Together with

Good Morning,

A relatively uneventful day in markets yesterday as the Fed held rates steady and US neared its first major 2025 trade deal.

See how you can transform your spend and expense management with BILL, and they'll send you a Blackstone Griddle.

Let's dive in.

Before The Bell

As of 5/7/2025 market close.

Click here to learn more about the Litquidity portfolios and subscribe to the strategies on Autopilot.*

Markets

  • US stocks closed higher yesterday as traders digested the Fed's rate decision and progress on US trade talks

    • Traders priced in 75 bps of Fed rate cuts this year and 50 bps of cuts next year

Earnings

  • Uber beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue and gross bookings estimates amid headwinds from lower US inbound travel (CNBC)

  • Walt Disney beat Q2 earnings and revenue estimates as a surprise 1.4M gain in Disney+ subscribers boosted its global base to 126M; revenue rose across all segments, with strong growth in parks, ESPN, and consumer products driving upward revisions to guidance (CNBC)

  • Carvana beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates on a 46% YoY sales surge driven by heightened demand amid fears of tariff-driven price hikes (CNBC)

  • Barrick Gold beat Q1 earnings estimates but missed on revenue as realized gold prices surged 40% YoY, offsetting higher costs and production disruptions in Mali (BBG)

  • LandBridge beat Q1 earnings and revenue estimates with revenue up 131% YoY on strong surface use royalties, resource sales, and recent acquisitions (BW)

  • Texas Pacific Land missed Q1 earnings estimates but beat on revenue amid record production volumes despite headwinds from lower oil prices (TPL)

  • What we're watching this week:  

    • Today: Shopify, Peloton, DraftKings, Coinbase, Warner Bros

    • Friday: Honda 

  • Full calendar here

Prediction Markets

  • Recession odds have drastically dropped on hopes of successful US trade deals

  • Trade your predictions on a range of events, only on Kalshi. Sign up with code LIT and get a $20 bonus when you trade $100.

Headline Roundup

  • J Pow says he never seeks to meet with any president (RT)

  • Fed held rates at 4.25%-4.5% but warned of economic risks (BBG)

  • US will soon announce trade deal with UK (WSJ)

  • US has plans for SWF but no final decisions made (RT)

  • Bankers are urging US firms to raise debt now to avoid future trade war volatility (FT)

  • Moody's warned of risks of rising retail exposure to private credit (RT)

  • US will revise Biden-era AI chip export curbs (BBG)

  • Wall Street banks are looking to offload $6B in hung LBO debt (BBG)

  • HSBC London HQ has a 7.7k desk shortage amid RTO mandate (BBG)

  • CrowdStrike will cut 500 jobs (BBG)

  • US is increasing spying efforts on Greenland (WSJ)

A Message from BILL

Demo BILL, get a grill

BILL and Blackstone are teaming up to bring the heat. For a limited time, take a demo of BILL Spend & Expense to hear how Blackstone saves time and money with BILL, and get a free Blackstone griddle for taking a look.*

With BILL, you can:

  •  Control spending with custom limits

  •  Streamline reconciliations & reporting

  •  Track transactions in real time

  •  Access credit lines from $1k–$5M2

Demo BILL

*Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. 

Deal Flow

M&A / Investments

  • Japan telecom giant Nippon Telegraph and Telephone is considering a $20.9B tender for the remaining 42.3% stake in NTT Data it doesn't already own

  • Chinese automotive conglomerate Geely offered to take EV unit Zeekr private in an all-cash deal at a $6.4B valuation, a ~14% premium

  • TPG and Corpay will take payments firm AvidXchange private in $2.2B deal; Corpay will invest $500M for 33% stake, representing a 22% premium

  • French utilities Veolia will acquire the remaining 30% stake in its Water Technologies and Solutions unit from Canada's CDPQ for $1.75B

  • Oxford Properties agreed to acquire Canada's CPP's 50% stake in a seven-building office portfolio in Calgary and Vancouver, valuing the assets at $1.1B

  • Japanese drugmaker Shionogi plans to acquire Torii Pharmaceutical for ~$1B via a tender offer and stake purchase from Japan Tobacco, which owns ~53%

  • PE firm TA Associates is in advanced talks to acquire UL data and analytics firm FD Technologies for $722M, representing a 27% premium

  • Mobile games developer Tripledot Studios acquired developers app AppLovin's mobile-games unit for $400M in cash and a 20% equity stake

  • Enterprise SaaS firm ServiceNow agreed to acquire AI-focused data catalog platform Data.World, which was last valued at $350M in 2022

  • US-listed Southeast Asian food delivery firm Grab is looking to acquire Indonesian rival GoTo in Q2, with the deal contingent on financing discussions

  • Hedge fund Millennium is in talks with Goldman Sachs' GP solutions firm Petershill Partners to identify buyers for a minority stake in its management company

  • Vivek Ramaswamy’s Strive Asset Management is reverse merging with Asset Entities to launch a Bitcoin treasury firm

VC

  • Trump crypto advisor David Bailey's new Bitcoin investment company Nakamoto raised $300M 

  • Chinese autonomous vehicle technology company WeRide raised $100M in funding from Uber

  • Statsig, a platform for data-driven product development, raised a $100M Series C at a $1.1B valuation led by ICONIQ Growth

  • Decarbonization solutions company ReNew raised a $100M investment from British International Investment

  • Ox Security, a code security platform, raised a $60M Series B led by DTCP

  • UK beauty brand Wonderskin raised a $50M Series A led by Insight Partners

  • TSOLife, a resident insight and experience platform for senior living operators, raised a $43M Series B led by PeakSpan Capital

  • Battery performance prediction startup Breathe raised a $21M Series B led by Kinnevik Online

  • Pet health startup Koala Health raised a $20M Series B led by Valspring Capital

  • Carta Healthcare, a startup providing AI-powered clinical data abstraction, raised an $18.3M Series B1 led by UPMC Enterprises

  • Expense management startup Circula raised a $17M round led by CIBC Innovation Banking

  • Eyeo, a photonics breakthrough for image sensors, raised a $17M seed round led by imec.xpand and Invest-NL

  • StackAI, a startup enabling enterprises to create custom AI agents, raised a $16M Series A led by Lobby VC

  • SimpleClosure, a startup helping companies shut down, raised a $15M Series A led by TTV Capital

  • Luzia, a Spanish AI personal assistant services company, raised a $13.5M round led by Prosus Ventures

  • German AI-powered retail optimization startup 7Learnings raised an $11M Series B led by Acton Capital

  • Trilobio, a fully automated robotic lab-in-a-box for biologists, raised an $8M seed round led by Initialized Capital

  • FoodHealth, a nutrition intelligence company, raised a $7.5M Series A led by Reach Capital and Ulu Ventures

  • Uviquity, a startup providing photonic disinfection technologies, raised a $6.6M seed round led by Emerald Development Managers

IPO / Direct Listings / Issuances / Block Trades

  • Vinpearl, the hospitality unit of Vietnam's Vingroup, is set to IPO next week at a $4.9B valuation to become the country's biggest listed firm

  • Apollo-backed Aspen Insurance set its IPO price at the midpoint aiming to raise $397M

  • Chinese EV maker Xpeng is considering a Hong Kong or US IPO of its flying car unit Xpeng Aeroht

Debt

  • UK utility Southern Water is set to raise up to $1B in new bonds led by King Street to refinance debt

  • Wagestream, a UK-based financial wellbeing solutions company, raised a $400M debt facility from Citigroup to expand its alternative to high-interest loans

  • Nigeria plans to issue $186M in green bonds to support its economic-transformation agenda

  • Malaysia SWF Permodalan Nasional is reviving plans for an exchangeable bond sale to raise funds for overseas expansion

Bankruptcy / Restructuring / Distressed

  • Rite Aid secured court approval to sell customer prescription information to rival pharmacies as part of its bankruptcy process, while preparing to unload or close its stores

Fundraising / Secondaries

  • Healthcare investor Vivo Capital raised $740M for a fund to invest in preclinical and clinical-stage biotechs

  • Industrials-focused PE firm Rotunda Capital Partners raised $735M for its fourth flagship fund

  • Sagard-backed private markets investor Performance Equity Management raised $383M for its fifth co-investment fund

  • Granite Asia, the re-branded Asian business of VC firm GGV Capital, raised over $250M in anchor commitments for a new private credit fund

  • Blackstone, Vanguard, and Wellington are launching an interval fund managed by Wellington that will allow quarterly withdrawals and invest up to 40% in private markets, alongside allocations to public equities and fixed income

Crypto Sum Snapshot

  • Consumer crypto platform Abstract posts 55M transactions in the first four months – see the new startups’ incredible stats here

  • Raising debt to buy crypto doesn't work as well as it used to

  • Robinhood plans blockchain to trade US assets in Europe

  • Congress erupts over Trump's billion-dollar crypto deal

  • Check out our Crypto Sum newsletter for the full stories on everything crypto!

Exec’s Picks

Financial Services Recruiting 💼

If you're a junior banker looking for your next career move, check out Litney Partners, a recruiting firm established by Litquidity and Whitney Partners (the oldest purely financial services executive search and consulting firm).

We aim to place strong candidates across private equity, hedge funds, venture capital, growth equity, credit, and investment banking.

We're currently seeking talent for some incredible roles. Head over to Litney Partners to drop your resume / create your profile and we'd love to get in touch!

GET HIRED 🤝

Meme Cleanser

🛒 Merch Store: Visit our merch store to shop our latest apparel, shoes, bags, accessories and more. 

💵 Litquidity Ventures: Accredited investors & qualified purchasers within the Litquidity community can gain access to alternative investments such as venture, late-stage growth, and private equity through Litquidity Ventures. Interested? Fill out this form.

☎️ Book a call with Lit: Want to pick Litquidity's brain on business advice, insights, or just chat to say what's up? Buy his time here.

📧 Launch your own newsletter: Have great content ideas and looking to launch your own publication? We highly recommend Beehiiv to get started.

*DISCLAIMER: Investment advice provided by Autopilot Advisers, LLC ("Autopilot"), an SEC-registered investment adviser. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing carries risks, including loss of principal. As always, be smart out there. Litquidity is compensated to promote AutoPilot. Compensation details available upon request.