Walter said in a rare interview alongside Johnson a year ago at a Milken Institute conference. “I just can’t stand it.”

Not that Walter is terribly familiar with defeat. His personal wealth, widely estimated to be in the 10 figures, came from starting the bond manager and investment bank Guggenheim Partners 25 years ago with backing from a member of the Guggenheim family and a Texas conglomerate. He later branched into insurance and spotted a rare efficiency: Walter realized that years of steady premiums could be a good match for multigenerational investments in sports, fast food and technology.

Alongside Hollywood producer Thomas Tull and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala investment fund, he has also used a company called TWG Global to put money into life insurance companies, western rodeos, a stake in online car dealer Carvana and an investment in Colossal Biosciences, which aims to bring back the woolly mammoth and the dodo.

But it was the 2012 purchase of the Dodgers, for an MLB-record $2.15 billion, that thrust Walter into the limelight beyond the world of finance. Though many critics had seen it as too expensive, Walter’s investing group registered an almost immediate paper gain by raising $3 billion in funding from the team’s broadcasting rights. The team is now worth around $7 billion, boasts the best player of his generation in Shohei Ohtani, and streams its games to a huge market Japan.

“The market drove the price,” Walter, who hadn’t attended a live major-league game until his 20s, said at the time. The investment was “a multigenerational thing my daughter’s granddaughters will own.”

That purchase set the tone for Walter’s investment in brands with broad appeal and multiple revenue sources. Beyond the usual array of sponsorships, merchandise and fan experiences, he has targeted long-term gain from projects such as developing a new London home for Chelsea and hundreds of acres of land around Dodgers Stadium.

The same philosophy guided his entry into one of the fastest-growing sports of the past five years, Formula One. TWG has partnered with General Motors to build Cadillac F1 from scratch and make it the 11th team on the grid from next year. The 10 other outfits took some convincing—after all, why should they carve out an extra slice of their pie? But a one-time fee of $450 million paid by Cadillac’s backers and divided equally among the teams helped soften the blow.

“We needed to be sure that it would have been the right decision for the sport without being too selfish,” F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali said.

Walter’s associates refer to him as a business genius, who demands results (with Midwestern manners), but strategizes in years and decades. Though he and his wife Kimbra are rarely seen at glitzy events, they have owned some of the finest homes in Chicago, Newport, R.I. and Los Angeles, including an $85 million mansion on Malibu’s Carbon Beach that burned to the ground in this year’s wildfires.

“I’m a fairly quiet and private person,” he told the Chicago Tribune in 2012. “So I haven’t sought publicity.”

That explains why Walter has usually let someone else be the face of his various sports properties. At the time of the Dodgers acquisition, the name in the headlines wasn’t the consortium’s largest investor, but rather its most recognizable, a charismatic superstar named Magic. At Chelsea, meanwhile, the club’s most visible presence is Walter’s co-owner Todd Boehly, who is routinely spotted at home games at Stamford Bridge—and is the one on the receiving end of supporters’ anger.

But wherever he invests his money, there is no question over who calls the shots for the long term. As Johnson put it in May 2024, “We just follow the leader.”

As luxury grapples with a slowdown, houses are tapping 1889 to create money-can't-buy experiences for their elite VICs.

PARIS — The luxury sector is grappling with its first slowdown in 15 years, but one segment is thriving: the VIC.

An acronym for “very important customer,” the term designates a cohort that’s seemingly immune to economic gloom, as witnessed by the $50 million wedding of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez in Venice.

Brands competing to woo the 1 percent have one Paris-based agency on speed-dial: 1889 specializes in the kind of experiences that money can’t buy.

Over the past decade, the company has worked with houses including Valentino, Gucci, Cartier, Burberry, Saint Laurent, Piaget and Moët & Chandon to design custom events for high-net-worth individuals attending shows in Paris.

From a private dinner in the apartment of a prominent art collector to a helicopter ride to a castle ruin, anything is possible.

Through its hospitality arm, 1889 also designs full-blown luxury destinations like Maison LVMH, a pop-up space in an elegant private residence where LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton welcomed athletes and VIP guests during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Aurélie de Royer, who founded the agency in 2016 with Thomas Mesmin, has seen brands step up clienteling activities since the end of last year, as they cut down on group events to focus on pampering their best customers.

“Some figures suggest that 2 percent of VICs account for around 20 percent of luxury revenues,” she said. “The houses are telling us the VIC is key today, because they are the ones fueling growth.”

Top clients qualify for all-expenses-paid trips to Paris during the ready-to-wear and haute couture fashion weeks. Think five-star hotels, fancy restaurants and tailor-made experiences, not to mention the little extras: flowers, gifts, hair and makeup before the show.

“A VIC should never have to take out their credit card,” de Royer said.

An Emotional Connection

With a background in gastronomy, she has a network of top chefs, while Mesmin is a former luxury analyst. In 2019, French luxury consulting firm MAD acquired a majority stake in their agency, helping it to ride out the coronavirus pandemic when travel ground to a halt.

Once business bounced back, they brought on fashion industry veteran Jimmy Pihet as director of 1889 Experience.

The longtime former spokesman of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, French fashion’s governing body, he has parlayed his extensive contacts and encyclopedic knowledge of brands to curate experiences in tune with the DNA of each house.

Pihet is passionate about connecting visitors with artists, artisans, gallerists, collectors, musicians, chefs and other purveyors of the French art de vivre.

“Our network is what money can’t buy. You’re going to meet people who will share their know-how, their passion, and it’s an emotional connection,” he said. “Thanks to this, through word of mouth, a VIC will go from a customer to an ambassador of the brand.”

As far as he’s concerned, the more exclusive the group, the better. “We like intimacy. Between two and six people is ideal,” Pihet said.

As might be expected, all customer data provided by the brands is strictly confidential. “We don’t keep listings. Once the event is over, we erase the information,” he explained.

As luxury houses have set up dedicated departments to manage their VIP relations, the nature of the job has evolved. For instance, the post-show dinner, once reserved for press, has now become de rigueur for visiting VICs and their sales associates, who accompany them at every stage of the trip — and nothing is left to chance.

“In the past, VIC departments did pretty much what they wanted,” noted de Royer. “Nowadays, they have to get everything approved by the artistic direction, because it has become a strategic issue for the houses. For us, it means an additional layer of vetting, which makes the projects a little more complex, but even more exciting.”

Pihet said it’s hard to say where the pressure is coming from. “Is it because VICs are increasingly demanding? I don’t know, but strategically, they matter more to houses than they did in the past, and I believe they have become just as important as press,” he noted.

Weathering Headwinds

That has some very direct consequences for media outlets covering the shows. As brands trim budgets and try to convey a feeling of exclusivity with intimate venues, editors are increasingly struggling to secure invitations.

“Where brands have reduced the number of guests, the number of VICs has remained stable, meaning they are proportionally more represented at shows,” Pihet said.

Another consequence of the slowdown in luxury spending is the growing importance of guidelines: step-by-step templates for events and experiences that can be replicated across markets.

“We created our first guidelines in 2021 and demand has boomed since, accelerating in 2024 and 2025,” said de Royer. “There’s a growing need and desire to deal with customers locally and pamper them wherever they are — also because you can’t have 400 clients from all over the world traveling to each show.”

The one area that has struggled is hospitality, following the Maison LVMH project last year and an equally ambitious project in 2023 for Eminente, the LVMH-owned rum brand, which took over a Paris townhouse near Place des Vosges for six months.

“We created a restaurant, a bar, four guest suites and a swimming pool from scratch,” de Royer recalled. “We don’t expect to have a project of this scale in the next six months because the return on investment is probably longer.”

1889, which also works with private clients directly, posted sales of 4.3 million euros in 2024, with gross margin up 20 percent year-on-year. De Royer hopes to keep gross margin stable this year, despite a forecast decline in revenues.

“The start of the year was a little sluggish, but things have picked up nicely,” she said. “Since April, we’ve seen good business.”

Pihet noted that despite the negative outlook for luxury, brands are requesting increasingly rarefied experiences.

“You have this tiny segment of the population which is relatively immune to headwinds, and therefore the houses are prioritizing this clientele,” he said. “If you don’t treat them well, they will naturally move to a house that pampers them a little more.”

Why von der Leyen will win the parliament battle but risks losing the war

Warning shot

Ursula von der Leyen this week faces the first no-confidence vote in a commission president for over a decade, with a foregone conclusion but unclear ramifications.

Context: Brought by a Romanian far-right MEP who secured the necessary 72 signatures in the European parliament, the censure vote is ostensibly about von der Leyen’s handling of private text messages exchanged with a pharmaceutical CEO during the Covid pandemic.

The vote, which will take place on Thursday after an in-person debate in the Strasbourg chamber later today, will almost certainly fail. The biggest parties have said they will support her; few want to be associated with those who are championing the motion.

But many lawmakers who will vote to support von der Leyen are still looking forward to making her squirm at today’s debate, and hope she interprets the mere staging of the ballot as a clear shot across her bows: a warning signal to a leader who has pushed her strong-handed leadership of the EU’s executive to a point of testing the spirit — if not the letter — of the bloc’s laws.

There is little love lost between the parliament and von der Leyen’s Berlaymont. Many MEPs see her regime as aloof and dismissive of the bloc’s legislature. Senior commission officials in turn believe the chamber to be unproductive, obstructive and self-aggrandising.

For example, von der Leyen’s decision to use emergency powers bypassing parliament to legislate the recent €150bn loans-for-arms scheme has triggered a move by the chamber to bring legal action against the commission.

Additionally, the increasing use of support from hard-right parties to push through legislation is straining the ties between the coalition of the centre-right, liberals, and socialists that voted her into power.

MEPs will not bring down von der Leyen’s commission this week. But they will send her a few unsubtle reminders that it's a lot harder to run the EU if you choose to do it while picking a fight with the parliament.

Trade-off

The EU faces a key choice this week between swallowing higher tariffs to avoid a full-blown trade war with Washington, or retaliating to put pressure on the US to compromise, write Barbara Moens and Andy Bounds.

Context: Wednesday is the threatened deadline for a trade deal between the two trading giants, following almost three months of negotiations to avert Donald Trump’s threatened 50 per cent tariffs on goods from the EU next week.

Yesterday, US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent warned that US tariffs on imports from some countries will “boomerang” back to the steep levels set by Trump in April unless they quickly offer concessions and strike deals with Washington.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, reached out to European leaders over the weekend to get guidance on whether she should accept a deal with some higher tariffs, which many favour, or raise the pressure on the US. The commission leads the trade negotiations on behalf of the bloc.

Last week, von der Leyen said she hoped for an agreement in principle that would allow the sides to keep negotiating a final deal. 

With time running out, the bloc is still divided on the best strategy to deal with Trump. A number of countries, especially those that rely heavily on exports such as Ireland, Germany or Hungary, are in favour of a swift deal.

While the two sides talk, so-called sectoral tariffs of 25 per cent for cars and car parts, and 50 per cent for steel and aluminium, remain in place, as well as a 10 per cent tariff on most other imports.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who is under pressure from German industry suffering from the measures, said last week that “it is better to reach a quick and simple solution than a long and complicated agreement that remains on the negotiating table for months”.

Other countries, including France and Spain, are sceptical about accepting a deal just for the sake of it.

They argue that the EU, with its 450mn consumers, should have the economic self-confidence to stand up to Trump and use its trade defence arsenal to hit back if Washington refuses to strike a fair deal.