A News Digest on Auto Industry, BI, and Databases

Database software firm Couchbase Inc has registered for a stock market debut that could come in the first half of this year and value it at as much as $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has achieved more than $100 million in annual revenue, one the sources said. The sources requested anonymity because the initial public offering (IPO) filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is confidential and has not yet been made public. Founded in 2011, Couchbase has raised $294 million from investors thus far. It last raised $105 million at a valuation of $580 million in May 2020, according to PitchBook data. GPI Capital, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Accel are among its backers. The company had eyed an IPO back in 2016 after it raised $30 million. It said at the time it expected that to be its last round before going public. MongoDB, another database company and competitor of Couchbase, went public in 2017 and now commands a $20 billion market capitalization. Snowflake Inc, a cloud-based data-warehousing company, went public last year at a $33 billion valuation, the largest software IPO in history. The U.S. IPO market remains welcoming, with 62 operating companies listed so far this year, according to data provider Refinitiv. https://reut.rs/3bDdRIv

GM announces partnership with lithium metal battery startup to boost the U.S. automaker’s battery development, allowing for higher electric vehicle driving range in a smaller package. The joint development agreement with SolidEnergy Solutions (SES) of Woburn, Massachusetts, will allow GM to cut weight from the vehicle, a key goal for automakers as they push to roll out electric vehicles. GM has said by mid-decade its Ultium battery packs are projected to cost 60% less than today’s packs with twice the energy density. The companies plan to build a manufacturing line at SES to assemble a prototype battery by 2023, said GM, which invested an undisclosed amount in SES in 2015. Terms of the partnership announced Thursday were not disclosed. https://reut.rs/3vjlDPx

Icertis, which develops enterprise contract management software, raises $80M Series E at a valuation of $2.8B, bringing its total raised to $280M https://bit.ly/3exB1C0

China Lays Plans to Tame Tech Giant Alibaba Antitrust regulators are considering levying a record fine against Alibaba exceeding the $975 million that Qualcomm Inc. paid in 2015 over anticompetitive practices, so far the largest in China’s corporate history, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Those people said Alibaba also will be required to end a practice that has been dubbed “er xuan yi”—literally, “choose one out of two”—under which, regulators believe, the tech giant punished certain merchants who sold goods both on Alibaba and its rival platforms, including JD.com. The precise remedies Alibaba will have to take likely will be hammered out only after a decision is announced, according to one of the people. While painful, none of the measures under consideration would come close to crippling the company, whose businesses include online retail, entertainment, media, and cloud computing. Unlike Ant, which regulators viewed as a disrupter and a threat to the stability of the financial system Alibaba is considered the pride of China, a showcase for technology innovation that also is vital to the nation’s economy. Some 780 million Chinese consumers, or half of the country’s population, made purchases through the company’s platforms last year. https://on.wsj.com/3chPuiE

A look at the history of Twine, an open-source tool for producing web-based interactive fiction and games with text, as it remains a significant force in gaming https://bit.ly/3ckM9zw