Together with
Good Morning,
Walmart (sorta) owns the Denver Broncos now, Gensler is overhauling Wall Street trading, China stocks rebounded hard, Harvard's president will step down next summer, more PGA golfers continue to join the Saudi-funded league, and Amazon's consumer chief was named the new CEO of Flexport.
ICYMI: Big Swinging Decks is back! This week, Lit and Mark interviewed Eric Langan, the President & CEO of RCI Hospitality Holdings (NASDAQ: RICK) and rising FinTwit legend. Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube!
Let's dive in.
Before The Bell
As of 6/8/2022 market close.
If you want to learn more about crypto trading strategies and the world of DeFi, check out our Foot Guns newsletter.
Markets
US markets fell slightly yesterday as investors continue to monitor signs of a potential economic slowdown
The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq slid 0.9%, 1.1%, and 0.7% respectively
The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow tracker displayed a growth rate of 0.9% in Q2, down from 1.3% last week, and mortgage demand hit its lowest level in 22 years last week
Oil jumped more than 2% to reach a 13-week high as US demand for gasoline rose and global supply concerns persist
Tomorrow we will receive May’s CPI reading, a key data point in whether the Fed will continue its half-point rate increases
Earnings
Five Below narrowly missed their Q1 earnings expectations and subsequently fell by more than 5% after hours (MW)
What we’re watching today: DocuSign
Full calendar here
Headline Roundup
Chinese government-backed hackers breached 'major telecom firms' among other targets, says US (CISA)
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler unveils plan to overhaul Wall Street stock trading (CNBC)
Simone Biles and others are seeking over $1B from FBI over Nassar investigation failures (AP)
Credit Suisse shares fell more than 5% ahead of disappointing Q2 expectations (CNBC)
Alibaba jumped 12% as China shows signs of easing its tech-sector crackdown (BI)
Moderna says its new vaccine booster shows 'superior' response to Omicron (YHOO)
Better.com misled investors ahead of stalled SPAC deal, former executive alleges (RT)
US reroutes health-program money for new Covid-19 shot orders (BBG)
Harvard University President Bacow to step down in June 2023 (BBG)
Amazon consumer chief Dave Clark is joining Flexport as its new CEO (CNBC)
Armed man who wanted to kill Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh told police he was upset over abortion, Uvalde (CNBC)
Trump and his kids, Don Jr. and Ivanka, set to testify in New York AG's investigation starting July 15 (CNBC)
DeChambeau, Reed join growing list of PGA players moving to Saudi-funded golf league in US (CNBC)
A Message From Hedge
It's Time to Level the Playing Field
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Deal Flow
M&A / Investments
Group led by Walton and Penner families buys Denver Broncos for $4.65B (YHOO)
Nigerian oil and gas companies Heirs and ND Western are competing to buy Shell’s 30% interest in its oil and gas fields JV in Nigeria at a potential $2.3B+ valuation (BBG)
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund spent $1B on an 8% stake in Swedish gaming company Embracer Group (FT)
Deloitte is exploring a plan to split its global audit and consulting practices, following EY’s effort to potentially do the same (WSJ)
Deutsche Fußball Liga, Germany’s elite football body, is considering the sale of media rights to PE investors a little more than a year after shelving similar plans (BBG)
Longreach Group and Navis Capital are in exclusive talks to buy Japanese eyewear retailer Owndays at a potential $400M valuation (BBG)
Sanoma Corporation accepted an offer to buy Pearson's Italian and German arms of K12 Courseware businesses for $203M (RT)
Italian payments group Nexi is nearing a purchase of Intesa Sanpaolo's Croatian retailer payment business for $193M (RT)
Teneo Holdings is close to buying a majority stake in WestExec Advisors in order to expand their focus on geopolitical and policy consulting (WSJ)
VC
CareBridge, a value-care solution for individuals receiving home and community based services, raised $140M in financing led by Oak HC/FT (PRN)
Codat, a software startup that connects small businesses with financial institutions, raised a $100M round at a ~$825M valuation led by JPMorgan’s growth-equity arm (BBG)
Immuta, a data access and security startup, raised a $100M Series E led by NightDragon (BW)
Algo investing advisor Delphia raised a $60M Series A led by Multicoin Capital (PRN)
LibLab, a startup providing an ‘SDK-as-a-Service’ platform for engineers, raised a $42M Series A led by Insight Partners (TC)
Financial planning platform Fruitful raised $37M in funding: an $8M seed round led by Emigrant Bank, $25M Series A led by 8VC, and a $4M convertible note (TC)
Environmental technology startup Encamp raised a $30M Series C led by Drive Capital (PRN)
Anagenex, a drug discovery startup, raised a $30M Series A led by Catalio Capital Management (BW)
Rheaply, a resource exchange platform, raised a $20M ‘inter-series’ round led by Revolution (BW)
Skolem Technologies, a defi based asset management and execution services provider, raised a $20M Series A led by Galaxy Digital (BW)
CareAcademy, a care enablement platform for home care organizations, raised a $20M round led by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (BW)
Finch, a startup building APIs that connect corporate payroll and HR systems, raised a $15M Series A led by Menlo Ventures (TC)
AI-powered operational data startup Continual raised a $14.5M Series A led by Innovation Endeavors (TC)
Teleo, a startup retrofiting construction and mining heavy equipment into semi-autonomous robots, raised a $12M Series A led by UP.Partners (PRN)
Quaise Energy, a startup looking to scale geothermal energy, raised a $12M Series A extension led by TechEnergy Ventures (BW)
Cannabis seed-to-sale platform Canix raised a $10M Series A led by a mix of investors (PRN)
TestBox, a platform allowing developers to test software before purchase in their local enviroments, raised a $10M seed round led by Felicis Ventures (TC)
Open source DataOps platform Meltano raised an $8.2M seed extension round led by Venrock (TC)
Front, a financial app for users to manage investments and assets in the same place, raised a $5.5M seed round led by Streamlined VC (PRN)
Virridy, a startup developing technologies for monitoring and managing water, energy and agricultural resources, raised a $5.5M Series A led by Accord Capital (TC)
Home setup service Just Move In raised a $5M round led by Longbrook Ventures and Love Ventures (TC)
Overalls, a behavioral insurance startup, raised a $4.6M round led by RPM Ventures (BW)
Event management software Five to Nine raised a $4.25M seed round led by Black Ops Ventures (TC)
NexStride, a portable gadget that provides cues for Parkinson’s disease, raised a $2.8M seed round led by True Wealth Ventures (TC)
IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades
UK law firm Mishcon halted plan to create world’s largest listed law firm (BBG)
Indian fintech start-up Mobikwik seeks to raise $100M after deferring its planned IPO (BBG)
EV maker Phoenix Motors shares plunge 39% after downsized IPO (MW)
Debt
RIA Homrich Berg secures $75M in debt financing, allowing it to maintain majority control of the firm (WM)
Crypto Corner
Bipartisan pair of senators introduced a bill to extend comprehensive regulations to US digital asset market (CD)
Salesforce is launching a platform for brands to mint and sell NFTs (DC)
Madison Cawthorn failed to properly disclose up to $950k in bitcoin, ethereum, solana trades (DC)
Exec's Picks
"Do we need a recession?" is a loaded question with a million answers right now. Kyla Scanlon broke down everything that you need to know about our current labor market, the economy, and the Fed's response in her latest piece.
The Hiring Block 💼
If you're looking to break into finance, lateral, or move out, check out our job board on Pallet, where we curate highly relevant roles for you. We've got 40+ jobs spanning IB, S&T, VC, tech, private equity, DeFi, crypto, CorpDev and more. We sift through all the noise on LinkedIn, Indeed, Monster, etc. so you don't have to.
💼 Today's highlighted job 💼
Fractal Software is a venture studio launching the next generation of vertical SaaS startups, and the studio is currently investing out of a $350M seed fund backed by 8VC, Bienville, and Menlo Ventures. They are looking for a Founder & CEO who will launch, build and run one of our next vertical SaaS investments. Fractal will provide a vetted business idea, pair you with a talented CTO, and fund you with $1M of capital on Day 1. Interested? Check out the role on our job board here!
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Catch the latest episode of our Big Swinging Decks podcast, presented by CoinFLEX.US, on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube 🤝
